Engraving on Alcoa 50th Anniversary Wheels

[Eviltwins344]

I pulled off my wheels today to install my BMR upper control arm and paint my rear calipers when I noticed these hand written engravings on the inner lip of the wheels. I only photographed two of the wheels as all of them are different. Anyone know if these have any significance??

 

[Snoopy49]

The markings were used at Alcoa to keep track of the wheels when they went to heat treating.

 

[Eviltwins344]

Awesome, thanks. That seems logical, I thought maybe they were numbered or something wacky like that.

 

[Snoopy49]

When I got my wheels from Shelby, those marking were the first thing I noticed and boy was I pissed. It looked like someone gave a 5 year old a scribe and told him to practice on my wheels. I thought that Shelby may have marked them and I gave them a call and demanded an answer. They denied marking the tires. I then sent an e-mail to Alcoa and asked them about the markings and let them know how pissed I was about the way they were marked. I got a call from the Quality Manager at Alcoa and that is how I found out about the purpose of the markings. I then e-mailed him a few pictures of the back of the wheel and told him there are better and more professional ways to mark a high dollar wheel. It was explained to me that any markings on the backside of the wheel were not considered a problem and as such were allowed. If you can't see it once the wheel is installed, it doesn't exist. This also goes for any minor nicks or gouges on the backside of the rim.

 

[Eviltwins344]

Interesting downplay of what others might consider damage. Lol. I'm ok with the engraving but I think I'd loose my S$@T over nicks as you describe. Did you ever ask or were informed of how many sets of the 50s were made?

 

[Snoopy49]

I heard that it was 200 sets.

 

[Eviltwins344]

That's about what I heard too.