How To DIY Alloy Wheel Repair Refurbishment! (pics)

[joshwa]

I needed to refurb one of my alloy wheels (I need to refurb them all actually) and have 1 spare one so started with that... I got instructions from a friend and this is the first refurb of an alloy wheel I've ever done...

Before:


Although the pics a bit naff, the wheel has: Lots of kerbing, scratches, dents, bubbles in the paint etc.

First step: Sand all down with 80, fill dents, scratches, kerbing etc (with david's isopon filler from motorworld), sand 80, then 240:


** clean wheel like mad! ** (sugar soap spray is good at removing dirt and grime, or clean in the bath, but be careful not to mark / knacker your bath!)

Second step: Spray with hi-build primer: (1 light, 10min wait, 1 heavy coat, 10 min wait, 1 heavy coat - same process for all spraying: primer, paint, lacquer)


Allow to dry over night

Third step: Sand wet (with some washing up liquid) 1000 wet n dry, then you can spray with silver spray paint:


Allow to dry (30+ minutes)
Forth step: spray with lacquer.


Optional step (but a good idea) - "finish" the lacquer - with very fine wet and dry (eg 1500 / 2000) to remove any roughness, then using something like Scratch X to remove any marks left by the sandpaper.

Then polish and admire your handy work

Lessons learnt:

- Always test sprays on something else prior to wheel - I had a bad can of lacquer that didn't spray - it just dripped on the paint and melted it away, meaning I had to re-sand / re-spray that area again leaving some small wobbly bits as can be seen in the last pic (I could have resanded down and re-filled but was impatient and didn't want to take it back down to the primer stage).

- If you get small hairs in - don't try removing it when wet! This will bodge surrounding area and you'll need to respray / resand / refill area potentially taking it back to primer stage. Apparently it's easier to remove when dry (obviously I learnt the hard way)

[dave87]

Looking good, luckily its bloody difficult to kerb the Enkei's on my bike

[Zak33]

Josh...thats' bloody marvelous

And I saw them as they were .... that's superb mate

[joshwa]

My plan is to do the spare one, get that put back on the car, then do the next spare one, they all have varying amounts of damage on them, and as long as I use the same spray paint every time, they should all eventually match each other

The wheel above that I did also had a slow leak because the paint on the inside of the wheel (where the tyre sits) was all bubbling letting air escape, so I had to sand all the insides off as well to get rid of the paint bubbles. (some places like ATS have a buffer for this kind of thing, but I've had varying levels of service from various places, so I thought it'd be best to do it myself)

[Lowe]

I've got a set of rims which I'm thinking of having a go at in the summer when the weather's a bit better. Gonna do em a nice gloss white, rally style.

[SilentDeath]

The look nice but I think its morally wrong to have painted alloys they should be pollished, sandbalsted, or powdercoated
That said, paint will fill any scratches a lot better than pollishing - or rather pollishing them out will take long long time..

says me with my steel wheels and plastic trim, a zip tie on each to hold it on!

[Konan555]

Only thing I'd query is piddling about with the high build. I just spray it on thick-thick-thick-thick, 2 minutes between coats. As long as the surface is good to key to, there's no probs. I don't even worry about runs on it as it sands back so quickly.

Just let it dry for 24 hours.

[joshwa]

Only thing I'd query is piddling about with the high build. I just spray it on thick-thick-thick-thick, 2 minutes between coats. As long as the surface is good to key to, there's no probs. I don't even worry about runs on it as it sands back so quickly.

Just let it dry for 24 hours.

Do you use a hairdryer between coats? or does it dry quickly enough anyway?

[Konan555]

If you mist the stuff I use on too lightly, it actually falls on dry and powedery and won't stick. I just let it go tacky (couple of minutes) before doing another layer. No hairryers in sight (that's for fixing bumpers with epoxy )

[madmaca]

That's an awesome guide fella - my alloys are looking seriously second hand atm (that's what happens when the missus drives the car 5 days a week )

So come summer time - I might give this a go

[Butuz]

Very good!

Have to give this a go one day!

Butuz

[Capt Doufos]

They have come up really well. Keep thinking about doing my accord alloys, but they have a fair bit of damage.

[99Flake]

Looks good!! Luckily I know a guy who does this for a living so I can get 2 wheels done for £20. Really need to get my n/s/f done! He generally only sands back a little way and blends the edge though instead of doing the whole wheel.

[joshwa]

I've done my second wheel using the same technique again - the chap fitting it back onto my car was impressed by the job I'd done

Pics: Before:


Sanded and filled and sanded :


Primered and sanded again:


Sprayed and lacquered:


I'll post another thread with pics of the car with the wheels fitted

Does anyone have any recommendations of something (like wax) that I can put on to protect them a bit?

I've had my car (hand) washed and waxed and they did the wheels but don't know if this will suffice.

Josh

[J4MES]

the lacquer should do the job fine, but keep them waxed with turtle wax (or similar) as well to help protect them... i've got a vintage set of 5 '80s ford pepperpot alloys to do sometime - will be using your hand guide..

[joshwa]

the lacquer should do the job fine, but keep them waxed with turtle wax (or similar) as well to help protect them... i've got a vintage set of 5 '80s ford pepperpot alloys to do sometime - will be using your hand guide..

Cool I'll get some next time I'm at the right kind of shop.

I'm glad you like the guide, I gotta thank the guy who does it for a living who told me how to do it

Put some pics of them fitted to the car here:
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=103407