alloy respray

[DazzyA]

was looking for new rims and tyres but walked out of job today so am now thinking of DIY wheels. There are preety shitty, peeling wise so I was thinking of pressure washing, scraping and sanding and respraying black.
Do i need to prime then sand reprime than sand and how may coats of black and what sort and do they need a varnish/laquer.
Any help appreciated.

[smithy318i]

probably cheaper to get it done by a pro! 36 quid a wheel iirc

why did you quit your job ?

[DazzyA]

I thought refurbs where about Ԛ£50 so thats not to bad.
Qitted because I ended up carrying two many lazy fcuks on the same money, was told if i didn't like it i new where the door was, so went straight through it, will regret though coz i bought a real pig and needs a lot of money to get looking nice.
Night shift shelf packing in asda appeals so i can work on the car during the day.
Bit sad at 37 though

[motorsport]

Repainted mine. Fully cleaned with decosol and sanded all the blisters/kerbing. Gave a couple of decent coats of grey primer, sanded with fine paper in between and after 2nd coat. then just built up around 5 thin coats of colour to get a nice overall flat colour finish. Finished off with lots of clear laquer, about 4 coats. Used 4 small tins of primer, 2 large silver and 3 large grey for centres. 5 wheels in all and caps. Cost around Ԛ£30-Ԛ£35 and loads of patience. BTW got half a tin of each left over for future touch ups. Stating the obvious but get the tyres off first and be patient to ensure each coat is dry before moving on.
Andy

[stevetigger]

Repainted mine. Fully cleaned with decosol and sanded all the blisters/kerbing. Gave a couple of decent coats of grey primer, sanded with fine paper in between and after 2nd coat. then just built up around 5 thin coats of colour to get a nice overall flat colour finish. Finished off with lots of clear laquer, about 4 coats. Used 4 small tins of primer, 2 large silver and 3 large grey for centres. 5 wheels in all and caps. Cost around Ԛ£30-Ԛ£35 and loads of patience. BTW got half a tin of each left over for future touch ups. Stating the obvious but get the tyres off first and be patient to ensure each coat is dry before moving on.
Andy

Im going to tackle the job, but do you take the centre cap apart before doing the job or spray the whole wheel as is??

[orangecurry]

you really SHOULD take the cap apart... it is easy

the black disc is straightforward to remove

Then just lift the black plastic inner slightly round the edges against the metal silver bit, then poke another small screwdriver inbetween the black inner and the central silver plastic and it'll just pop out... difficult to explain, easy once you've done it once....

just be gentle... take your time

[bigkev]

make sure you use etch primer on the alloy otherwise it will peel off again
trust me i found out the hard way

[Theo]

Motorsport - those wheels look brilliant, i really like the finish youve got on them. Im going to give it a go refurbishing my Hartge Wheels, which will probably be a fair bit easier than BBS wheels....

[mrLEE30]

surprised at this thread, normally some snob comes on with a load of about only powder coating your alloys cause it will all fall off etc etc etc. mine painted and polished by an old Arab in a silver plating shop who obviously knew what he was doing for about 30quid and a year on they are still perfect. Only mistake he made was not to pop out the centre caps first so some paint flaked off when i had the tyres put back on and balanced.

you may also notice that he painted the whole wheel and only masked off the area that was left to be polished. (which was polished before painting)

I was also advised no to lacquer a polished/brushed aluminium finish as it normallly will chip, then water gets underneath, then they go tarnished or yellowed. so plenty of brasso once a week and a bit of wax on the painted bits and bobs yer uncle etc



mrlee

[FlappySocks]

Anyone tried painting their wheels with the tyres left on? I was reading a tip somewhere that you can get an old pack of playing cards, and stick them between the tyre and the rim overlapping each other.

Stuart