Repairing wheel lip for refurb

[Grrrmachine]

I've got some 15" Alpina reps that will need refurbing soon; they're scratched and gouged around the lip, and I'm wondering how to repair it:

1) Metal file, smooth the metal down all the way round to level out the scratches

OR

2) Chemical metal / Filler to fill in the scratches

OR

3) Professional lip welding, brazing in new alloy to the lip

After each of these, I'll then sand down the wheel and repaint, but I'm wondering what the first step should be. Any advice, other than "take it to a pro"?

[powelly]

I just did my BBS at home, to repair the lip I used a couple of different files to remove the curb damage, a couple of the wheels were quite bad, got the shape back pretty much perfect, I did use a tiny bit of polyester filler on one or two spots that were more heavily marked, to remove the marks from the files I used some 240 grit sandpaper, after thouroughly washing the wheels off I scotch brited the rest of the wheel, etch primed the bare metal then used high build followed by the base coat and clear. They look pretty good but ultimatley I want them shot blasted and powdercoated.

[Grrrmachine]

My plan is to mount the wheel to the hub and get the axle spinning, then place a file and some sandpaper on it to get it proper smooth. But I don't want to risk taking too much metal off the lip in an attempt to remove the scratches.

[powelly]

Sounds pretty dangerous to me, you really can acheive the right results without having your car in gear, engine running all whilst on axle stands while you sit on the floor next to it, unless i'm mistaken and you have a ramp, still don't really see the benefit in you method though, unless you plan on turning your file in to some kind of missile.

[Grrrmachine]

I wasn't exactly planning on revving it up to lathe speed Just a gentle turn so that the wheel does the work, not my hands.

[iceox]

just polished my wheels by jacking it up and putting it in gear. its as dangerous as you make it. just use some proper axel stands and a big old chock at the front and stear the wheel towards something (ie wall). cant really go wrong, it'll just stall if it somehow manages to fall off the axel stands