DIY wheel respray/mini refurb - tips + advice needed please

[agentprawn]

<<< i've got an old GMC safari dayvan, and the alloys are in need of some TLC. They're not damaged at all, they're just grimy, brake dust infected and generally let the van down. No amount of cleaning brings them up to look all that great. I'd like to have a go at spraying them myself as a) I can't afford to send them away, and b) I don't have axle stands or spare wheels ..

Now, i'm certainly no spanner king, but i'm not all that bad with these sort of minor jobs - I just wondered if it was a simple case of rubbing down with some sandpaper (wet and dry or a certain grit?), priming a couple of times, then spraying a couple of times (which paint is best?) and a couple of coats of lacquer on top? do i need to rub down in between? I don't want to spend £loads on materials either if I can help it (did I mention i'm on a budget, and tight?!) or hours and hours of my time ..

thanks in advance peoples!

PS if there's a sticky for this somewhere please could someone post me a link, ta!

[93fxdl]

Quickest and cheapest
Paint wheels with whatever paint you have kicking about
next option
Rub wheels with pan scourer first
Next option
Use proper abrasive and proper paint
Each option will increase the cost and the amount of time it takes.
In the past I have had success using household gloss brushed on wheels, as the thick paint fills most surface flaws.
Economy masking can be done by painting the tyre with liquid soap, once paint dry, just hose off the overspray
Ttfn Glenn

[MiataMark]

I managed to get a set of alloys shot blasted for £57 (front face only but it cleaned most of the back anyway) then etch primed, sprayed and cleared (all from a can). Looks OK to me although they haven't had tyres fitted yet.

I did a set of steels a while ago, wire brushed, kurust, zinc primer, paint and clear. Looked good but didn't take long for rust to come through at seam of centre and rim.

Mark

[sb]

Ive painted my own wheels in three different ways.

First and most involved:
Sand down to as close to bare metal as you can go before your will to live dissolves.
Red oxide primer, 3 coats with sanding inbetween, sand the final coat back but not smooth, about 500 grit.
Paint over, 3-5 layers and sand between each. Sand last coat down with wet 2000.
Lacquer, about 3 layers, sand and cut for perfect smooth finish,

This however is very involved and time consuming.


Second:

Essentially the lazy version of the above, clean and sand wheel til its free of contaminants.
Prime, 2 or 3 layers, sand last.
Paint, 2 or more layers until colour is solid all over, sand last.
Lacquer, or don't lacquer and leave the last paint layer without sanding.


Third, oh Hammerite my friend:

Clean it, spray it, done. Cost you about £15 depending on how much Hammerite you need and what it costs.
Also youll need to go over it after 6 months.

Oh and a tip for masking, very roughly tape up to the edge of the wheel and wrap the tire in paper, you don't have to be perfect.
Stick playing cards between the bead and tyre all the way around. Perfect round seal to protect tire and not mind numbing accuracy required, if youre not taking the tyre off off.

[MiataMark]

One of the wheels I refurbed;



Why do iPhone images get randomly rotated, shows the right way up on the web.

Anyway you get the idea, massive amount of balance weights due to the battered wheels.

[optimusprime2]

The last 2 mercedes cars i have  had i refurbed the wheels .I was lucky in the way that only top paint was missing and not the primer .First i washed them clean back and front .Then when dry, i used a scraper to remove brake dust.Next step was to washe them again .Then after they are dry rub them over with 1000 wet and dry just to key the primer to the coat that was left on the wheel.     Keep the wheels clean before painting.  Next thing was to mask of the alloy so you don't get the paint on your tyres. I used a rubber tube over the tyre valve  to keep the paint off it ,nothing looks any worse than paint overspray .  Next spray on  a few coats of primer, use it as per note on the spray tin .After the primer is dry you can give it a light rub with 1000 w/d to key the top coat of paint that your will be putting on.  I used silver but its up to you the colour you use. You must use the primer and paint as per instructions on the can. You must not spray it, and not letting  it dry as  the coats of paint will eat in to one another spoiling you work. The spraying is the main thing,very light coats ,let it dry . Then the last coat is clear lacquer. I put on 3 coats of the lacquer. Good luck.Any questions  just ask ask. Love to show picks but unable for some reason.
,

[craig1010cc]

1000 grit is far too fine for keying work, that is the sort of level of grade you use for final flatting. I'd normally use a 240 grit for keying the surface for priming, but scouring pads are actually very good at this.

If your going for a real budget silver refurb, you can get silver alloy wheel paint which dries with a reasonable amount of gloss and doesn't need lacquer as well as smootrite/rustoleum/B&Q metal paint all can give acceptable finishes (and by the sounds of it will be an improvement on the current look of the wheels)

[Hillmanjames]

Easy tyre masking option:

Old playing/ pokemon cards

[colnerov]

Mar 26, 2015 16:56:48 GMT MiataMark said:

Why do iPhone images get randomly rotated, shows the right way up on the web.

Hi, it's to do with the way iphones some times take pics and are then loaded onto windows based systems. There is a link someone posted on here that explains it fully, but I cant find it at the moment.

Colin

[optimusprime2]

Mar 28, 2015 11:26:29 GMT Hillmanjames said:

Easy tyre masking option:

Old playing/ pokemon cards

[MiataMark]

Mar 28, 2015 11:57:43 GMT colnerov said:

Mar 26, 2015 16:56:48 GMT MiataMark said:

Why do iPhone images get randomly rotated, shows the right way up on the web.

Hi, it's to do with the way iphones some times take pics and are then loaded onto windows based systems. There is a link someone posted on here that explains it fully, but I cant find it at the moment.

Colin

Thanks.

Does it with a Mac as well :-( well transferred from iPhoto via FTP to a website which could be Windows or Linux. I'll look for the thread/link.

[colnerov]

Hi, MiataMark I have found the link originally posted by jackherer so thanks to him -

iphonephotographyschool.com/iphone-photos-upside-down/

Colin

[MiataMark]

Mar 29, 2015 11:38:41 GMT colnerov said:

Hi, MiataMark I have found the link originally posted by jackherer so thanks to him -

iphonephotographyschool.com/iphone-photos-upside-down/

Colin

Thanks, just need to remember to keep the phone the 'right' way up.

[2xllimos]

Mar 26, 2015 12:09:59 GMT 93fxdl said:

Quickest and cheapest
Paint wheels with whatever paint you have kicking about
next option
Rub wheels with pan scourer first
Next option
Use proper abrasive and proper paint
Each option will increase the cost and the amount of time it takes.
In the past I have had success using household gloss brushed on wheels, as the thick paint fills most surface flaws.
Economy masking can be done by painting the tyre with liquid soap, once paint dry, just hose off the overspray
Ttfn Glenn





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