Many people have expressed interest in the refinishing of my vintage 1989 DP wheels. I was told by the previous owner that the original owner purchased the wheels from a Les Schwab immediately after leaving the BMW lot with his new 1989 325iC.
When I looked at the car the first thing that jumped out at me were the wheels. I thought to myself they had to be some of the most horrible wheels I've ever seen on a BMW. After drooling over RS's all day on the E30 sites, can you blame me? My frame of reference had me thinking high end mesh wheels were the only appropriate option for E30's. It wasn't until I posted pictures of the car in various states of disarray that I began getting comments and PM's about the wheels. Turns out what I thought were cheap, ugly wheels were actually very period correct and brought back tons of fond memories for people.
Over the years (I've owned the car two years, and driven it two times!) the more I got to looking at them on the car, the more I could see what others had seen. The wheels, in and of themselves, aren't very good looking. However, when considering what was hot in '89 and the way they seem to fit with the car, I started to see them at more than face value. Still, they aren't what I had envisioned for my convertible.
My original plan as of 1.5 years ago was to scuff up the paint, primer them, respray them white, purchase some cheap craigslist tires, and throw them on as a sort of 'joke' from time to time. Knowing I wouldn't be able to afford a set of wheels I really want for a while, I began to realize I'd probably have to actually run these or bottlecaps for at least a while before I'd have enough saved. Coupled with the facts that they're period correct (something kind of neat to me), I already own them, lots of people want to buy them from me, I want to feel what it's like to never want to restore wheels again, and I can't find ANY information on them on the internet, I decided to attempt to restore them to their original late-80's glory.
In this thread, I'll document my various stages from start to finish, including the products and procedures I used. For some background, I do not know what I'm doing, only what I've read on the internet. My mechanical skills are comical at best, and my paint/bodywork skills don't exist. I'm jumping into this noob-style.
Day 1 - January 5th, 2009
My first order of business was compiling a list of supplies then tracking them all down. According to the how-to's on the net, I compiled this list of supplies I'd likely need. My cost for the stuff I've purchased so far (the stuff in bold) was around $80 from Baxter's.
- Kleen-Strip Aircraft Stripper
- Stripper Resistant Brush
- Wire Brush
- Sandpaper (240 & 400 grit)
- Scuffing Pad
- Duplicolor Wheel Paint
- Duplicolor Clearcoat
- Acetone
- Spray Can Gun Adapter
- Spot Bondo
- SEM Self Etching Primer
- Plastikote Sandable Primer
Having my supplies in hand, I headed for the shop. The first (obvious) work I had to do was take the wheels to a shop to get the tires removed. This would probably be a good time for 'before pictures'.
Would you believe there was not only a different brand of tire on each wheel, but a different SIZE? None of the little tire shops that charge $2 per wheel for dismounts could remove them due to the design of the wheel lip, so I ended up having to take them to Les Schwab.
Day 2 - January 6th, 2009
I picked the wheels up this morning and got right to work. Unfortunately, I was so busy working on them, I forgot to take pics. So, I'll just tell you what I did.
I set the first wheel on a piece of plywood, poured some aircraft stripper into a coffee can, and proceeded to slather it onto the first wheel. Just then my dad comes up and asks me why I'm using 'that crap' and not using the media blasting cabinet. I told him it does a weak job of removing wheel finishes, and I didn't want to spend eight hours blasting one wheel. My brother overheard and informed me that he had turned the pressure way down to 20psi to blast some plastic trim. Armed with this helpful bit of information, I turned the pressure to 140psi and stood there amazed as the multiple layers of paint and primer disappeared. Forget using that messy stripper, this is how I'm going to strip my wheels!
Once I was done with the first wheel I went back to check on the wheel done with aircraft stripper. Being that I'm on a budget, I bought the small can of stripper, so I was using it sparingly. Apparently this isn't how it's meant to be used. After taking the wire brush to the wheel and scrubbing vigorously, some parts were bare metal, some down to the primer, and some were just clean. Thank god I didn't have to do this to all four wheels! That stuff is really, really nasty. Though, if I didn't have access to the media cabinet, I would have gone to the store, purchased more, applied liberally, and got the job done. It definitely works, it's just a very sketchy process in my opinion.
Back to the media cabinet, I was averaging about 1-1.5 hours per wheel. As I was finishing the second one, Jenny shows up with her OCD on full blast and deems my media blasting job not good enough. She then commandeered the cabinet and banned me from it.
That was alright though, I decided to try tackling the curb rash with the spot bondo. I've seen the stuff used quite a few places before and it seems to work really well. Basically you apply a thin layer of it, let it harden, sand it with low grit (200-400) sandpaper, then apply another thin layer. Repeat this process until it's flush with the existing metal. Here's a pic of wheel #1, all blasted clean with the spot bondo applied. Luckily, it has only one spoke that needs work.
Just as we were finishing, my tires showed up. They're Goodyear Eagle F1 205/50R16's all the way around.
Anyways, that's all the work for today. More tomorrow!
Final Update - February 23rd, 2009
Wow, finally done-ish. I know I intended this thread to be helpful, but due to my sporadic work schedule I wasn't able to keep this project as well documented as I would have liked. I'll tell you though, I learned a ton, and I'll try to share some of that with you guys.
First, aircraft stripper is nasty stuff. If possible, use a bead blaster or get the wheels acid dipped. Second, the bondo works very well, just be sure to apply it in very thin layers, let it dry, sand it down, then apply the next layer until you're happy with how smooth it is. Third, use self etching primer, I used SEM. Fourth, be sure you know how to use spray paint or you'll get tons of runs and imperfections (practice on something else before you spray the actual wheels). Fifth, have realistic expectations of what the final product is going to look like.
Overall I think they turned out decent, but due to the style of wheel America's Tire wasn't able to avoid a bit of scratching and damage, even with their no-mar head. I did ask them ahead of time and they did warn me it could happen, so it's no fault of theirs really. To avoid this a clear coat might help. I chose not to clear coat these as I wanted to be able to touch them up with relative ease. I'm going to cut, buff, and wax the car and the wheels once the weather warms up, then we'll see how it really looks. Here are a few pictures of them on the car with the new Goodyear Eagle F1 tires, I'm liking the look of them :)
Any questions, just ask.
When I looked at the car the first thing that jumped out at me were the wheels. I thought to myself they had to be some of the most horrible wheels I've ever seen on a BMW. After drooling over RS's all day on the E30 sites, can you blame me? My frame of reference had me thinking high end mesh wheels were the only appropriate option for E30's. It wasn't until I posted pictures of the car in various states of disarray that I began getting comments and PM's about the wheels. Turns out what I thought were cheap, ugly wheels were actually very period correct and brought back tons of fond memories for people.
Over the years (I've owned the car two years, and driven it two times!) the more I got to looking at them on the car, the more I could see what others had seen. The wheels, in and of themselves, aren't very good looking. However, when considering what was hot in '89 and the way they seem to fit with the car, I started to see them at more than face value. Still, they aren't what I had envisioned for my convertible.
My original plan as of 1.5 years ago was to scuff up the paint, primer them, respray them white, purchase some cheap craigslist tires, and throw them on as a sort of 'joke' from time to time. Knowing I wouldn't be able to afford a set of wheels I really want for a while, I began to realize I'd probably have to actually run these or bottlecaps for at least a while before I'd have enough saved. Coupled with the facts that they're period correct (something kind of neat to me), I already own them, lots of people want to buy them from me, I want to feel what it's like to never want to restore wheels again, and I can't find ANY information on them on the internet, I decided to attempt to restore them to their original late-80's glory.
In this thread, I'll document my various stages from start to finish, including the products and procedures I used. For some background, I do not know what I'm doing, only what I've read on the internet. My mechanical skills are comical at best, and my paint/bodywork skills don't exist. I'm jumping into this noob-style.
Day 1 - January 5th, 2009
My first order of business was compiling a list of supplies then tracking them all down. According to the how-to's on the net, I compiled this list of supplies I'd likely need. My cost for the stuff I've purchased so far (the stuff in bold) was around $80 from Baxter's.
- Kleen-Strip Aircraft Stripper
- Stripper Resistant Brush
- Wire Brush
- Sandpaper (240 & 400 grit)
- Scuffing Pad
- Duplicolor Wheel Paint
- Duplicolor Clearcoat
- Acetone
- Spray Can Gun Adapter
- Spot Bondo
- SEM Self Etching Primer
- Plastikote Sandable Primer
Having my supplies in hand, I headed for the shop. The first (obvious) work I had to do was take the wheels to a shop to get the tires removed. This would probably be a good time for 'before pictures'.
Would you believe there was not only a different brand of tire on each wheel, but a different SIZE? None of the little tire shops that charge $2 per wheel for dismounts could remove them due to the design of the wheel lip, so I ended up having to take them to Les Schwab.
Day 2 - January 6th, 2009
I picked the wheels up this morning and got right to work. Unfortunately, I was so busy working on them, I forgot to take pics. So, I'll just tell you what I did.
I set the first wheel on a piece of plywood, poured some aircraft stripper into a coffee can, and proceeded to slather it onto the first wheel. Just then my dad comes up and asks me why I'm using 'that crap' and not using the media blasting cabinet. I told him it does a weak job of removing wheel finishes, and I didn't want to spend eight hours blasting one wheel. My brother overheard and informed me that he had turned the pressure way down to 20psi to blast some plastic trim. Armed with this helpful bit of information, I turned the pressure to 140psi and stood there amazed as the multiple layers of paint and primer disappeared. Forget using that messy stripper, this is how I'm going to strip my wheels!
Once I was done with the first wheel I went back to check on the wheel done with aircraft stripper. Being that I'm on a budget, I bought the small can of stripper, so I was using it sparingly. Apparently this isn't how it's meant to be used. After taking the wire brush to the wheel and scrubbing vigorously, some parts were bare metal, some down to the primer, and some were just clean. Thank god I didn't have to do this to all four wheels! That stuff is really, really nasty. Though, if I didn't have access to the media cabinet, I would have gone to the store, purchased more, applied liberally, and got the job done. It definitely works, it's just a very sketchy process in my opinion.
Back to the media cabinet, I was averaging about 1-1.5 hours per wheel. As I was finishing the second one, Jenny shows up with her OCD on full blast and deems my media blasting job not good enough. She then commandeered the cabinet and banned me from it.
That was alright though, I decided to try tackling the curb rash with the spot bondo. I've seen the stuff used quite a few places before and it seems to work really well. Basically you apply a thin layer of it, let it harden, sand it with low grit (200-400) sandpaper, then apply another thin layer. Repeat this process until it's flush with the existing metal. Here's a pic of wheel #1, all blasted clean with the spot bondo applied. Luckily, it has only one spoke that needs work.
Just as we were finishing, my tires showed up. They're Goodyear Eagle F1 205/50R16's all the way around.
Anyways, that's all the work for today. More tomorrow!
Final Update - February 23rd, 2009
Wow, finally done-ish. I know I intended this thread to be helpful, but due to my sporadic work schedule I wasn't able to keep this project as well documented as I would have liked. I'll tell you though, I learned a ton, and I'll try to share some of that with you guys.
First, aircraft stripper is nasty stuff. If possible, use a bead blaster or get the wheels acid dipped. Second, the bondo works very well, just be sure to apply it in very thin layers, let it dry, sand it down, then apply the next layer until you're happy with how smooth it is. Third, use self etching primer, I used SEM. Fourth, be sure you know how to use spray paint or you'll get tons of runs and imperfections (practice on something else before you spray the actual wheels). Fifth, have realistic expectations of what the final product is going to look like.
Overall I think they turned out decent, but due to the style of wheel America's Tire wasn't able to avoid a bit of scratching and damage, even with their no-mar head. I did ask them ahead of time and they did warn me it could happen, so it's no fault of theirs really. To avoid this a clear coat might help. I chose not to clear coat these as I wanted to be able to touch them up with relative ease. I'm going to cut, buff, and wax the car and the wheels once the weather warms up, then we'll see how it really looks. Here are a few pictures of them on the car with the new Goodyear Eagle F1 tires, I'm liking the look of them :)
Any questions, just ask.
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