How To DIY Alloy Wheel Repair Refurbishment! (pics)

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:

http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...l_refurb_1.jpg
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:
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...b-2sandedf.jpg

** 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)
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...rb-3primed.jpg

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:
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...b-4sprayed.jpg

Allow to dry (30+ minutes)
Forth step: spray with lacquer.
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...b-5lacquer.jpg

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)

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

Josh...thats' bloody marvelous :)

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

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)

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. :D

The look nice but I think its morally wrong to have painted alloys :p 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! :)

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.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 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.

---

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

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 ;) )

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 :thumbsup:

Very good!

Have to give this a go one day! :D

Butuz

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

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.

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:
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...heel2-pic1.jpg

Sanded and filled and sanded :) :
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...heel2-pic2.jpg

Primered and sanded again:
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...heel2-pic3.jpg

Sprayed and lacquered:
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...heel2-pic4.jpg

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

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..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 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..

---

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

great guide mate, i used this to refurb some rims i got off ebay :D

unfortunatly, i cant seem to spray the laquer right and its not a smooth texture, more like a 'orange peel'. have you got any info on how to spray the laquer on so it ends un nice, smooth and shiney?

i will post up pics as soon as my post count is over 5:mrgreen:

thanks very much

:: blade :: :mrgreen:

here are the pics

before:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...-10-300000.jpg

after:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...-3-2800001.jpg

hope you like, just need to laquer them when i find out how to do it properly, :lol:

Sounds like a dodgy can of lacquer to me. Unless it's re-acting to the paint you've used. Are they both (the paint and lacquer) from the same brand?

edit - just seen the pics - very nice chrome metallic look! wow! Is that halfords stuff? What colour / paint did you get?

yea im using the halford stuff, as i find it easy to use, and i use all the same brand when spraying :) the colour is ford graphite grey, as i wanted something darker than silver but not as dark as black as they will be eventually going onto a black car when it gets sprayed.

You could try one of the nozzels from the other cans on the can of lacquer. Or perhaps you might need to wait longer between the paint and lacquer stage? I'm not sure really, as I'm not familiar with Halfords spray paints, plus I'm no expert :)

ive let the colour dry for over a week, lol, because i didnt have the money at the time for the laquer

I don't mean to p**s on your fire, and you have done a nice job, but to save all that hassel wouldn't it be better just keep away from the kirb?

lol, theyve not been on my car yet, i got em off ebay like that for £31 :mrgreen:

I ment in general to the overall post (How To DIY Alloy Wheel Repair Refurbishment!) not just you :confused:
Good buy though.

Nice wheels blade - Mum had similar ones fitted to her Escort GTi - looked lovely. Loved that car, shame we got rid of it, bout 5 years ago now....

cheers dave, there like the GTis, but are smaller :D mine are 13" and not 15"-16", everyone on fiestaturbo.com has got them so i thought id be different :D

Hi Blade - did you get to the bottom of this? Were you spraying at room temperature, or outside on a cold day? Josh

PS - I've just done my third wheel and used Carplan / Tetrysol "Alloy wheel" Spray paint - Colour "Bright Silver" as the colour I picked originally seems a bit like dark grey / matt grey.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by :: blade ::

cheers dave, there like the GTis, but are smaller :D mine are 13" and not 15"-16", everyone on fiestaturbo.com has got them so i thought id be different :D

---

I wondered why they looked odd in the photo (compared to their larger brother)

The wicked thing about Mum's car was, that although there were thousands of escort GTis in the UK, there were only a handful of GTi Estates. Was quite cool :)

thinking of trying this on wifes car if i could get few spares :(

how much do garages charge to remove tyre then refit after?

If you\'ve got a friendly mechanic, a couple of pints I would guess. Not likely to be much more...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by listy

thinking of trying this on wifes car if i could get few spares :(

how much do garages charge to remove tyre then refit after?

---

If you don't mind putting your spare wheel on your car, you can swap the wheels, take the alloy inside (or where-ever), and you can mask off the whole tyre area, then refurb the alloy.

It tends to depend on the garage, occassionally they'll do it for free, other times they'll want £10 (for new valve, balancing).

Here's a pic of the latest wheel I've done:
http://forums.hexus.net/members/josh...l-repair-3.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 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..

---

On the subject of turtlewax - do you think there's any difference between car wax (like turtlewax) and alloy wheel wax?

I've tried both - the alloy wheel wax (again turlewax stuff, but in a spray bottle) seems like clear wax - but I can't really tell any difference between it and the traditional (car) turtlewax.

Josh

not used the spray type, but i'm inclined towards the 'traditional' wipe-on stuff - you'll get an even coat which you can always reapply easily.. but it's turtlewax, so either will be decent (imho of course..)

I would say liquid is best. The spray cans will have other non-wax things to make it more sprayable, there will be far less in the can, and cost more...

spraying wax cant work too well (imo), since you will get droplets of wax rather than a smoth surface created by wiping. It probably wont stay on as long either...

Good Jobs on the alloys, very good job, just a quick question, how is the best way to rub down a set of 16 spoke alloys. I bought them very cheap to put on my 2002 fiesta as i have a feeling i will wreck them but would like to respray them. I have attempted it once, and got an okay job, but the paint was quite thin inbetween the spokes (the inner of the spoke)

Great work on your wheels, I dont have the guts to try my self so I got fenwicksupplies dot com to do mine They did a fantastic job, even came out to my house to do them. Sorry carnt put a link up yet but google will get you there. I saw their van in my local dealers and got chatting to the technician, thought if the dealer uses them why not me.

Just wondering how much paint/lackquer you all used?

Since its about £7 a can in halfords, and my guess is that I could need 5 cans or more if Im going to lacquer them properly (and not just the outer face, wouldnt want them to corrode badly inside..)

Im not going to paint them though, just lacquer after I get a decent finnish on them (wheather it be smooth pollished, or wirebrushed, not sure - you dont see many alloys with a brushed finnish, they all have crappy dull painted finnish that doesnt shine in the same way.).

Also, many different types of laquer - acrylic, cellulose, epoxy etc.. I know acrylic sucks and wont last more than a few weeks, although most seem to be this type. Halfords have a few cans of cellulose type which I think would be best (costs more)

Im also going to have a look for a local shop that could lacquer them, since I guess they will have plenty of laquer, for all the things they paint, might be cheaper than buying cans of the stuff (for a better finnish)

from personal experience, halfords paint and laquer is terrible...

get yourself to a local paint store, where they specialise...

i use my local one (www.romartautomotive.co.uk) and thier color match is excellent.

nice work on the refurbing too. havent done it personally, but theres a guide on the car forum im part of and it looks like it could be a bit of fun.

it can also be worth a visit to your local powder coating unit, you can get then coated with a variety of materials, im not 100% sure if they do a clear acrylic coat, but thats hard as nails and the wheels would be good for years to come !

thats my plan, a trip up the motorway on the right day and they will pop them in on a run and coat them with clear.

Spoke to many people today..

I will possibly try tinned lacquer (the sort usually used for wood - however I belive it is polyurethane, which can be used on metal, and might even find some cellulose stuff too...) - rather than spray cans, which would be far too expensive

...but I found out that I wont need them lacquered, *if* they are not painted, and they get a regular oil/wax to prevent corrosion (to be done after washing car etc, probably also after long journeys or near sea)

Also I will probably not touch the hub side of the wheel. It wont be seen, and the original lacquer is still good there.. but I will clean up the rims/tyre seat, as parts have started to bubble and might affect the seal.

I found a company that can bead blast them for £10-15 per wheel. Its quite a lot, but might be worth it. It would give them a nice but slighty matt finnish (or rough matt finnish if they were sandblasted first).
Not sure about this, but going to look for a cheaper place.
Bead blasting will not touch the lacquer, so would need to be removed first by me, or sandblasting (sandblasting eats aluminuim very fast in my experience although they tell me they can turn it down a lot, and i think he said it wouldnt cost more).

you no what that is a very good guide i strarted mine pics comming soon keep ur eyes here lol

I've been doing this with my wheels. I've done one so far. But had problems masking off the tyre, i eventually managed to do it. But now doing my second wheel, the masking tape won't stick to the tyre again.

Any tips?

Some people cover the tyre in vasolene - then any spray goes on the vasolene and you just wipe it off afterwards - although I've never tried it myself.

Quote:

---

fill dents, scratches, kerbing etc (with david's isopon filler from motorworld),

---

...at which point, you may have invalidated your insurance and created a potential death trap. Alloy wheels MUST only be repaired by a qualified welder/repairer and then subsequently heat-treated to take out the welding stress. If the wheel was badly damaged enough to need filling, it should be scrapped. Any filled damage just hides a potential stress point that could cause the wheel to crack and fail suddenly, most likely under heavy cornering stress. Sell a repaired wheel done with disguised filler and it could be a criminal offence, regardless of how nice it looks. Bottom line is, alloy wheels can't be refurbished cheaply and attempting to do so is very dangerous. Sorry to 'rain on your parade', as the irritating Astra advert would have it, but alloy wheels are expensive for a reason - they are highly engineered, safety critical components and must be treated as such.
:surprised:

I think we're talking minor imperfections caused through day-to-day wear here pal(surface scratches/scrapes caused by kerbing/stone chipping etc.), not cracks though spokes caused by crashing! You use filler on your walls at home, and don't expect the roof to come crashing down ;)

Quote:

---

I think we're talking minor imperfections caused through day-to-day wear here pal

---

Problem is, once it's ben filled and painted, how can you tell what the underlying damage is? I wouldn't touch painted alloys with a barge pole.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SilentDeath

Since its about £7 a can in halfords

---

£5.49 in my store (Motorworld) and based on what customers have said Halfruads service (at least in kendal) is a joke.

Hi there - this is my first post so hello to all regulars!

I found this site because I have just scraped one of the alloys on my 2 day old car :censored: and was looking for a way to lessen the damage! Without going into the full refursbishment i.e filling, painting, finishing... is there a quick way to improve the appearance of the wheel e.g by rubbing down or smoothing the scratch? A mate told me to approach the wheel with steel wool but I am unsure of this!! Although highly annoying the damage isn't major so it wouldn't be worth my while having the wheel completely repainted/refinished.

Thanks!

hi guys, i've just started refurbing my alloys and have chosen to sand right down to bare metal, hoping to get a better finish, do you think i will benefit from this, it takes a hell of alot of work. Thanks!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kch1888

Hi there - this is my first post so hello to all regulars!

I found this site because I have just scraped one of the alloys on my 2 day old car :censored: and was looking for a way to lessen the damage! Without going into the full refursbishment i.e filling, painting, finishing... is there a quick way to improve the appearance of the wheel e.g by rubbing down or smoothing the scratch? A mate told me to approach the wheel with steel wool but I am unsure of this!! Although highly annoying the damage isn't major so it wouldn't be worth my while having the wheel completely repainted/refinished.

Thanks!

---

Was the car new straight of the forecourt new? If so the minium you should clean it thoroughly and then once 100% dry, give the scratched area a light coat/spray of acrylic based lacquer. This is clear stuff, and shouldnt be noticable. only do a tiny bit just to cover the scrached area. It will stop it from getting worse due to water and corrosion.
Also a good idea on old alloys I think, ill do it to mine before I get the new tyres put on. Mine have kerbing around the outer rim from previous owner.. which is going to turn horrible if I leave it.

Hi Joshwa, how did you like the color match of the CARPLAN silver spray compared to the original color?
I find the SIMONIZ stuff to be too dark. :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jansko

Hi Joshwa, how did you like the color match of the CARPLAN silver spray compared to the original color?
I find the SIMONIZ stuff to be too dark. :(

---

The match wasn't great - which is why I'm having to refurb all the wheels - I think the original wheels have also faded over time into a white-ish silver - whereas new audi alloys are sort of a slightly yellowy silver. I didn't look into it much so don't know what's best, but there's probably a guide or official information somewhere out there?

Ok, i did one wheel and i plan to overspray it with HOLTZ Duplicolor silver. It may not be the best match but is certainly brighter and thats what I want. :/
Thanks for info.
How many wheels do you have ready by now anyway?

I've started again with mine - as I put some of them on - and then they got a bit scuffed - and decided to do them all at the same time (and have sanded them all ready for spraying). But in the meantime I've got some different wheels on.

:D bump

im going to be doing this, to a set of these old things http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j.../oldalloys.jpg

nowww.. black or white?

edit: or gunmetal? or bronze?

What colours the car? :)

red :)

see the trouble? they all go!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...vics/eg015.jpg
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/1721/64057069tn7.png
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...RAZYJDM021.jpg

while you are here Mr. Joshwa - how many cans of primer/paint/lacquer would you say you would use for a set of 4?

I've always wanted white wheels on a red car, and gold wheels on a blue car :D

As to how many cans - I'm really sorry - I can't remember at all - plus it probably depends how big the wheels are and how much surface area they have - and also whether you're doing them as a batch (eg all 4 at the same time).

It's also recommended that you don't use the very beginning and end of the can on the wheels as this is where you get drops / splatters etc.

im actually leaning towards white myself..

im going to be production lining them so to speak, not putting them on till there all the same colour :D come on, rough guesstimate. there 15"ers

I think I was getting 1 and a half wheels done with 1 can - this was with 17" wheels - so at a guess you may be able to do 2 wheels with one can - but if you're going from black to white you might need more?

going to hopefully sand most of the black off, but that's perfect.. 3 cans of each to make sure it is then :D

Methinks I will do this to my car next time I get a reasonable amount of time off, looks pretty time consuming but worth it

Is it worth taking the tyre off the alloy first? I'm guessing so

iv seen guides that leave it on and just use masking tape and newspaper.. i have no idea how to remove the tyre from anything but a mountain bike so my options are limited there

Same here, also dont fancy taking off and putting 4 tyrees on lol

oh nice, the results look pretty good. my brother has some wheels that need to doing, could i trouble you to write down a complete of what's need to carry out the diy work?

if no-one else has by the morn ill do it. but probably better coming from someone who has actually done it if you know what i mean

that would be very kind :) as i've got an idea about a couple of things, but in general have never worked on these kind of things, i'd like to do it, but don't wanna end up getting something that isn't right.

if i get it going, i'll post pics of the process also!

this is going to kill me. got about half the paint off one in 3 hours :(

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...oldalloys2.jpg

work in progress on wheel 2. my god this is a time killer, why didnt i just leave em black :o

Lee, you gonna turn them white? Personally I think bronze would suit the car colour, but white goes as well.

Also wish I had that much spare time on my hands, it does look like a bugger of a job though!

the time on my hands is running out, was dark for 7:30 tonight and thats only going to get worse :confused: doesnt seem that long ago that wimbledon was going on at half 9 :(

yep white at the moment, with big red wheel nuts :D iv got another 2.5 to go and then curbing fixing so by the time i get round to the spraying who knows :laugh:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sooo. for step 1, old paint removal the exact tools you will need are:

Paint and Rust Remover Pad
Automotive Paint Remover ( 2 for 4 wheels i reckon)
paint brush
some kind of paint catching device like cardboard that you can fold and pour, or a binbag torn flat

cost: about £18.00
time: if you are as slow as me, around 20 hours :(

right, iv pretty much finished paint removal now, hour max.. if i feel brave i may spray two of them tonight...

any last minute tips apart from already mentioned stuff?

mehhhhh. nice day and to wheels totally ready so i thaught id make hay so to speak.

[IMG]http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00081.jpg[/IMG]
taped up and ready to roll with the primer
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00082.jpg
coat one
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00083.jpg
coat two
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00086.jpg
coat three
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00087.jpg
coat four
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00088.jpg
the pair
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00089.jpg
masking off.. mmmm nice

that is a nice job dude!

i was really worried about this, but so far it has been mucho easier than the paint removal..

Excellent job guys - I'm really impressed, I currently looking for a company in the West Midlands to do mine, any recomendations ?

LC

do it yourself! :p bloody hard work though tbh but lots of satisfaction

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00095.jpg
painted and lacqured, lacquer not yet dry, then needs a gentle sanding

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00094.jpg
yummy

Thanks for this - I'll give it a go as I had a bit of a moment the other day involving a kerb and 18s. D'oh.

Hi,

I've had a quote from 2 companies;

wickedwheels

smartcare repair

has any one used either ?

recomendations anyone ?

cheers

lc

just shy of a month start to finish but at last....

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00099.jpg

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ima...ing-banana.gif
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ima...ing-banana.gif
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ima...ing-banana.gif
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ima...ing-banana.gif
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ima...ing-banana.gif
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ima...ing-banana.gif
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ima...ing-banana.gif

whew. cheap motorworld wheel nuts for now, tyres need some tyre cleaner, and it was awful weather this morning so they are dirt already :( but JOB DONE

looks like I will do this to mine if I get a free weekend soon :)

Will pick up all the stuff when I need when I go home, best to work on the spare first? (replacing the front tyres soon)

Looking good madduck! :cool: Can you post a side on photo of your car? (I bet that would look cool)

finlay - yeah try your spare first, but it's probably best to do them all as a batch if possible, or make sure you have enough spraypaint for all of them so there's no chance of any mismatches.

not from where its parked now but if i remember tomorrow ill snap one in the car park :)

nice job - i'm impressed!

no recomendations yet ???

I think i'm going to use smartcare as they are nearer - anyone used them before ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cadds

no recomendations yet ???

---

i just dont think anyone has used one sorry :( probably best looking in a car specific forum tbh

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...c/DSC00101.jpg

side on pic for joshwa

Hi all,

Found this link very inteteresting.

What do you reckon

Just bought some Alloys from ebay the rims are in good condition the tyres have got plenty of tred left.

I currently have 15" on my car the new one are 16" checked all the tire dimensions. to make sure it they wont mess up the speedo and gearing etc.

looking a the rims the have a shine to them however there is a plastic coating over them which i think is some kind of clear powder coating to protects them, I have spoke to a couple of companies the rekon it needs to Acid dipped to remove then refurbed then re powder coated
the initially quoted me £65.00 ea if it take the tyre to them will do for £50 each.

Dont really want to spend 200 quid if can do it myself however I woldn't be able to clear powder coat I assume this is the equivlilant to the laqureing

Given the work and the cost of Sprays etc. yes will be cheaper but will it be worth it.

does anyone know the best way to take the clear plastic powdre coating off or does it really need to be acid dipped

I would be interested in your comments

Fireoyster

sandpaper + wet dry?

and IIRC unless your new tyres have a lower profile your speedo will be messed up as the radius/diameter will be larger

The pics are gr8.
My alloys arent badly marked or kerbed.
Theyre from an early model TT(so I've been told)and have lost their "look".
Is there another way of refurbishing them as I'm not keen on spray painting?:O_o1:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by $n0wD0613

The pics are gr8.
My alloys arent badly marked or kerbed.
Theyre from an early model TT(so I've been told)and have lost their "look".
Is there another way of refurbishing them as I'm not keen on spray painting?:O_o1:

---

You could try a gentle polishing compound such as Scratch X - perhaps using this will clean up the top layer, and then polish with some alloy wheel polish?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by finlay666

and IIRC unless your new tyres have a lower profile your speedo will be messed up as the radius/diameter will be larger

---

:laugh: i know this is old but im going to respond anyway, the variation in speedo -> actual speed because of my lower profile tyres has saved me on more than one occasion

Hi, im having a go at wheel refurbing. Im following the guide on the first page.

Do i have to sand the whole wheel down to the primer underneath or just the damaged areas?

ive taken the paint of all over the outer face of the wheel & its down to grey primer stuff underneith, can i leave it at that & start filling the chips or do i need to go deeper?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Should be okay as long as your surface is smooth, and the paint you are using doesn't re-act to the paint already on the wheel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AgtX

Hi, im having a go at wheel refurbing. Im following the guide on the first page.

Do i have to sand the whole wheel down to the primer underneath or just the damaged areas?

ive taken the paint of all over the outer face of the wheel & its down to grey primer stuff underneith, can i leave it at that & start filling the chips or do i need to go deeper?

Thanks in advance for any help.

---

http://www.partridges.uk.com/catalog..._Mors_1000.jpg

sod sanding, get some of that on it

I hear you, my fingers are proper sore. Will use that if i do this again.

I don't mean to bump this for no reason - but I've fixed the images! Yay! :)
And am following this guide while doing my mini alloys - finally gonna have some white alloys on a red car :cool: