Restoring your own alloy wheels?

[S3_Jacko]

Guys

Dont know if this is the right section to post this in or not... But i'm looking to restore (Tart up) my original S3 alloy wheels, but they are not in a bad enough condition to justify paying to get them professionally done....

I've seen a few boys doin their own wheels and interested in the processes of doing it... I've just got the usual scrapes, I seen guys using a small bit of filler then painting and some of the results have been great... 1 of the rims does have a bit of laquer peel on it tho and would need professionally refurbed if I couldnt do it myself...


any tips and pictures of the process would be great guys, cheers...

 

[dolcevita4]

How I've done mine before:

1. take wheels of the car and get air out (if you have access to the tire machine take the tire off)
2. if doing it with tires on, use paper to wrap around tires
3. use 400 grit wet and dry sand paper and sand the wheel down
4. fill in any gaps with alloy filler
5. sand down where filler was used with 400 wet and dry
6. sand down all wheel with 600 wet and dry
7. two layers of primer (i've used grey one)
8. two or three layers of paint ( better to go for more layers and gently spray them rather than sanding them down again ) - make sure when your spraying you keep the appropriate distance
9. two layers of clear lacquer

it's simple but time consuming. make sure you paint in dust free area and after sanding down make sure the wheels are dry and clean.

 

[S3_Jacko]

Thanks mate.... What colour paint did you use on them... Want to keep them looking as close to OEM as possible..

 

[WOLF]

How I've done mine before:

1. take wheels of the car and get air out (if you have access to the tire machine take the tire off)
2. if doing it with tires on, use paper to wrap around tires
3. use 400 grit wet and dry sand paper and sand the wheel down
4. fill in any gaps with alloy filler
5. sand down where filler was used with 400 wet and dry
6. sand down all wheel with 600 wet and dry
7. two layers of primer (i've used grey one)
8. two or three layers of paint ( better to go for more layers and gently spray them rather than sanding them down again ) - make sure when your spraying you keep the appropriate distance
9. two layers of clear lacquer

it's simple but time consuming. make sure you paint in dust free area and after sanding down make sure the wheels are dry and clean.

Thisis pretty much it but its all in the prep.

 

[matts1]

I did a couple of sets on my old Civic Type R and my sister. Light kurbing and corrosion on them all. I have to say, after buying all the stuff, hours and hours of sanding to get them nice and flat, hours spraying them letting layers dry and trying to make sure no contaminates got in the lacquer I swore the £200-300 quid to have them done professionally was a bargain!!

 

[JudderMan]

I did a couple of sets on my old Civic Type R and my sister. Light kurbing and corrosion on them all. I have to say, after buying all the stuff, hours and hours of sanding to get them nice and flat, hours spraying them letting layers dry and trying to make sure no contaminates got in the lacquer I swore the £200-300 quid to have them done professionally was a bargain!!

Ah f**k really? I am just about to refurb mine. Surely if you use a 'mouse'/handheld sander it would be easier? I know with CTR wheels the spokes must be a ****** but on Audi fat 5s it must be a little bit easier with the size of the spokes? I hate paying people to do something I can do...hate it..

 

[A3_130]

I've just refurbed some S3 Ronal alloys for my A3 and it wasn't too bad - the sanding (by hand) takes a while - took me about an hour per wheel then spraying's ok - worth taking time over it. This is one of mine after spraying - if you're willing to put the time in then deffo worth doing it yourself as all the kit is sub £50 for doing all the wheels.

 

[A3_130]

I've just refurbed some S3 Ronal alloys for my A3 and it wasn't too bad - the sanding (by hand) takes a while - took me about an hour per wheel then spraying's ok - worth taking time over it. This is one of mine after spraying - if you're willing to put the time in then deffo worth doing it yourself as all the kit is sub £50 for doing all the wheels.

 

[A3_130]

I used E-Tech metallic silver paint from EBay - looks pretty close to OEM.

 

[desertstorm]

I was going to do this with the 17 inch winter wheels I bought off E-bay. They came cheap because they were quite rough.
After looking around and working out how much I would have to spend on paint and materials as well as time ended up taking them to get them done Professionally.
Went to the prestige wheel centre in Birmingham. For cash they will do wheels for the price with no VAT. So 4 wheels fully stripped , kerbing damage repaired and they have been sprayed all over with powder coat and look like new. All for £140 .

Wheel refurbishing price guide for diamond cutting and powder coating





You don't get the same satisfaction of doing the job yourself but there is no way I would have been able to do the wheels this good.

Karl.

 

[matts1]

If you enjoy that sort of task then it is worth a go, but for me, although I liked the results, it took me a good two days to do the four wheels and just seemed more hassle than coughing up for a professional job, the ctr wheels were a ******

before



after



a top tip, tape the edge of the tyre up between the rim and the tyre with masking tape, then use cling film to wrap the tyre - going around the radious of the tyre and tape the edge of the cling film to the tape round the rim, then use a hair dry to shrink the cling film to the tyre. Creates a snug cover for the tyre that wont tear of shift like paper.

 

[JudderMan]

That looks spot on. I'm not afraid of a bit of hard work. I'd rather give it a whirl. Just need the time to do it really. Was thinking of sanding and prep on a Friday afternoon/evening, painting all wheels Saturday morning, left to cure, finish on Sunday, new wheels for Monday....just not this weekend...LOL.

 

[matts1]

If you can, get all four wheels off or a couple at a time. Yep, get them sanded down and clean and then maybe get a couple of coats of primer on and leave to harden over night - now I found out of a can it takes more like a few days to a week for them to really harden so you could do all four and then leave them on the car for a week to harden.

Then you can wet sand them to get them flat and take out any imperfections - anything you can see now will be x10 when painted. Then give them a few coats of silver and a couple of lacquer 30 minutes later. I worked on all four in one go, so as I coated one, I did the next and the next then it was time to do the first again and so on so I wasn't waiting around watching paint dry too much!!

Wants to be warm and free from dust or breeze/wind so ideally in a a garage but make sure you wear a mask and have some ventilation : ) and if some dust or fluff lands in the wet paint - leave it and sort it when it is dry unless you have a very very steady hand!

 

[JudderMan]

Thanks Matts1, taken onboard.