snowflake restore

I have a set of 15x 7's that have seen better days. Does anyone know know of a good restorer and a price or would it be simplier to buy some new ones? I wouldn't mind 15x8's or even 17's but not sure that is in the budget.  I don't have alot of time either to try to restore mine, they have some pretty nasty scratches on one of them.  Thanks  

I haven't painted any snowflakes but yes, I think buying new ones is simpler especially if you are already considering changing sizes. You can paint them just like anything else, and do a nice job with a spray can if you prep them well. Correct color paint is available in lots of different brands. If you have the motivation and desire to do so, repainting them is fairly inexpensive. The appearance will greatly depend on how well you can fix the scratches. If they are on the machined surface, thats easy enough to sand and polish.  If you have scratches in the textured "as-cast" area, those will be difficult to repair nicely. If you are sufficiently bored and tired of staring at the scratches, you'll get out the sandpaper and go at it. Nothing says you can't do them one at a time, worst first. That would give your fingerprints a chance to grow back, in between sandings.

In case you weren't aware of it, there are places now that refurbish wheel cores and sell or redo them just like with reman alternators and such. Body shops use their replacement wheels or restoration services on late models with scratched high-dollar wheels and the repairs can be pretty reasonably priced and quick. I've even seen mobile guys doing it, so check around in your area in case theres a guy near you who does that.  

I've done several sets of these.  Give me a PM for further discussion...

DaveLKN  

i sent you a pm  

Hello 78transam94

Thought I would suggest the following in case davelkn can't help you and you wanted new wheels. Sorry if you know the following already. I personally like the look of newly restored originals.

Ebay has the 17” snowflakes and other styles. Most of these more inexpensive wheels are Chinese. A lot of these wheels are imported by a company named REV wheels. They are located in so cal. Their number and link is below. They may sell direct now, call and see. If you have a resale number you can buy them wholesale. I was a rev dealer.

If you can't buy them direct then buy them from a so cal company like the one listed below the Rev Wheel link. These companies buy direct and pick up themselves so it saves them shipping costs which they can pass on to the buyer. You can ALWAYS get them down in price around $50.00.

The quality and finish is extremely good for the price but they're still Chinese. I would not be afraid of them breaking on a typical performance street car however. I have rev's on my own car.

Rev wheel direct, rev-wheel. com, ph 951-680-9595


so cal rev wheel and other imported wheel and tire dealer.

performanceplustire. com, ph 562-988-0211  

it may be cheaper to locate a better looking set of snowflakes. the 15x7s are not as sought after as the 15x8s.  but if you look hard enough good deals can be found. the most i have paid for a set of 15x8 was 175 they are almost perfect! i live in mid missouri not very many pontiac lovers around here.  
76 455/4spd TRANS AM
69 GRAND PRIX 406/5SPD

well tried rev-wheels, their website is slower than molasses in winter here in south dakota. I couldn't find a single snowflake wheel on their site and performanceplustire stocks year-one wheels. Just going to keep looking  

Hello

Sorry you are having trouble with everything. Hope this helps. Performance plus lists rev wheels on their site. If you type "performance plus rev wheels" into your google or other search engine their url listing saying rev wheels in the url will show up. rev wheels is at the bottom of their screen in bold type on their home page. If they are not in stock they can get them.

The rev wheels site loads instantly for me but obviously our systems and providers are probably different. I can only offer this. I use firefox browser now, it is free to download. My ie browser will not load this site or many others so I don’t use it anymore. Don’t have a clue what the problem is, I’m not a computer guy.

Rev does not carry the snowflakes in any size. You can still contact both companies directly with the numbers I provided if you want different style wheels.

The 17's I saw were 9" wide. here is another site that has a sort of similar wheel to yours in 16 and 17.

http://www.firebirdcentral.com/1967_1981_16_x_8_Firebird_Trans_Am_Wheels_p
/whe-2104.htm

http://www.firebirdcentral.com/FIREBIRD_Wheel_Kits_s/372.htm



This place restores yours and pays for shipping both ways. they may have a single if you have a bad one. $675.00 total price

http://www.fbodywarehouse.com/fbw/product.php?productid=13&cat=51&page=1



This place sells originals outright restored. free shipping $1085.00

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Trans-Am-SE15x8-Gold-Y88-Y84-Snowflake-WS6-Wheels-Rims-Firebird-Formula-/320875641325?ru=http://search.ebay.com:80/search/search.dll?query=320875641325&fvi=1