Refurb alloys for under £60 (with pics)

[Mr Way]

Hey all

 

Now I have been desperate to get my alloys refurbed ever since I bought the zed as they were badly curbed and one of my pet hates is curbed wheels. but at the moment I'm helping out the Mrs with buying a car so funds are bit tight so I thought I would have a go at doing the wheels myself. So here goes.

 

First pic is what they looked like with some bad curbing around the edge the front ones are the worst. So with the wheel off the car I started to rub down the badly curbed bits with some coarse (100) sand paper until all the rough edges were smooth then I used some quick drying aluminium filler to fill all the deep curbing then used some fine sandpaper (600) to rub down the filler and take any notches and blemishes off.

Once was filled and rubbed down I began with the coat of grey primer this is where you can really see how well you've preped it.

Then I began with the silver coat building it up with light dust coats.

 

Then the final result with wheel back on the car as the sun started to go down the laquer is yet to go on as they need to be left about a week before laquering as it will pickle if the paint is not dry properly.

 

This was only one wheel that I managed to do today as car hunting for the Mrs took priority but I will be doing the others tomorrow. All in all I'm very pleased with the result it was a lot easier than I thought as long as you are capable of taking a wheel of your car then I think anyone can do this really I paid £59 for two tins of rapid primer, two wheel silver, two tins of laquer a tub of aluminium filler 8 sheets of different grade sandpaper. One wheel took me about 2.5 hours so probably a whole day for all 4. Will post pics of the materials used tommorow. If anybody's thinking of doing this themselves and has any questions just ask.

 

Edited March 28, 2015 by Mr Way

[jollyranchers]

where are the finished pics :lol: ???

 

Seriously , they look good , did you use tak cloths to wipe down inbetween coats ? or was contamination not too bad ?

 

What products did you use ?

[14N]

Nice work

 

I did a very similar thing with my Clio 182 wheels. I used Halfords anthracite wheel paint and their PU lacquer, which they recommend to use as it's more durable. For a DIY job, I got good results.

 

When I recently sold the car, the buyer commented on the good condition of the wheels. Job done

[14N]

This was the worst wheel for kerbing and scratches.

 

 

If anyone else is thinking of doing the same, using Halfords Anthracite Wheel Paibt, let me know as I have a spare can - I bought too much! Doh!

[WhackyWill]

Good job, I need to do mine when the weather gets better.

 

Did my sons Golf wheels last year and they came up pretty good.

[Mr Way]

Thanks guys. I managed to get the others done today although it decided to rain all morning and blow a gale this afternoon. Just got to wait a week now before I can laquer them.

 

 

That looks good 14N I suprised how easy it is to do although it's all in the prepping as to how good they turn out. Always wanted to drive a clio 182 I've heard they are a lot of fun.

 

Wacky will I think you will be waiting a while for some nice weather in Great Britain although i look out the window at work and the sun is shining the birds are tweeting so I think to myself I'm going do some work on the zed the weekend. Come Saturday morning gale force winds and torrential rain.

I had a nice set of refurbed RS8 alloys on my old mk4 golf they really suited the car.

 

Materials I used were from a local paint suppliers but you can use any silver wheel paint and grey primer although I have read that halfords alloy wheel silver paint dries quite dark. I also used an aluminium filler which was from halfords called metalik it's silver and I comes with a hardener so it's dry in 5 minutes.

 

Next job on the list is carbon wrap the window switches and look for a new head unit and the dreaded MOT is due.