refurbishing wheels

[berto]

I've got a set of these on my e30 that i want to get painted. Also i'm going to get the rims polished, also want to get new bolts for them.

Anyone know where they actually sell the bolts?
Does anyone know that will do them relatively cheap?
As you can see the bolts are rusted up

[oakey]

youre local bmw dealership should be able to get the bolts i would have thought.(coopers etc) im guessin they are e36 328is rims?
you can do them quite easiy yourself if youre willing to spend the time..

[Phatz]

I'm thinking of a D.I.Y refurb on my Alpina reps, can you advise me on the best way to go about it?

Will I get good results from a rub down, primer than alloy wheel spray up?

What do suggest?

[GrooveRyder79]

I suggest you pay the £50 odd a wheel and get them powder coated. Better finish and life span.

[mrLEE30]

i would personally advise against removing the bolts and splitting the rims as some a heated on (they heat the rim up so it expands then fit the cool inner and let it cool down so it contracts and gives a tight fit) then they fit the bolts, if you remove it and get the rim split it would be difficult to get them back together correctly and balanced.

i just had my BBS refurbished, they sand blasted them, then chemically stripped em, then painted the centres in Aluminium grey (including the bolts) and polished the rim... here they are before and after....

[mrLEE30]

oh and forgot to say.. if treated and prepped properly any bodyshop can spray your rims.. powder coating is not necessary.... my schnitzers are over two years old and they were only painted with normal spraygun set up...

if you want to have a go at clenaing rims up yourself the good news is aluminium is very easy to polish, get a musilin polishing wheel of about 6inch diameter and attchement to run it from a normal drill. the use a fine metal polish paste and start polishing... you will be amazed at how well the aluminium shines after 10-15 mins of polishing!! NOTE IF YOUR ALUMINIUM RIMS HAVE BEEN LACQURED YOU CANNOT DO THIS!!!!!

[GrooveRyder79]

I get the idea you don't get much road salt where you are thou?

[oakey]

I'm thinking of a D.I.Y refurb on my Alpina reps, can you advise me on the best way to go about it?

Will I get good results from a rub down, primer than alloy wheel spray up?

What do suggest?

just simply rum them down as smooth as possible. primer- sand more if needed, loads of coats of paint(if there are still imperfections sand down until smooth and paint again) and finally some lacquer. (job done)
ps alpina reps will be V time consuming to do though.

[cliffybabe]

alpina reps look great like this

[Phatz]

I must say I am loving the look of those Alpina reps, very nice indeed!
Just out of interest, how much did the diamond cutting cost?

Thanks for the advise Oakey, I expect it to take up a lot of my time, but it will be worth it in the end I'm sure!

[DaveD]

here is where you can get the bolts from

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... &rd=1&rd=1

[berto]

i was going to get the centres powder coated black and have the rims polished. ideally i would want them done all at once as they are on the car all the time. i would just have to buy some cheap nasty wheels whiclst they are re conditioned.

[harry_p]

i would seriously suggest paying a bit extra and getting stainless bolts, as chrome will always chip / crack and let in water and start rusting th bolts again. chrome looks better if you can keep them spotlessly clean, so are probably only suitable for show cars.

be warned, polished rims take a LOT of looking after, but as said, with decent polish and a lot of elbow grease anyone can make alloy rims sparkle.

[shane325i]

Here ya go mate,the people responsible for cliffybabes rims-

Wheelbright

Ask for carlos(also a member on here)

[cliffybabe]

Here ya go mate,the people responsible for cliffybabes rims-

Wheelbright

Ask for carlos(also a member on here)

yep as shane said Carlos done my rims and im well pleased with them

[carlos_320i]

Hi mate I will be able to plate the bolts and refurb the wheels for you Here are some I did last year