I've been looking at different options for repairing my wheel and the best I can come up with are complete kits with color match filler etc. Has anyone had any real luck with just using some sort of fiberglass filler (short strand?) I'm planning on painting the wheel so color is not an issue, I just don't want chunks to fall out after a bunch of work.

Thanks, Pat.

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I think paste-form epoxy would work much better than fiberglass; polyester resin is very brittle. What would be great is if a solid paint coating (epoxy paint if possible) would keep the remaining original plastic from deteriorating and shrinking further; I expect it would, but I'm not sure.

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1964 Dart 225 1966 Valiant 225
1966 Dart 273 1966 Barracuda 273
1969 Dart 225
'64-170 engine '66-170 engine
(two) 198 crank/rod sets in custom-fitted wooden boxes

wooden motor scooter with hybrid-electric drive

Entire books have been written on this subject. PC7 or PC11 epoxy putty is a good and durable material for this sort of repair work, but you can't just glom it into the existing cracks, or it'll fall to pieces again in short order. The cracks have to be cleaned out and given "tooth" for the putty to grab hold of, and you need to try to find the areas that are on the verge of cracking and go ahead and crack + prep them. If you do this yourself, it will take a lot more time and effort than you probably have in mind. Many, many hours. I've known people to chuck a wheel on a spare steering shaft and clamp it in a vise, then spend hours and hours on an as-time-is-available basis getting it ready, applying the putty, sanding it down to match. The priming and painting is the easy final step. The results can be quite nice indeed, but it really does take a whackload of work.

If your dollars are more easily available than your hours, talk to the Pearlcraft people in Australia. Here's a '62-'65 Valiant wheel after their restoration + pearlising work:

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I filled the cracks in mine with regular Bondo body filler. Put it in there, sanded and painted it. It looks fine.

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1963 Dodge Dart -225 Slant 6, 904, 2.76's, 18.84 @ 73
1970 Nova 12.53@108
1970 Bug 15.38@87

An ALTERNATIVE

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

Man, that pearlised wheel looks amazing! I may just have to sacrifice some of my time for the almighty $$$$ and send it down under. Although I do have big plans for laying down some chunky flake.

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I have two comments to make.

1. I used a water based flexible bathroom tile grout / sealer which can be cleaned up using a wet rag or sponge. I then carefully colored the sealer when it was dry with a black texta and the result was excellent. The cost was about A$5.

2. On my other car I spent many $'s on the Pearlcoat job which also gave a great result in the beginning. However the cracks are now starting to appear again and the Pearlcoat is peeling - after about 3 years.

Crickhollow

Interesting technique. We should explain to American readers what a Texta is, though. They're known up here as "magic markers".

That's unsettling. Was it from that same firm that I linked, Pearlcraft?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.