refurbing wheels

[maylia1]

need some advice.
my wheels are quite smashed in from the previous owner is it easy to refurb wheels and what is the best product to use to fill the metal?????

rep given for good advice.:y:

[Ste]

Put up some piccys and ill help you out.

Ive done about 10 sets so far.

[vipergfx]

you can use metal filler and round it off - quite difficult to get the shape of the wheel though..

refurbing scratches / paint is easy though mate.

in a nut shell you sand the wheel down with different grits of sand-paper, going from harsh to fine.

then you primer the wheel up, 3 to 4 coats.

then paint, 3 to 4 coats.

and then lacquer - this hardens the wheels. (the shinier you want the wheels - the more lacquer to use).

imo i'd get the shaping done professionally, and paint them myself as shaping them is a tricky job. i did it and mine werent bad at all

[maylia1]

would you say it was expensive to get the wheels done and what kind of place would i take them to get done????

[Ste]

Well you can do them youreself dead easy!!!

Save yourself the sanding time and get some nitro mors. Its paint stripper available in halfords/wilkinsons etc.

Leave the wheels in it for a good few hours(overnight). Paint will wire brush off.

Then any marks in the metal can either be sanded down using low grit either 40 / 80. Or If any are too deep, get some body filler. Mix up some and just splodge it into the holes, let it dry and sand it down using a higher grit. 400 is good. Go over the whole wheel using this grit as it will smooth out the deeper marks from the lower grit.

once you have a nice smooth rim, slap some primer on it. Give it a wet/dry sand using a high grit. I usually do 2 layers of primer.

Then put youre final colour on, i do 3 -4 of the final colour. Once thats on and dried give it a wet/dry with 1200 grit.

Then laquer as you require, this where i go mental and do about 8 coats to prevent stone chips etc.

The last coat of laquer will require either a machine polish or a wet/dry with a high grit.



Each set of rims usually costs me about £30... and takes about a week a set.

[maylia1]

its the lip of the wheel that is the main problem with chunks taken out of it.

[Ste]

its the lip of the wheel that is the main problem with chunks taken out of it.

Get the tyre off, strip the paint.

The left over marks around the rim if still deep need to be filled. Mix up the filler and just start going around it.

I dont put much hardener in the filler as it will harden in minutes using the recommended ratio. You want it to be quite plyable and remain usable for 5-10 mins.

The filling is easy as pie, as long as you get it in the holes youre good. Once the rim is all fillered up and looks a mess. use a light sand paper to smooth it all down with a block of wood. The metal that is left will keep the sand paper, thanks to the wood, from going too low and giving an un-even finish......

Dont worry about getting the filler all over as it sands down easier than paint.

[maylia1]

what is the best filler to use???