JamesS4cab
Registered User
The MTMs are all but sold so not an option now. I am persisting with the white splits so not all over yet. Once they are on the CHs could well be going anthracite for winter wheels.......
Marmite.......
- Thread starter JamesS4cab
- Start date
JamesS4cab
Registered User
UPDATE!
4 weeks of work in progress and a lot of grief and still not finished.
Powder coat really is hard as F to strip off with anything other than full acid dip or shot blasting. Which i dont have access to and couldnt find anywhere that was prepared to do just the lips. So i have spent hours with Nitromors and a packet of blades and got the rims back to bare metal. And i mean HOURS!
I then called a few places for a quote for diamond cutting JUST the lips and was quoted anything from £240 -£450! So i cracked out the sandpaper and spent another 6 hours polishing the lips. Which will now be finished with various polishing wheels to a high polish. After sanding down to 1200 grit, i needed some inspiration so offered up the centre:
Next issue - the previous owner had obviously split the wheels and had some of the bolt holes re-coiled. By a blind man. Most of the coils were badly loose, sticking out or just fell out. Given that one wheel had 6 loose coils, I looked into my options.
1) TIG weld all the loose holes back up and then retap to M7. Cost of TIG welding for 12 holes alone - £150!
2) Cold weld the M7 helicoils into the loose holes. FAILED
3) Buy new M 8 bolts and then retap ALL 76 holes. WIP.
In the mean time, i had sent the M7 bolts off to be anodised as i wanted them gold. I got a call from the anodiser moaning that they had been painted black (oops) and they had no facility to clean the paint off....... So i asked the price and total for re-anodise and stripping etc was £110. A new set of M7 gold (non genuine BBS) is £150 ish so i asked them to send them back. This is how they arrived:
I got on the phone and asked WTF had happened!? Apparently they sent them away for shot blasting before asking me....... So i now have 76 F'd bolts that need either rubbing down or etc primed and painted.
Sooooooo i bought 100 new M 8 bolts, which wasnt too bad ££ wise. However, this also meant that the holes on the wheel centres had to be drilled out to accomodate mate bolts. 76 holes redrilled. DONE.
I then didnt like the industrial look of the new bolts so bought some acid etch primer and some gold plasti kote. 76 bolts painted with 2 coats of etch primer and 3 coats of gold - DONE. They have been left for a week and the paint is pretty damn hard so happy with that.
Soooooo as they stand at the moment, the centres look like this:
I felt inspired to try the centre caps with the gold rim to see if i liked it:
(i broke the little audi badge when i put it back in........ )
Thats all for now!
Next stop - two more wheels to tap to M 8 and then the lips to be highly polished.
4 weeks of work in progress and a lot of grief and still not finished.
Powder coat really is hard as F to strip off with anything other than full acid dip or shot blasting. Which i dont have access to and couldnt find anywhere that was prepared to do just the lips. So i have spent hours with Nitromors and a packet of blades and got the rims back to bare metal. And i mean HOURS!
I then called a few places for a quote for diamond cutting JUST the lips and was quoted anything from £240 -£450! So i cracked out the sandpaper and spent another 6 hours polishing the lips. Which will now be finished with various polishing wheels to a high polish. After sanding down to 1200 grit, i needed some inspiration so offered up the centre:
Next issue - the previous owner had obviously split the wheels and had some of the bolt holes re-coiled. By a blind man. Most of the coils were badly loose, sticking out or just fell out. Given that one wheel had 6 loose coils, I looked into my options.
1) TIG weld all the loose holes back up and then retap to M7. Cost of TIG welding for 12 holes alone - £150!
2) Cold weld the M7 helicoils into the loose holes. FAILED
3) Buy new M 8 bolts and then retap ALL 76 holes. WIP.
In the mean time, i had sent the M7 bolts off to be anodised as i wanted them gold. I got a call from the anodiser moaning that they had been painted black (oops) and they had no facility to clean the paint off....... So i asked the price and total for re-anodise and stripping etc was £110. A new set of M7 gold (non genuine BBS) is £150 ish so i asked them to send them back. This is how they arrived:
I got on the phone and asked WTF had happened!? Apparently they sent them away for shot blasting before asking me....... So i now have 76 F'd bolts that need either rubbing down or etc primed and painted.
Sooooooo i bought 100 new M 8 bolts, which wasnt too bad ££ wise. However, this also meant that the holes on the wheel centres had to be drilled out to accomodate mate bolts. 76 holes redrilled. DONE.
I then didnt like the industrial look of the new bolts so bought some acid etch primer and some gold plasti kote. 76 bolts painted with 2 coats of etch primer and 3 coats of gold - DONE. They have been left for a week and the paint is pretty damn hard so happy with that.
Soooooo as they stand at the moment, the centres look like this:
I felt inspired to try the centre caps with the gold rim to see if i liked it:
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 671x895 and weights 115KB. |
(i broke the little audi badge when i put it back in........ )
Thats all for now!
Next stop - two more wheels to tap to M 8 and then the lips to be highly polished.
JamesS4cab
Registered User
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2012
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White wheels on a white car is always a good look, very motorsport. Shame they didn't work with the black lip but with the silver lip and anodised bolts they're going to look pretty neat. I'd have stuck with silver for the bolts/centre cap detail, or possibly red or blue, but the gold will still work 
PaulAr
S3 (8P)
Look the same to me like..
But if you are happy with them after all that work then thats all that matters mate.........
But if you are happy with them after all that work then thats all that matters mate.........
JamesS4cab
Registered User
Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments. If I don't like the bolts a full set is 24 delivered compared so worst case I get a new set and away I go!
Depending on how much money I can save it might be time for a new car anyway so these may well be for sale.........
Depending on how much money I can save it might be time for a new car anyway so these may well be for sale.........
JamesS4cab
Registered User
Wish I could afford the rs3 but just bought a house so it's looking like it might be an m3 or an rs4.......
Ben S3 8P3
Registered User
Just my opinion, but I think MTM wheels look dreadful, and verging on chavvy. Love those white ones
Ben S3 8P3
Registered User
No chavs here lol
Hmm now you see, thats looks rather nice. My brain is now confused.
James if you are interested in selling the MTMs please let me know, I'm on the lookout and could offer decent money for them. Please keep me posted!
JamesS4cab
Registered User
(First post newbie)
I think they looked the best when you first did them all white mate, the gold makes them look cheap in my opinion.
To be honest I hate those kind of alloys normally, I'd make the chavvy comment too, but the pic of them originally next to your car confused my tastes! Definitely like them.
I know nothing about alloys but those MTM's look awesome! Only on a top spec A3/S3 though- would look horrific on mine
I think they looked the best when you first did them all white mate, the gold makes them look cheap in my opinion.
To be honest I hate those kind of alloys normally, I'd make the chavvy comment too, but the pic of them originally next to your car confused my tastes! Definitely like them.
I know nothing about alloys but those MTM's look awesome! Only on a top spec A3/S3 though- would look horrific on mine
kel I've always fancied anthracite MTMs, if you have a better line into Paullie please do be my guest I WANT THEM! Haha.
Got to outdo the fella I drove past this evening with a black BE S3 rolling on anth CKs with red centres. That was my other choice!
Cheers mate I hope not, I am desperate for a set! Gotta outdo CK boy now and feeling the need to start playing!
by the way for the record this other black one looked spectacular!
by the way for the record this other black one looked spectacular!
DAAAAM! Just had a barney with the other half about the car anyway, seems any form of modifications would go down like a cup of cold sick and apparently I should be saving for our wedding? How absurd!
Don't tempt me Kel!
Unless you find some MTM Bimotos, preferably tatty cosmetically. Then tempt the hell out of me.
She doesn't moan when she's driving it to meet her friends and show it off!
Unless you find some MTM Bimotos, preferably tatty cosmetically. Then tempt the hell out of me.
She doesn't moan when she's driving it to meet her friends and show it off!
JamesS4cab
Registered User
JamesS4cab
Registered User
JamesS4cab
Registered User
Fiiiiiiiiiiiiinally finished and fitted:
Very happy with them. Not tooooo bad for a desk monkey!
Very happy with them. Not tooooo bad for a desk monkey!
BigWillyStyle
Registered User
