DIY BBS refurb

[Blitz]

How hard is to refurb BBS's my self. I've got a spare set that I want the centres in gold and the lip polished.

I want the old skool period 80's look, so has to be gold centre.

[TouringTash]

I wouldn't have a clue as to how hard it would be for you to do but if you take your time, plan, and use quality products it should be straight forward.

Do some research first on polishing alloys, and have a good think about how/where you will paint.

I would say the only thing thats hard to do on an E30 is keep the rust away

[FMH]

fairly simple to polish the lips, i've just done my split rims and had the centres/studs and rear of wheels powder coated:

[rp2]

ive refurbished wheels myself with spray cans and got a good result comparible to fully refurbished wheels but that was only plain silver. just remember painting is only 5% of the work. The other 95% is preparation, rubbing down ect. its really boring i know! make sure you buy a primer suited for aluminium and a good laquer so you dont get lots of brake dust pitting.

[Jim320i]

Use Nitromous to get off any old paint... Keep coating it on until it really bubbles off... High pressure jet wash them off, do it again until its all off...

The centres shouldn't need too much work at that point as they hardly get curb...

To polish the lip, use 60 grit paper to get it all level, this will take ages, but better to start with a really tough grit paper to make sure you get any deep scuffs out...
Follow that with some 120 grit paper until all the scratches from the 60 grit have gone...

Repeat with 240 grit paper until all the previous 120 grit marks have gone.

Then get some high grade wet and dry paper and do it all again, making sure you keep the paper nice and wet. (If you get some warm soapy water and let some soak for a while, this also helps)

From there you should be getting a really good shine already. Now, get a super fine scotch pad and repeat polish...

Once all that is done, get some metal polish and just keep rubbing until its 'blinging'

Now, then centres...

Get some primer on them, give it a few good coats, but thin coats... Lots of thin layers is alot better a couple of thick layers. Repeat with the top coat and laquer...

Done..

Time taken= ages

Result= Very good.

[snakebrain]

Use Nitromous to get off any old paint... Keep coating it on until it really bubbles off... High pressure jet wash them off, do it again until its all off...

The centres shouldn't need too much work at that point as they hardly get curb...

To polish the lip, use 60 grit paper to get it all level, this will take ages, but better to start with a really tough grit paper to make sure you get any deep scuffs out...
Follow that with some 120 grit paper until all the scratches from the 60 grit have gone...

Repeat with 240 grit paper until all the previous 120 grit marks have gone.

Then get some high grade wet and dry paper and do it all again, making sure you keep the paper nice and wet. (If you get some warm soapy water and let some soak for a while, this also helps)

From there you should be getting a really good shine already. Now, get a super fine scotch pad and repeat polish...

Once all that is done, get some metal polish and just keep rubbing until its 'blinging'

Now, then centres...

Get some primer on them, give it a few good coats, but thin coats... Lots of thin layers is alot better a couple of thick layers. Repeat with the top coat and laquer...

Done..

Time taken= ages

Result= Very good.

Quality post.

[charlE30]

I did mine a couple of years back as Jim has brilliantly written out, here was the outcome. Cost around £20 in paint and done over two weekends, your arms will hurt afterwards but it's well worth it.

I say go for it blitz - we will want photo's

[RotE30]

two weekends and aching arms - its only £30-£40 a wheel at the pro's? - i would pay that just to stop my misses nagging me to get our of the garage. - spray paint will flake at first sign of frost, wheels really need powder coating; but they do look great! (at first) - unless you have 1 year-on photos?

[Mindiszs]

Did mine with spray cans and very happy with the result and spend about £10

[maxfield]

If the wheels are in good condition I wouldn't Nitromoors just scotch them.

[320iAN]

what about this option?

my cousin paid someone £40 to get a set of 18" AMG wheels sand/bead blasted to give a nice clean chemical free surface?

to polish just the lip of his AMG wheels he jacked the rear of the car off the ground, put the Merc in to drive and sat with sand paper & wire wool and just held it to the rim as the wheels turned .. he took all the hard work out off it & had mirror finish rim's he then colour coded the wheel faces in the colour he wanted

[maxfield]

Did that to a mates Golf with some turbines on. Worked well just when they snagged in the spokes it got quite scary.

[pnd]

having only three fingers makes you look really hard and impresses the ladies!

[polsta]

got a spare set in my garage with a polished lip, that i want to get refurbed and ready on new tyres for the summer...

car is diamond schwartz , ...do you think black/polished lip , or gold/polished lip ? ,and what about all gold ?

have a standard silver set on the car that are ok, and theyl be the winter wheels, want the other set a little different, but im thinking black on a black car migt not quite set it off in the summer months, but will gold look too much or set it off real nice

any thoughts ?

[Blitz]

Very nice. Same tyres as I've got