- Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:35 am
#3669854
Re-furbed/painted the alloys, It was a pain to try and sand back all the powder coating so I just painted over it.
The key to all this is take your time and do the prep correctly. Don't do it on a day where you rush to put your wheels back on or something. Don't do it outside or in a dusty environment. The paint needs about a day to set properly, otherwise stone chips e.t.c will appear straight away and penetrate to the alloy.
The entire method was like this...
Let the tyre down
Knock any loose/free/corroded powder coat/alloy off with a wire brush
Sand with a low grit rating for a rough finish for the paint to eventually stick
Araldite steel the imperfections/low parts
Wait for it to dry
Sand down with medium grit paper to level out the araldite patchwork
Wipe down entire rim with white spirit to get rid of wax/dirt/grime
Wash down the rim
Dry the wheel
Insert index/cue cards around the wheel to stop paint from going on your tyres
Put a few coats of primer filler
Wait for it to dry
Put a few coats of grey primer over the top (this is to see where your imperfections are easily)
Leave it to dry
Wet sand the wheel until smooth like glass to the touch with a gradually higher grit rating
Dry it off
Put on grey primer over exposed primer filler, enough that you don't go through again on the final primer sand (see next)
Let it dry
Lightly wet Sand the primer for the last time
Put a decent amount of top coats on the wheel, light strokes with the canister to gradually build it up. TAKE YOUR TIME.
After letting it dry put some clear coat on. This is the last stage, don't rush or you will get runs of the lacquer and it will look like a POS. As before. Light strokes, side to side.
And there you have it! Nice looking wheels. This will in no way fix buckles e.t.c.
Go and have your wheels balanced as well for good measure.
Let me know if you think I should change anything on this 'How To'
Thanks.
The key to all this is take your time and do the prep correctly. Don't do it on a day where you rush to put your wheels back on or something. Don't do it outside or in a dusty environment. The paint needs about a day to set properly, otherwise stone chips e.t.c will appear straight away and penetrate to the alloy.
The entire method was like this...
Let the tyre down
Knock any loose/free/corroded powder coat/alloy off with a wire brush
Sand with a low grit rating for a rough finish for the paint to eventually stick
Araldite steel the imperfections/low parts
Wait for it to dry
Sand down with medium grit paper to level out the araldite patchwork
Wipe down entire rim with white spirit to get rid of wax/dirt/grime
Wash down the rim
Dry the wheel
Insert index/cue cards around the wheel to stop paint from going on your tyres
Put a few coats of primer filler
Wait for it to dry
Put a few coats of grey primer over the top (this is to see where your imperfections are easily)
Leave it to dry
Wet sand the wheel until smooth like glass to the touch with a gradually higher grit rating
Dry it off
Put on grey primer over exposed primer filler, enough that you don't go through again on the final primer sand (see next)
Let it dry
Lightly wet Sand the primer for the last time
Put a decent amount of top coats on the wheel, light strokes with the canister to gradually build it up. TAKE YOUR TIME.
After letting it dry put some clear coat on. This is the last stage, don't rush or you will get runs of the lacquer and it will look like a POS. As before. Light strokes, side to side.
And there you have it! Nice looking wheels. This will in no way fix buckles e.t.c.
Go and have your wheels balanced as well for good measure.
Let me know if you think I should change anything on this 'How To'
Thanks.
I don't trust anything that bleeds for 5 days and dosen't die!
White spirit is the last thing to do before applying paint :salut: