DIY - Wheel Refinishing

[Hick]

Dismount the tires, dont be a weenie

[nando]

what do you do for the rubber shraeder valve? just paint it? buncha tape?


Julien

cut it off. any decent tire shop will give you new ones anyway.

[DarkWing6]

Where do you buy paste or gel paint stipper? And what did you use?

[Hick]

Hardware store, its with the paint, oddly enough

[nickmp0wer]

My wheel refinish write up

I saw the other thread about refinishing wheels, and thought i might as well post mine too.

http://nicktenhulzen.com/wheelssub.htm

EDIT - This post was merged from another thread.

[Hick]

DAMN! i like the polished lip, ill have to try that with my 16"ers

[MitchFong]

the balance of your wheels are gunna be out of wack now that you have parts of the lip shaved off, wont they?
Seems like this would completely throw the wheels off balance.

[Garageaholic]

I refinished my 6 spoke aftermarket wheels from curb rash and then painted them. I had no problem with balancing problems.

[Garageaholic]

It's a long process, but it works, and if it's done right (the DIY way), then they should last a while without pitting. You have to clean and wax them often to keep the luster though.

Sand (scuff the surface) with brillo or i used 100grit paper
obviously tape what you dont want painted/sanded
put 3 coats of etching primer on the wheels
wait 3 min between coats, and then put as many coats of paint you want
i put 4 coats.. and that was fine
I waited till the next day, then put like 5 coats of clear coat
waited another day, then sanded the clear coat with 1500-2000 grit paper
it really made it shine and got rid of the "orange peel" look of paint, gave it a nice luster
i waxed the wheels 1ce a week, and they are still shining

check out my pics in my gallery of my red rims

[Garageaholic]

[MitchFong]

mm those wheels are hawt.. so once you done(5 coats of clear coat) and you sand them with 2000grit sand paper, do you need to re-clear coat it? Or does the clear coat stay on after you sand them with the very fine sand paper?

[Axxe]

No, do not sand the clear coat.

[Garageaholic]

That's why you put 5 coats on.. all you are sanding down is the high spots until it looks smooth. After you sanded it down with 2000 grit, you use car polishing compound to finalize it,, then wax it

Its what I did, and it worked great, didn't pit, it shined (with proper care)
and i got alot of comments on it

the sanding down takes a loong time, so be patient

[Axxe]

Your wheels look good, but lets not go overboard with "smoothness." They are wheels, subject to chips, high head, curbs and brake dust. They don't have to be perfect, and the longer you spend making them perfect, the longer you will cry when your girlfriend/wife curb it in the mcdonalds drive thru.

[nando]

That's why you put 5 coats on.. all you are sanding down is the high spots until it looks smooth. After you sanded it down with 2000 grit, you use car polishing compound to finalize it,, then wax it

Its what I did, and it worked great, didn't pit, it shined (with proper care)
and i got alot of comments on it

the sanding down takes a loong time, so be patient

if you have to sand down the clear coat to make it look smooth you put it on wrong in the first place. but whatever, your wheels look good.

and yeah, no point in making them perfect, nobody will notice a small scratch or chip from 5 feet away, especially when you're moving.

also, if my gf/wife curbed my rims she'd be sleeping on the porch!