DIY refurbing BBS

[DavieP]

With some time off work due shortly, I'm gearing myself up to doing this because the wheels now seriously let the car down. There are several quite badly kerbed edges to the rims and the paintwork is pretty bad. I plan to get a set of grinding stones/wheels to deal with the worst of the edges - does this sound a good or bad idea? I'd love to remove the rims edges and polish them, but I'm not confident about doing that and I suspect I might run out of patience when it comes to polishing.

After that I'm going to use a stripper to remove the old paint. Nitromors comes to mind for that unless there's something better? Then rubbing down, etch priming and High 5 to even out the imperfections before applying paint and lacquer. I've decided upon Polaris silver for the rims and I'll get some Delphin Grey made up for the centres to match the bodywork.

[cass1_5503]

i polished mine not long back definately hard work but worth it i done my centres in a dark grey also



i used nitromors and lots of sandpaper good luck with it

[leeparkes]

If i was going to do another set of bbs's i would just rub them down to give a good key,

nitromorse is good but bbs primer is better,its tough stuff and takes ages to get back to bare metal,then you have to make sure all the nitromorse is gone before you apply anything to it otherwise it will react badly

then once you have bare metal you have to etch prime it then rub it down anyway so to make life easier i would just rub down and paint,

if you want the lip polished you need to first remove paint down to bare metal then wet & dry it till its perfectly smooth then finish off with this stuff,the polish has anti corrosive agents in it to protect against brake dust,if you dont they will be dull and manky in 2 weeks




the result pics dont do it justice but they do come up like a mirror

[DavieP]

...nitromorse is good but bbs primer is better,its tough stuff and takes ages to get back to bare metal

Ah, well thanks for the heads-up on that I hate using the stuff and have found much to my cost just how important it is to get rid of any trace before repainting. The thought of repeated treatments is enough to put me off. Great wheels and I'd love to polish the rims, but I know I'll run out of time let alone enthusiasm. I'll just give them a very good clean, rub them down with sand paper and then paint.

[cougar]

If i was going to do another set of bbs's i would just rub them down to give a good key,

nitromorse is good but bbs primer is better,its tough stuff and takes ages to get back to bare metal,then you have to make sure all the nitromorse is gone before you apply anything to it otherwise it will react badly

then once you have bare metal you have to etch prime it then rub it down anyway so to make life easier i would just rub down and paint,

if you want the lip polished you need to first remove paint down to bare metal then wet & dry it till its perfectly smooth then finish off with this stuff,the polish has anti corrosive agents in it to protect against brake dust,if you dont they will be dull and manky in 2 weeks




the result pics dont do it justice but they do come up like a mirror

very cool

[dickster]

There is plenty of advice/pics on the zone if you search-I put some up as well.

I wouldn't use a grinding stone though it will clog up in seconds. Use a flap wheel you can buy small flap wheels from B&Q, I'd probably also use sandpaper wrapped around a block for the rim as it will keep it nice and straight.

LeeParkes what are your wheels? they're Mahle? I'd like a set like that for my 2002-something a bit more retro than the E30 BBS.

[DavieP]

I wouldn't use a grinding stone though it will clog up in seconds.

I discovered that and getting the right grade is a bit of an ar$e. Too fine and it doesn't do much, too coarse and it makes a right mess. I'm just smoothing the rims over as best I can where they were kerbed and will give a couple of coats of high-build primer after. It won't be ideal or stand very close inspection, but I'm planning to get better wheels next year so these will be a stop-gap.

Use a flap wheel you can buy small flap wheels from B&Q,

I bought some contour sanding stars, which do a similar job, but seem to get into the nooks more easily. They were being sold off very cheaply (80p) so I bought several of the fine grade stars and they do a pretty good job provided too much pressure isn't applied. Nice and quick too.