Touching up rims or Wheel refurbishment. A work in progress

[Little John]

After my spray painting of the chrome V for my Vectra It hought I would try somthing else, Everytime my dad used my car he hit the curb when parking it so my wheels are not quite perfect, I have painted the bits silver so they don't stand out as much but They really need refurbing so I thought I would have a go myself. Knowing how long it took to do the V at my rate I could't just take a wheel off and run on the space saver spare so I need to buy a replacement wheel before I can start on mine so I can have a full sized wheel on all the time. So to practise I have bought a wheel to have a play with with the hope of doing this to the wheels on mine, my dad's and sisters cars. The wheel I bought is one that matches my sisters Corsa sxi so not too bad she has a full alloy spare now. bought from a local scrappy via ebay for £55.

This is the car it came off, before agreeing to buy I had a look at the wheel to check for any cracks or chunks missing and it was OK as this was the only untouched corner of the car.

I took it to a local tyre place and got them to check the tyre for running under inflated and other damage to either the tyre or wheel apart from a puncture it was fine.

Stuff used (not advertiseing I hope these are companies I have bought from in the past)
Valet pro Bilbery wheel cleaner, no acidic very gentle on wheels
Brushes Vikan multi purpose brush and a swissvax wheel brush
Autosmart Tardis
Poly clay just becasue I had some used but not dead clay
Meguiars last touch for clay lube
400 grit wet and dry paper pretty rough compared to the stuff I normally use on cars but it removes the paint very well and leaves a nice keyed finish for the primer to bond to. I have 600, 1200, 2000, 2500, 3000 and 4000 for the later stages.

to be used in the future stages.
Metal filler I have is David's Isopon Metalik Paste
Primer, paint and laquer (clear coat) will be bought from the local auto paints place rattle can form, I will be buying 4 cans of the colour at the same time to ensure that they are all mixed in the same batch and are the same colour.

So the wheel before, not really that dirty especially as it could be nearly 12 month old wheel it was an 08 car just like my sisters car.



Cleaned with valet pro bilberry wheel cleaner and a few brushes, left a few tar spots, a quick going over with Auto smart tardis sorted them out after a quick rub with my finger.

All gone now from the back and front and nice and clean looking.



I also used soem detailing clay on the wheel just to make sure I haven't missed anything there was a few patches of transport wax on the inner rim and in the centre which the clay removed easily.
5 of the spokes had some damage 4 curb and one stone chip, a few shots of the damage




and the stone chip

I then cut up a sheet of 400 grit wet and dry soaked it in some soapy water for a while and using a hose to keep it wet during sanding. Sanded the spokes with the damage on them and surprisingly the damage was mainly to the paint and not the alloy underneith.
4th damage spokes after sanding, just a few low spots which need filling

stone chip spoke (2nd after the valve)

The rest of the wheel nearly all sanded, I think I have used my thumb to sand the wheel in some parts as I have a blister building up and I wore the skin away. its very sore.

The 2 near spokes still need sanding and the centre section. I'm not sure if I should be sanding all down to the primer or even further to bare metal or just removing the top surface to give a keyed surface for the primer to bond to. The surfaces sanded are smooth as a baby's bum and it looks pretty good so far.

At the moment its snowing so there is no way I'm standing outside sanding the rest of the wheel in snow, it was raining yesterday while I was doing what I did but I was a little bored and it gave me somthing to do.

Any constructive criticism is welcome.

[Mario87]

Top post as per usual LJ! Keep 'em coming!

[jjcool]

very detailed guide little john, very good m8

[liveseytowers]

Excellent mate, you have the patience of a saint! I got my car washed for the first time since you looked at it for me last week, that scratch was hardly visible. Hopefully when the weather improves I can get the paint for it.

[Little John]

You got it washed?

Washed by someone else or washed by you?

I did mine in the rain on saturday but opted out of doing my sisters in the rain and snow on sunday.

[liveseytowers]

You got it washed?

Washed by someone else or washed by you?

erm i got it washed at the car wash place next to work. £15 and they do it inside and out. Done a good job to be honest. Was flithy again on one side the next day due to parking on the main road

[Little John]

[Sanj[UK]]

You should start doing a df car wash service..i'll pay for you todo mine and i'll give you extra if you feel like working on the rims

[Little John]

Sure Sanj just pop round when you passing.

[AxE]

Got some 19" Audi RS4 alloys that need a good clean before i slap them on ebay, mite buy some of the stuff listed above and do the ones on my car whilst im at it.

[Sanj[UK]]

Sure Sanj just pop round when you passing.

:o...When are you free and how long do you need

[Little John]

Well a little more done this afternoon and its the exciting bit.

Yesterday morning I mixed up some of the filler and applied it to the gouges on the wheels. I put more on than I needed but I had a full tub of the stuff to fill small marks on wheels so I wasn't bothered.



This afternoon I spent 30 minutes or so this afternoon sanding the areas with the filler till they were smooth with the wheel surface again with P600 grit wet and dry sand paper. The gouges were now smooth and rock hard, the bits round the rim were a little pain but sanding close to the tyre hasn't been easy anyway.




Lesson from that no matter how much filler you have you still don't need to plaster it on as you just need to sand it all off later. so apply the filler sparingly.

A quick trip to the local auto paints place, the guy colour matched the existing wheels and mixed me some paint for the wheels, some primer and also some clear coat bought. £26 lighter in the pocket. If I had a compressor and a paint gun the cost would have been about the same but I would have been able to buy half a litre of the paint, thinners, primer and clear coat enough to do all 4 wheels easily, this lot may do 2 if I'm lucky.

So time to mask the wheel up, I spent a while on this, I wasn't quite sure how to attack it first I wanted to just mask the front of the wheel and inside the spokes with masking tape and paper round the tyre, but that would have left a hard edge on the inner spokes which can cause problems when removing the tape lifting the paint sometimes. So I decided on masking the inner rim just behind the spokes then another layer of tape attached to the paper and stuck that to the tape already in place. this will leave the inner wheel untouched and possibly a little over spray on the back of the spokes but that won't be seen so I can live with that. Round the outside of the tyre I deflated the tyre and pushed the tyre back while I slipped pieces of tape between the tyre and rim, I then stuck paper and tape to the first layer of tape. and then stuck it all together. I'm not too bothered about paint on the tread of the tyre as it will wear off but not the walls.


Next the spraying, I applied a light coat of the primer left for 10 minutes then applied another light coat. I tried a few methods here, first I went vertical, then horizontal over the whole wheel, I was surprised actually as the mist actually covered the whole of the spokes no need to spray direct at each spoke or anything which was pretty good.



The problem of spraying outside, bits of crap land on the wet paint.


Another 10-15 minutes passed and it was touch dry so I tilted the wheel up and then another 2 light passes from about 25 cm ensured that everything got an even coat.


A few speckles where the rattle can spluttered but I will be flattening it tomorrow if I get a chance.


And this is where I am at now, sanded, filled, and 3 coats of primer. Its looking pretty good so far.


Left to do, light sand with 1200 grit to remove any imperfections then 3 or 4 coats of the silver paint. then 4 coats of clear coat/lacquer. I only have another 4 wheels for the corsa to do. I'm thinking about trying to do spot repairs on the others as some are so slight it is a shame to spend what is coming up for 6-7 hours just for slight marks. Its all a learning curve and something to do while work is quiet. Then I have the 17" on my vectra and the 18's on my Dad's astra. but I need to get hold of extra wheels for those before I start them.

The next project will be my dad's keyed door Which I polished most out but as with Livseytowers lancer there are a few deeper marks so it needs bodyshop work so he said I can have a go before it goes in.

[Mobileman]

Great post LJ

Liveseytowers dont break the unwritten rule again !!

[Little John]

:o...When are you free and how long do you need

Just to cover me I'm not a profesional when it comes to cleaning cars, Im an IT engineer who likes to find stuff other than computers to fill my time. Im not advertiseing my business.

It depends what you want doing and what car it is, big cars take longer than small cars, really bad cars even when small take ages.

The minimum I would do is
Wash includeing door shuts, clay, de-tar if needed, paint cleanse and wax. Wheels cleaned while on the car with acid free cleaner, wheel arches scrubbed and tyres dressed. that will take about 3 hours on somthing like an astra.

Other stuff that can be added
Paint correction, remove all those swirls on the paint that you see under sun light and petrol station lights leaveing a stunning shine. and can make an old car look better than new. That can take a full day even longer on really bad cars.
Colour restoration, faded and oxidised paint again a day maybe longer.

Interior, everything vacumed, plastics and vynal cleaned and protected with either a matt or gloss finish, glass cleaned, rubber mats cleaned, carpet vacummed. Leather cleaned and conditionedand it leaves the car smelling of leather. Cloth seats can also be cleaned but may be damp after. I can also apply a fabric protector adding water repelancy to the cloth but that can't be done at the same time as cloth cleaning as the seats need to be dry. Door rubbers can be treated. 2-3 hours

Exterior plastics treatment, cleaned and then a nano coating applied that restores their natural black or gray colour the manufacturer says it will last for up to 2 years £25 per applicaion. I do have a cheaper less durable trim product. 1 hour

Exterior glass can be treated with another nano coating to repel water, you can drive at 70mph in driveing rain without the wipers with this stuff applied £13 per application. 30 minutes

Engine bay cleaned ( I hate doing them though) 1 hour

Wheels off cleaning, usualy results in cleaning the wheel arches properly as well while the wheels are off and wheel arches dressed. You should check the torque of the nuts yourself after don't rely on me. 3 hours

[Little John]

Got some 19" Audi RS4 alloys that need a good clean before i slap them on ebay, mite buy some of the stuff listed above and do the ones on my car whilst im at it.

AxE
pop round some time, no need to go spending on wheel cleaner I have enough concentrate to make about 7 litres of the stuff. I'm only in Farnworth, I will chain the wheels up while I clean them for you so they don't get nicked by those that visit from Little Hulton.

[super mike]

Nice work mate, seriously, looks very neat and I look forward to seeing pics of the finished article.

To those who have polished rims and wanted them all nice and shiny again, here's a very effective way of doing it: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3680224
Please, no one do that!

[Little John]

Nice work mate, seriously, looks very neat and I look forward to seeing pics of the finished article.

To those who have polished rims and wanted them all nice and shiny again, here's a very effective way of doing it: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3680224
Please, no one do that!

Im looking forward to the end result but i dont want to rush and mess it up.

and the rim polishing is nuts, I dont think I will give that a go

[super mike]

Well after the primer is flatted, if you can find somewhere undercover and out of a breeze to put the silver and lacquer on I can not see it coming out anywhere but perfect. That is going off your OCD levels with detailing of course

It's a shame you are so far away, I would happily volunteer my dads compressor and gun up to you and I know he would be interested in the results too. Did you have an ask around the local paint shops? Just asking because at that price you may be able to get a 2nd hand compressor, gun and the paint for less than it will cost to do all those wheels (assuming they are the same VX silver?).

Next time I speak to my old man I will see if he still has his old compressor, I think it was 60/75 litres, and he used it to paint (IIRC) some doors and a sill on his Daimler 250 V8. If he still has it I'll see if he is willing to let it go for a decent price. May not be for a week or two though

You thought of buying some cheapish ebay wheels that are in a bit of a shitty condition to practice on after the Corsa alloys? You can get some pretty expensive alloys cheap if you're lucky and with this standard of work you will make a profit. And you can still put it down to experience.

[Little John]

Well I cancelled the work I had to day as I wanted to play and I was up early for MJ tickets and it took a few hours to get sorted with those.

So the wheel got a bit more work done on it. a few mistakes made today which I will see if you spot.

So the wheel after primer


It wasn't that smooth so I lightly sanded it with P1200 grit wet and dry so it was smooth ready for the colour coats.

Then wiped down to remove the sanding residue, nice and smooth and keyed ready to take the paint.


After a light coat, again applied from about 25cm horizontally then vertically.

Mistake number one, I thought I may have been missing a few bits so I stood the wheel up as I had with the primer and I ended up with a few runs. all round the wheel nuts, so I had to sand them bits again to remove them and start the colour coats again. So I layed it down again and sprayed each coat in the same manner, between coats I turned the wheel a quarter of a turn to make sure it was all covered equally.







I wasn't too sure at this point whether I should have sanded the surface again but I decided not to and went on to the clear coat. I sprayed it in the same way many light coats 15 minutes apart to let them build up and the results are great, nice glossy but not quite smooth surface so I went over it with the P1200 to smooth it out and then applied 2 more light coats and it came out perfect.



I then noticed the bin that has been at the side of me during the painting. Opps its not quite the same colour it used to be.


And the finished result, ok I left the masking on but you get the idea.


My sister had arrived home by this point so I wanted to see the colour match, it looked a little bright but I wasn't sure as the wheels were a little dirty last time I saw them. I was going to clean the wheels but she moaned at that and insisted the whole car was cleaned so after washing the car and cleaning the wheels I carried the refurbished wheel out so see how good it was.
Next to the front drivers side

Front Passenger side just in case they were different colours.


Ohhh shit colour match is slightly off, bolocks it is, it's a totally different finish, very metallic lots of silver flake in there and quite a few shades lighter, I was sort of expecting it to be a little darker if anything not so much lighter.

I shall be giving the guy who colour matched it for me and see what he has to say, what a pain in the arse this is as to sort it I need to sand and start again. I actually like the colour it seems to make the wheel look bigger than the standard colour one, I know its closer to the camera but the lighter colour makes a difference. So what do I do, My sister likes the lighter colour also surprisingly as she wanted be to paint them black. So I could get more paint and full respray all the other wheels where I was hoping to do some touch ups as 3 of the other wheels only have tiny marks on them the other is untouched.

[Little John]

Well what a pain in the arse this has been, due to the colour miss match the paint place wanted a sample of the colour to match so I had to take a wheel off for them to match to, no problem. Well I got new paint yesterday so went to to put the spare back in the boot, the locking nut key broke when I tried to undo the nut, I had only done it by hand yesterday.

Anyway I have sanded the wheel again today and it is now drying ready for the whole process to start again.

To top the whole weeken my car went in to limp mode today and the engine management light is on, the warrenty expired on the 10th March 5 freaking days ago. and the same happened to my dad's car yesterday. I have an interesting phone call to make tomorrow.