I got the alloys off ebay at a bargain price, however they were in desperate need of a full refurb. Luckily the wheels came without tyres which made refurbing them a lot easier. If your wheels have tyres on just make sure you mask them up well.
These are pictures of the worst alloys
The faces had been kerbed and the inside edges were badly corroded.
1. I started by giving the wheels a good blast to remove any dirt and flaking paint.
2. I then begun grinding down all the old corroded paint on the inside edges. I used a flap wheel and drill to do this. This was taking ages so i went and bought some Nitro Mors paint stripper. !Warning! this stuff is some serious s*** and burned all the paint back to the bare metal!! don't get it on your skin!!!
I only used the stripper on the inside edge as the faces weren't that bad, however i still needed to use the flap wheel to smooth down were the stripper had done it's job.
3. To fill the kerb marks and scratches i used 'Chemical Metal'
Once it sets rock hard it can be sanded and smoothed down like normal body filler.
4. I then preped the wheels ready for etch primer. I used 120 grade wet and dry paper to key all the surfaces so the primer would adhear to the bare metal. I spent loads of time getting all the surfaces perfect as there's no going back once you start spraying. The pic below shows one of the wheels ready for primer.
As you can see in this pic i made a stand to hold the wheels whilst i was working on them. It was really useful as i could spin them round on it without touching any painted areas.
Luckily my parent were redecorating their bedroom so i hijacked it and turned it into a spray booth! Lets just say they weren't happy but my argument was that they turned our garage into an office so i had nowhere else to do it!
Here's a pic of a primed wheel
5. After i'd given the wheels a few coats of primer i checked them for any marks etc and either filled them or smoothed them down. I then wet sanded the wheels with 600 grade paper to give them a good key for the colour paint. After spending ages in halfords i decided not to spray the wheels silver, instead i went for Hurricane grey.
6. I sprayed several thin coats of colour leaving about 15-20 mins between coats. I then sprayed a few heavier coats of laquer to protect the wheels from all the grit and grime on the roads.
Pics of a finished wheel
I was really happy with the finish and colour. I left them for about 1 week to fully harden, then i used G3 cutting compound followed by a quality polish to really make them shine. (impatient as i am i was sooo tempted to polish them them after about 24hrs, but im glad i didn't as i probably would've screwed them up!)
The following day i got some brand new toyos fitted then whacked them on with Seat centre caps and Mc Gard locking bolts.
I would'nt say it was an easy job and it did take a lot of hours, but it was well worth it in the end as it only cost me about £50 for materials. A quality full refurb would nearly cost you that per wheel!
I hope this guide will be useful to anyone who wants to have a go themselves. Post up your results!
These are pictures of the worst alloys
The faces had been kerbed and the inside edges were badly corroded.
1. I started by giving the wheels a good blast to remove any dirt and flaking paint.
2. I then begun grinding down all the old corroded paint on the inside edges. I used a flap wheel and drill to do this. This was taking ages so i went and bought some Nitro Mors paint stripper. !Warning! this stuff is some serious s*** and burned all the paint back to the bare metal!! don't get it on your skin!!!
I only used the stripper on the inside edge as the faces weren't that bad, however i still needed to use the flap wheel to smooth down were the stripper had done it's job.
3. To fill the kerb marks and scratches i used 'Chemical Metal'
Once it sets rock hard it can be sanded and smoothed down like normal body filler.
4. I then preped the wheels ready for etch primer. I used 120 grade wet and dry paper to key all the surfaces so the primer would adhear to the bare metal. I spent loads of time getting all the surfaces perfect as there's no going back once you start spraying. The pic below shows one of the wheels ready for primer.
As you can see in this pic i made a stand to hold the wheels whilst i was working on them. It was really useful as i could spin them round on it without touching any painted areas.
Luckily my parent were redecorating their bedroom so i hijacked it and turned it into a spray booth! Lets just say they weren't happy but my argument was that they turned our garage into an office so i had nowhere else to do it!
Here's a pic of a primed wheel
5. After i'd given the wheels a few coats of primer i checked them for any marks etc and either filled them or smoothed them down. I then wet sanded the wheels with 600 grade paper to give them a good key for the colour paint. After spending ages in halfords i decided not to spray the wheels silver, instead i went for Hurricane grey.
6. I sprayed several thin coats of colour leaving about 15-20 mins between coats. I then sprayed a few heavier coats of laquer to protect the wheels from all the grit and grime on the roads.
Pics of a finished wheel
I was really happy with the finish and colour. I left them for about 1 week to fully harden, then i used G3 cutting compound followed by a quality polish to really make them shine. (impatient as i am i was sooo tempted to polish them them after about 24hrs, but im glad i didn't as i probably would've screwed them up!)
The following day i got some brand new toyos fitted then whacked them on with Seat centre caps and Mc Gard locking bolts.
I would'nt say it was an easy job and it did take a lot of hours, but it was well worth it in the end as it only cost me about £50 for materials. A quality full refurb would nearly cost you that per wheel!
I hope this guide will be useful to anyone who wants to have a go themselves. Post up your results!
