Euroweave and RZ project...as a set!
Hello friends.
Ive been wanting to run this setup for a few years but never wanted had an opportunity nor wanted to part with the cash. I decided that I needed to start sooner than later because E30 parts are getting harder to find and more expensive. So my quest was to find (2) 15x7 BBS RZ378 ET20 wheels. I had a feeler out which led me to these.
Wait, wait, wait….why only 2….you ask? Ill get to that but here is a peek of what im up to. As you will see, I happen to have 2 euroweaves laying around for just an occasion…in very poor shape but workable. The euroweaves had to be straightened but not too bad, just some adjustments needed by a pro. A little curbage was present but not terrible. These will never be perfect but it will work for me.
Ok, back to the RZs and the refinishing part. For the lips, I had to start from scratch. I wanted to see how much work it would be to get the lips polished. But first I had to remove the failed clear. I happen to have some thinner laying around in the garage so I tried it on a spot.
Once removed, some shine was noticed.
I was surprised to see how well they came out but there were deeper scratches in the metal so I now had a plan. First remove the clear only from the lips, wetsand, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1K, 1.5K, 2k, polish.
Hours and hours later I wanted to compare lips and get an idea if my setup is what I was going for. Im on the right track!
Prepped the RZs and used tack cloth…
Paint…
clear…
And BAM, baller!!!
I didn’t take many pix before this as I was thinking of shipping these out to get finished but it was easy enough to do in my garage. Just a lot of labor. That’s one, 3 more to go.
Like I showed before, I used some Crown Paint remover. There were a few part of the 2nd RZ that were not coming off so I went to the ol’ reliable…Aircraft paint stripper.
This worked marginally better. I think that the clear coat was pitted in the metal. More work for sanding was needed. After all the clear was removed from the lips, now it was time for the sanding. First, 320 grit. The whole lip was done but after each grit, I tested out the look with the Mothers metal polish just to see how it was going. So a sample will be shown from here on out.
400…
600…
800…
1K…
1.5K…
2K…
And all poished…
Amazing, right!?!?
Now it was time to get the euroweaves up to spec of the RZs. As you can see the lips have failed clear as well but the good news is that they were polished originally…not painted like I have now. Trying to remove OEM paint is not a DIYer if you (like me) don’t have a blast cabinet in my garage. The Aircraft stripper laughed at it on one sample section.
It takes a steady brush to apply just on the edge of wheel color and metal. I wasn’t 100% perfect but it worked for me. But the clear was on tight. It took a few applications to get it off.
Just for S-n-Gs I tried to hit the wheel with sone walnut shells for a better paintable surface. I was tired of these wheels laughing at me L
All lips polished. :up:
Primer, Wurth silver, clear…
Drying…
I know the wait is killing ya! :lol
Done! These are exactly the look I wanted. I have only seen 2 cars run this setup and should be mounted next week to my cabrio.
Thanks for looking.
Cheers!
Ive been wanting to run this setup for a few years but never wanted had an opportunity nor wanted to part with the cash. I decided that I needed to start sooner than later because E30 parts are getting harder to find and more expensive. So my quest was to find (2) 15x7 BBS RZ378 ET20 wheels. I had a feeler out which led me to these.
Wait, wait, wait….why only 2….you ask? Ill get to that but here is a peek of what im up to. As you will see, I happen to have 2 euroweaves laying around for just an occasion…in very poor shape but workable. The euroweaves had to be straightened but not too bad, just some adjustments needed by a pro. A little curbage was present but not terrible. These will never be perfect but it will work for me.
Ok, back to the RZs and the refinishing part. For the lips, I had to start from scratch. I wanted to see how much work it would be to get the lips polished. But first I had to remove the failed clear. I happen to have some thinner laying around in the garage so I tried it on a spot.
Once removed, some shine was noticed.
I was surprised to see how well they came out but there were deeper scratches in the metal so I now had a plan. First remove the clear only from the lips, wetsand, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1K, 1.5K, 2k, polish.
Hours and hours later I wanted to compare lips and get an idea if my setup is what I was going for. Im on the right track!
Prepped the RZs and used tack cloth…
Paint…
clear…
And BAM, baller!!!
I didn’t take many pix before this as I was thinking of shipping these out to get finished but it was easy enough to do in my garage. Just a lot of labor. That’s one, 3 more to go.
Like I showed before, I used some Crown Paint remover. There were a few part of the 2nd RZ that were not coming off so I went to the ol’ reliable…Aircraft paint stripper.
This worked marginally better. I think that the clear coat was pitted in the metal. More work for sanding was needed. After all the clear was removed from the lips, now it was time for the sanding. First, 320 grit. The whole lip was done but after each grit, I tested out the look with the Mothers metal polish just to see how it was going. So a sample will be shown from here on out.
400…
600…
800…
1K…
1.5K…
2K…
And all poished…
Amazing, right!?!?
Now it was time to get the euroweaves up to spec of the RZs. As you can see the lips have failed clear as well but the good news is that they were polished originally…not painted like I have now. Trying to remove OEM paint is not a DIYer if you (like me) don’t have a blast cabinet in my garage. The Aircraft stripper laughed at it on one sample section.
It takes a steady brush to apply just on the edge of wheel color and metal. I wasn’t 100% perfect but it worked for me. But the clear was on tight. It took a few applications to get it off.
Just for S-n-Gs I tried to hit the wheel with sone walnut shells for a better paintable surface. I was tired of these wheels laughing at me L
All lips polished. :up:
Primer, Wurth silver, clear…
Drying…
I know the wait is killing ya! :lol
Done! These are exactly the look I wanted. I have only seen 2 cars run this setup and should be mounted next week to my cabrio.
Thanks for looking.
Cheers!
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