2000 MGM tire and wheel options

[EaOutlaw1969]

My new to me 2000 MGM needs tires the old ones are severly dry rotted and at least one is seperating plus there are three different make and model tires on this car.

To add to this the stock 16 inch wheels need to be restored, I got an estimate from a local wheel restorer to restore the factory wheels at 140 dollars each which includes mounting and balancing my supplied new tires and valve stems, the center caps he claims are a worry and would not provide a quote unless he inspected them in person. so who knows how much that will cost.

Normally at this point I would just go on Tire rack pick out some wheels and tires and have them shipped to my local shop, yet when I look up tires and wheels for my car I have three options
two 16 inch American racing wheels torq thrust one chrome the other Bright PVD the third wheel option is just for a steel wheel.

My Dad bought these wheels for his MGM but they had at the time the painted version for cheap yet his wheels has cleanace issues for the stick on weights on the front wheels and said if he had to do it over again he would go for the 17 inch wheels at minimum.

My car will sit alot and I do not want to be a slave to the wheels contantly cleaning and or waxing them. Any suggestions for a decent tire wheel combo used new etc I am all ears.

Thanks guys for any input

I was thinking about taking one wheel at a time and use aircraft stripper to them then do what I can to wet sand and polish them back up and clear coat them when I get done.

the thought of this work is making my neck and back hurt allready so this is the last option for me but not out of the question because I have way more time than money and I could work on each wheel at my own pace.

[87gtVIC]

Those look to easy to not do by yourself.

I'd do the aircraft stripping.

I'd scotch brite the inlayed areas really really well.

I'd get a cheap orbital sander and some 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 sandpaper for it. Get a soft interface pad if possible as well.

Sand the wheels good with the orbital sander up to to 2000. Do all of this wet.

I'd paint the inserts after half ass masking them off.

Resand the wheel and polish it with metal polish or just clear coat the finish after the final 2000 grit sanding.

Centercaps should not be an issue. Aircraft strip them and polish them up. Can sand up to 2000 and clear as well.




I had a set of HPPs powdercoated last year. Cost 500 even for mounting balancing with my supplied wheels. I dropped them off in my other car one day and two days later picked them up..had to put three in the back seat and one in the trunk of the Benz.

[EaOutlaw1969]

Those look to easy to not do by yourself.

I'd do the aircraft stripping.

I'd scotch brite the inlayed areas really really well.

I'd get a cheap orbital sander and some 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 sandpaper for it. Get a soft interface pad if possible as well.

Sand the wheels good with the orbital sander up to to 2000. Do all of this wet.

I'd paint the inserts after half ass masking them off.

Resand the wheel and polish it with metal polish or just clear coat the finish after the final 2000 grit sanding.

Centercaps should not be an issue. Aircraft strip them and polish them up. Can sand up to 2000 and clear as well.




I had a set of HPPs powdercoated last year. Cost 500 even for mounting balancing with my supplied wheels. I dropped them off in my other car one day and two days later picked them up..had to put three in the back seat and one in the trunk of the Benz.

I think I will work on the center caps first, If I can get the center caps done it should be a good gauge for how much pain I will have to endure while trying to work on the wheels.

[EaOutlaw1969]

Yesturday I stripped the clear coat from one of the center caps to find the pitting has destoryed these caps, They are not just stainless steel they have a texture machined feel to them where they feel like a vinyl LP. these caps cannot be saved at least i cannot save them LOL.

So for now I am just going to sit here and pout while I try and find some replacement wheels that are easy to clean LOL

[EaOutlaw1969]

Knowing I could not make my wheels and center caps worse than they are, i decided to put some effort into making them look better.

I was hoping to be able to polish the center caps and keep the OEM machine look and feel so they match the wheels OEM finish which is not a full mirror polish.

Before I started I found a ebay seller that has New OLD stock center caps that fit my car.

It seems this eBay seller is the only one online that I have found that has these and they know it as they are very proud of these caps.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/WHEEL-CENTER-CAP-98-02-MERCURY-GRAND-MARQUIS-95-99-MERCURY-SABLE-BRAND-NEW/161001997089?hash=item257c778321:g:~k8AAOxyzHxRK9W8&vxp=mtr#vi-ilComp

Not wanting to spend almost 70 dollars per center cap or pay to have my wheels refinished or worse buy other wheels for a car that cost 1200 dollars I spent some time
working toward making these wheels look aceptable.

I am far from done with the center cap or wheel from the drivers side front yet I have made some progress in making them look better.

I still have to finish sanding out all of the machine lines from the center cap and go for a full mirror polish look on the center caps and possibly the wheels. I may decide to dull it back down with some scotch bright pads so I can get some clear coat paint to stick to them.

So far the wheel has been stripped and sanded with 320 grit and I spent some time with 400 grit yet I still have more sanding to do before I move up to the 600 grit paper and 1000 grit paper I have in stock.

I was able to put a couple hours of work on this experimaent before my back shut me down, I am not looking forward to the rest of the work that will be involved on these wheels and i wish i could afford to just buy the center caps and pay to have the work done to these wheels yet if I spent the cash on this trival work it will keep me from driving it that much longer.

I am pretty sure the second picture is the before any work picture.

[Tiggie]

I like the polished!

[EaOutlaw1969]

Here is what the wheel looks like with some more work done to it, The wheel is far from finished but I am finished with these wheels, Both my arms from the elbows down are numb and my back and neck is killing me.

I guess this is just another project my mind wants to do but my body will not let me. I may work on these wheels in the future some more but for now I am done and will be looking for someone else to finish this task.

[87gtVIC]

Came out very very nice so far.


Some power tools would have helped you our greatly. Your nuts for doing this by hand! Nice work.

[Mainemantom]

I like the shine !

[EaOutlaw1969]

Thanks guys I like the mirror finish also, It shined so much I had to take a picture from a different angle so you did not see the giant hole in my ceiing drywall from a AC leak we had. LOL

[monterey1962]

Holy crap, that looks great! I need to do that to my F-150's wheels.

[EaOutlaw1969]

Thanks, it is still far from finished which is why I have been trying to work out a less painful way of doing this.

Yesturday I ordered a inexpensive replacement hub assembly from amazon that I plan on bolting to my makeshift table with some large ball joint press spacers and all thread

then i will bolt the wheel and tire to the hub turning it into a giant lazy susan, pictured you can see my bicycle work stand which clamps on to my drill perfectley and allows manual adjustment sort of like a lathe.

I am hoping this mess with some tuning or other items will allow me to sand and polish the entire wheel and center cap to a perfect mirror finish without killing my neck, back or arms.

I am looking to evenly remove the machine marks on the wheels along with the corrision stains that I have not yet removed completley.

This will be a less than ideal sanding - polishing system yet I am hopeful it will be enough to get the desired results.

Any input or ideas would be appreciated, I am pretty sure I will have to add weight to the base of my stand and stablity to the arm which I plan on using ratcheting straps

Here are links to a few inexpenisve items I ordered to do this job I did also order a wheel weight remover and valve stem puller.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004Z4DK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004A2YDU2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072C6M6XX/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[EaOutlaw1969]

Came out very very nice so far.


Some power tools would have helped you our greatly. Your nuts for doing this by hand! Nice work.

I was doing the wet sanding by hand and the polishing with my bench grinder and power drill and orbiting polisher yet I only did this to see if I could save the wheels and center caps, now I am working on making a less painful method to do this work plus maintain the finish in the future.

The vibrations from the orbiting polisher was the worse for me because it shakes my hands and neck, yet standing there working the drill was not fun either trying to hold the drill in front of me which pulls on my neck and lower back.

I am so hopeful my redneck polishing system works out.

[gadget73]

I was thinking of making a similar sort of wheel lathe for polishing purposes but I can't make myself purchase a hub assembly for it. Maybe I'll grab a used one from the junkyard. Wheels look great though.

[EaOutlaw1969]

Thanks gadget73 I figured I could use the hub eventually on my car.