Quickly losing the will to live - Finished

[DavieP]

I'm refurbishing my wheels and it's got to be the most tedious, ball-ache of a job I've done in many a year. The flat surfaces are a piece of p!$$, but the corners between the spokes on basket weaves are worse than a nightmare. I've used flappy wheels, contour wheels, P180/P240/P320 wet and dry and even steel wool

I think I may be getting somewhere by drawing out fine grade steel wool into a kind of loose yarn and pulling it back and forth between the spokes. Lots of water and harsh detergent to shift the ingrained dirt is very slowly having an effect but I'm losing my finger tips in the process

So far 4 wheels have taken about 10 hours in cleaning down and sanding back. Looks as though it will be quite a few hours more before I can then start thinking about how to tidy the kerbed rims. I've tried several local firms to see if they can grind them down about 3/16ths, but they want to do the entire job or nothing at all

I'm determined to have everything else done by Monday, Then I'll have to talk myself into grinding the rims myself. I'm trying to focus on what the finished effect will be if I keep going (silver rims, metallic grey centres) as some form of incentive, but it's very hard. Not a job I ever want to do again in a hurry.

[fuzzy]

i did one wheel each weekend when i did mine. its time consuming to get a good lasting finish but mine are still going strong after a couple of years.

[gareth]

TFR from a motor factors will attack and shift most of the crap - even burned on brake dust / rust deposits

or you could get them shotblasted for about £50 the set...

[fuzzy]

i sanded the rims down with a block and rough sandpaper to get the dents and scuffs out then rubbed up with finer emery paper. mine werent badly damaged just general kerbing.

[gareth]

one of those mouse sanders did a good job on my BBS rims. the spokes themselves were essentially ok, still a pig of a job though

[DavieP]

i did one wheel each weekend when i did mine. its time consuming to get a good lasting finish but mine are still going strong after a couple of years.

That's where I'm coming from. I could easily have given them a quick rub down, shot some silver over and then a few coats of lacquer. But, I want a reasonable finish that will last so I'm making a bit of an effort with the prep. 10 years ago, I didn't give a monkey's about cars as long as they went and looked OK. Now I'm getting anal about wheels This bloody zone has a lot to answer for.

[Cook318IS]

It'll be worth it in the end though fella! i reckon that the darker centres with the silver lip will suit the car too (not that i have seen it yet ). Always wanted to do this to my iS bbs's. I'd be tempted to give the wheels some protector wax / polish stuff (i cant remember what its like) like chemicals guys and that sell to keep them looking mint for that bit longer!

[DavieP]

It'll be worth it in the end though fella!

You're right of course - provided I don't fook up the spraying bit. I've decided against lacquering them myself - difficult to get a good finish with rattle cans. So they'll go to the bodyshop for several coats to be applied properly.

I'd be tempted to give the wheels some protector wax / polish stuff (i cant remember what its like) like chemicals guys and that sell to keep them looking mint for that bit longer!

Oh dear, I almost wish I hadn't read that bit. I've been poring over adds for autoglym, protex 4 and the like. I really do need to get a life.

[eko]

Stick with it Dave
Did you get hold of the guy I gave you the number for?
If you do end up grinding the rim damage yourself then flapwheels on a grinder would be my suggestion,maybe use some old worn ones which shouldnt be as vicous?(think ive got a few).
See you Saturday

[ChemicalAl]

Fancy doing mine when you're finished?

[DavieP]

Stick with it Dave
Did you get hold of the guy I gave you the number for?

He's gone out of business Tony. I spoke to him on Thursday after I saw you and he suggested a place in Exeter, but they aren't interested unless they do the rest of the work. A few local bods came out with the same. I can sort of understand that, especially if they have plenty on.

If you do end up grinding the rim damage yourself then flapwheels on a grinder would be my suggestion,maybe use some old worn ones which shouldnt be as vicous?(think ive got a few).
See you Saturday

I think you may be right. We've got some very cheap grinders at work so I'll probably get one of those and come and borrow one of your worn wheels Which means I'll prolly see you before Sat

[eko]

Stick with it Dave
Did you get hold of the guy I gave you the number for?

He's gone out of business Tony. I spoke to him on Thursday after I saw you and he suggested a place in Exeter, but they aren't interested unless they do the rest of the work. A few local bods came out with the same. I can sort of understand that, especially if they have plenty on.

If you do end up grinding the rim damage yourself then flapwheels on a grinder would be my suggestion,maybe use some old worn ones which shouldnt be as vicous?(think ive got a few).
See you Saturday

I think you may be right. We've got some very cheap grinders at work so I'll probably get one of those and come and borrow one of your worn wheels Which means I'll prolly see you before Sat

Ok mate

[DavieP]

Got the easiest bits done and am pleased with the colour since it's a very good match for the bodywork. It's a bit fiddly separating the plastic centre with the roundel from the metal surround.

With the spokes in this colour and the rim and dish between the spokes in bright silver I think it will look pretty smart. Had a bit of a go with some very coarse sanding paper on a block just to see how I feel about grinding the rims down and I'm feeling a lot more confident. It wont be as good as getting them milled down properly, but I can't get that done locally and I'm pretty sure they'll pass muster. At least it'll be all my own work.

[DavieP]

As mentioned in another thread, I was quite pleased with the results from using a part worn flap wheel on a small grinder. After a few very light passes, it was easy to 'get the feel' and tackle the severe kerbing with confidence. The rims aren't perfect - they were too badly damaged for that without resorting to a professional refurbisher for straightening flat spots and filling with metal. However, it took barely half an hour per wheel with the grinder and about another half hour for sanding with a star contour wheel then steel wool and fine wet and dry. All wheels were done in little over half a day and I'm quite happy with them considering the original condition.

That was last weekend and now I arrived at the 'fun' part - painting. To play safe, I've applied a couple of coats of acid etch primer (Upol # 8 ) and am surprised that a 450ml can has covered the lot with plenty to spare. The original plan has always been to go two-tone with bright silver rims and metallic graphite grey spokes and centres. I'm using Plastikote - primarily because we sell it at work and I get a very good discount. However, I've found that it is a very good, durable paint and considerably better than Hellfrauds stuff.

Having left the primer to dry thoroughly, I've just applied the first coat of Bright Silver to the wheel rims and I'm extremely surprised by the results from the first coat. 'Bright' is an understatement because it is very shiny with none of that grainy look of typical silver metallic paints. From a short distance it really does look as though the rims have been polished:



I can't wait to see how it will look after the second coat. It is very tempting to save a load of time and effort by just going bright silver all over, but I'm not sure whether that may be overkill. Plastikote claim that lacquers dull the sheen somewhat, but good quality clear coat shouldn't take it down very much and the effect will remain very shiny and very silver. I'm really struggling with trying to decide what to do.

[gooner1]

Took me months to do mine mate, couple of hours here and there with varying
degrees of sandpaper. Would reccomend having the wheels sand/shotblasted first though.
Bit late for you now i know. Bloody satisfying feeling when you,ve finally finished.

[Speedtouch]

I'd advise testing the clear coat *prior* to applying it to your freshly painted rims, perhaps on a non-visible part of the wheel as I've suffered instances particularly with two-tone paintjobs where the lacquer has reacted with the paint and spoiled the job completely

That said, it's best to have some form of clear coat as silver tends to oxidise and go dull very quickly without it.

[DavieP]

Cheers for that Maurice - I'll have a chat with the bodyshop on that basis. If I used the same brand clear coat it would almost certainly reduce the risk of a reaction, but I'm a bit wary of using lacquer from rattle cans even though sitting them in hot water helps with the coverage. That's why I'm sending them in to be lacquered. I've just done one wheel completely silver and it does look good even though any imperfections are made more obvious. Sorely tempted to do just the one colour so I can get my wheels back on this week.

Took me months to do mine mate, couple of hours here and there with varying degrees of sandpaper. Would reccomend having the wheels sand/shotblasted first though. Bit late for you now i know. Bloody satisfying feeling when you,ve finally finished.

I'd thought about that, but was worried about surface pitting. I've seen a few badun's and I didn't fancy the additional graft of polishing them out. Hell, it's been tough enough getting them to this stage. TBH the wheels aren't worth putting much more effort into them, but it's been bloody good practice. I'll look for some better ones next year and really go to town on them now I've worked out what works and what doesn't. These can be the winter wheels

Ha! and being a glutton for punishment, there's an inlet/tb and rocker cover sitting in boxes waiting to go off for steam cleaning and then ... I 'spose it keeps me out of the pub.

[SCOTT325SE]

DavieP, random question for you....are the last 3 digits of your cars Reg "HCH" please?

[DavieP]

DavieP, random question for you....are the last 3 digits of your cars Reg "HCH" please?

Nope - XON

[eko]

Dave,what colour are you doing the rocker cover and inlet?

[DavieP]

I thought I'd keep it simple Tony- crackle black with silver relief. Nothing special - don't even want to match the bodywork with them. Anything will be an improvement on the grubby things in there ATM. I'm hoping that when the inlet and TB are changed (inc. blue sensor at the same time), we can sort that rough idle.

[eko]

I thought I'd keep it simple Tony- crackle black with silver relief. Nothing special - don't even want to match the bodywork with them. Anything will be an improvement on the grubby things in there ATM. I'm hoping that when the inlet and TB are changed (inc. blue sensor at the same time), we can sort that rough idle.

I can get powder coating done on the cheap but only in Black,if its any use??

[DavieP]

I can get powder coating done on the cheap but only in Black,if its any use??

You know, that would save me a whole load of hassle and powder coating would look just as smart. I'll take you up on that Tony, many thanks. Must sort the bits out and send them to be degreased and steam cleaned.

Very, very nearly took the grey paint back to exchange for silver and do the wheels in just one colour. But, it would bug me if I didn't do the two-tone. Just got to grit my teeth and get fiddling with masking tape and a very sharp craft knife. I'm going to let the silver go off for a couple of days first and then the spokes will get 3 coats this Friday. They'll go in for lacqering on Monday and the wheels should be back on the car by Friday week. Then you can have your axle stands back

[eko]

I can get powder coating done on the cheap but only in Black,if its any use??

You know, that would save me a whole load of hassle and powder coating would look just as smart. I'll take you up on that Tony, many thanks. Must sort the bits out and send them to be degreased and steam cleaned.

Very, very nearly took the grey paint back to exchange for silver and do the wheels in just one colour. But, it would bug me if I didn't do the two-tone. Just got to grit my teeth and get fiddling with masking tape and a very sharp craft knife. I'm going to let the silver go off for a couple of days first and then the spokes will get 3 coats this Friday. They'll go in for lacqering on Monday and the wheels should be back on the car by Friday week. Then you can have your axle stands back

Ill try and get in to see the Powdercoater tomorrow to get a price.He is only down Brunel so shouldnt be a problem
No rush with the axle stands,doing me a favour to be honest!

[DavieP]

Ill try and get in to see the Powdercoater tomorrow to get a price.He is only down Brunel so shouldnt be a problem
No rush with the axle stands,doing me a favour to be honest!

[DavieP]

Totally pi$$ed off. It took about an hour and a half just to mask up one wheel last night. I bought some fast release, reputedly low tack tape to do the job, because I knew that even after 2 days, the paint on the rims would still be quite delicate. Gave the spokes a couple of coats of metallic gunmetal and waited impatiently for the 'reveal'.

Carefully tried to remove the tape, but the adhesive had stuck too well making the tape difficult to remove, pulling some of the silver finish away and leaving traces of adhesive on the wheel rims. It's a fookin' mess and the rims will have to be done again

On the plus side, despite the hassle, I can see that it was right to to go two tone and to take the rim colour between the spokes. The look is great if I ignore the blemishes, but I'll have to be careful with the clear coat once they're done.

[DavieP]

I eventually lost all patience and caught another bout of flu, which with my decrepit tubes meant absolutely no contact with aerosol paints for a good week or so. The delay has been frustrating and to save time I've decided to go for just the one colour - bright silver. They've now had 3 coats and will be left to 'cure' for a few days before being taken in to be lacquered. They're a bit 'blingy', but I rather like the polished effect. I can't wait to get them back on the car.

[asmith88]

nice

[eko]

So you bottled out of the two-tone finish then
Look good like that though mate,huge improvement over the original condition they were in

[DavieP]

So you bottled out of the two-tone finish then

They were driving me absolutely nuts Tony. The only way to do them is to paint the spokes first and then mask those up before doing the rims. I've felt as rough as a badger's ar$e for quite a while now and just couldn't face taping and cutting round with a craft knife. Half a wheel took a good couple of hours so I thought "bollox, go for the silver"

Look good like that though mate,huge improvement over the original condition they were in

Certainly do, I think they'll look great when they're back on. I'm still going to have a set in 2-tone, but I'll wait to get another set with better rims and do them slowly. Not this side of Christmas though!

[Cook318IS]

That certainly does look very tasty still! Can't wait to see them on the car

[DavieP]

Ah well, the learning curve has been a damned sight steeper than I thought. Disappointed that my original plan for 2-tone wasn't going to work, I happily settled for the glitzy chrome finish of my chosen paint for spokes and rims. Visualising them on the car, had me impatient to get them to the body shop for lacquering although I knew that they needed to 'go off' properly. So a 3 day wait until last Wednesday was in order.

I was asked if I wanted acrylic or cellulose and without thinking deeply enough, decided that the latter would turn out harder and more resilient. Seriously bad move on my part, the thinners dissolved some of the plastic within the paint resulting in an aluminium-type finish that is not so far away from the original BBS colour.

Soo, after a pile of angst and a fair amount sundry other mixed emotions, I've now got a set of pretty smart wheels that are about the same colour as almost every other set of BBSs, but with a rather nice gloss finish Finally they are back on the car and despite everything, I'm chuffed ot bits. As said before, it is the first time I've done anything like this before so for an amateurish attempt it doesn't look too amateurish - I hope. Pics to follow when there's some decent daylight.

[toby]

Pics of them on the car?

[leeparkes]

Those are a stunning colour.

Ive refurbed 3sets of BBS and i feel your pain, im going to be refurbing a set of style 32's for the wifes compact soon and this finish would be perfect.

Any idea how you could keep the bright silver finish without sending it dull.

[DavieP]

They were a stunning colour Lee and I was chuffed to bits with the finish. Unfortunately they didn't stay that colour once the lacquer got to them and now they look like a near fresh set of BBS Live and learn. Popped over to Eko's last weekend and I think the consensus was they looked good and that possibly all of that shine might have been a bit too much. The important bit is that before they looked as shabby as fook, whereas now they look near mint (if you ignore the slightly flatted rim on one wheel).

I was going to take new pics over the weekend, but 'stuff' got in the way and I was a bit concerned about discovering that that original rubber steering guibo is all but perished and the exhaust is blowing on one of the downpipes immediately before where it joins with pipes from the centre box. The MOT is due in 6 weeks and I'm coming up to Stourbridge to stay with the family for Christmas, so it's got to be sorted well before then.