DIY wheel refurb log - Picture heavy

Phate said:
Snazzy!

Might give you a shout with some questions if thats cool? My wheels are mullered and I'm having a quiet month this month so might give it a go. :)
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Go for it mate, I have finished with the filler etc so if you need anything, wet and dry etc then feel free to come and grab it all. Still more than enough alloy filler to do several more sets of wheels.
 
Vince said:
Go for it mate, I have finished with the filler etc so if you need anything, wet and dry etc then feel free to come and grab it all. Still more than enough alloy filler to do several more sets of wheels.
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Oh mega xx

I'll take you up on that in a month or so time. Just moved and September is a bit hectic for me. Will make a fun project though :) Thanks!
 
Looks great!

I done mine myself, realised I don't have the patience and now they look crap. Need to take them to get redone soon.
 
Vince said:
I am happy with that. Nasty marks all gone and a nice even finish. Now I need to wait for a nice day more than 24 hours from now to lay down the 2k clear on them. So far it's taken about 4 hours prep on each wheel then another couple putting right my mess when I ruined it.
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you should lay down the clear about 15 to 3 mins after you have layed down the top coat if you want to keep a high gloss shiny finish other wise it will dry matt
 
leigh_boy said:
you should lay down the clear about 15 to 3 mins after you have layed down the top coat if you want to keep a high gloss shiny finish other wise it will dry matt
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I read this and some people say wait 15 and then lay down the clear, others say lay it down when the base is dry. I guess I will soon find out.
 
15-30 mins flash time is about right. Tbf rattle can celly isn't up to the job for the harsh environment of a wheel, you want to put a good quality 2k on it, better still powder coat.
 
cloudy said:
Looks great so far, but please tell me you are not intending on spraying 2K indoors...
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I did a bit of reading and this 2k is nasty stuff so I will be waiting for a gap in the weather to get it on the wheel. Don't really want fumes from this stuff hanging around indoors. Does mean I'll have to wait for the weather before the next update.
 
1k Lacquer will be ok on wheels, so long as you flat it perfectly smooth and keep the wheels clean and waxed.

However, OP I'm afraid that due to the way you have painted them I wouldn't expect it to last more than 1 winter. As you have only painted the front face of the wheel the elements will corrode the exposed alloy beyond the painted edge and creep under the paint. I also didn't see whether you have used an etch primer on the bare alloy or not, which would have held the corrosion process back a bit.

To do a durable DIY refurb you really need to have the wheels blasted and then paint all surfaces front and back (bar the hub face of course)

Top tip - an old tent makes a good spray booth :p

Also I've used that 1k HBBody lacquer before and it really needed baking to go hard - until I baked the parts they were still fingerprint tacky even after 48 hours. Do you have a greenhouse you could put the wheels in when done?
 
pepsilol said:
It will be Non ISO lacquer.

How much was that can stuff?
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Ok on amazon it is £14 a can but I got 2 cans for that money at my local back street motor place.

Just so everybody knows what it is as there has been mention of 1k, 2k celly based (honestly I have no idea) I just asked the fella what would do the job.

Your best having a look at their PDF catalogue, page 23, part number 520.00.0000.0

http://www.hbbody.com.gr/images/catalogues/HB_entypo_GB_ekdosiD_FINAL_LR.pdf
 
Tom_ed1987 said:
1k Lacquer will be ok on wheels, so long as you flat it perfectly smooth and keep the wheels clean and waxed.

However, OP I'm afraid that due to the way you have painted them I wouldn't expect it to last more than 1 winter. As you have only painted the front face of the wheel the elements will corrode the exposed alloy beyond the painted edge and creep under the paint. I also didn't see whether you have used an etch primer on the bare alloy or not, which would have held the corrosion process back a bit.
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I am a bit confused here, I haven't taken the inside surface of the wheels back as they are in good all round condition, also with the top of the rim I have only taken back the front face to the topcoat for the majority of the wheel, primer in some areas and only bare metal in the areas that were damaged. the damaged areas were then sanded back and built up with alloy filler before I sprayed primer. So the inside rim is effectively factory finish. This picture from the face of the rim tonight shows that there is a small ingress about 2mm down on the inside, this is what I masked to, badly in some areas admittedly. The idea is to mask along this line again but masking what I have sprayed and just quickly knock back any overspray, this picture should explain what I mean:




Tom_ed1987 said:
Top tip - an old tent makes a good spray booth :p
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Great idea, If the weather keeps up I may just go and buy a cheapo one.
 
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Good work thus far, I can share your pain as I am currently refurbing 4 x mx-5 wheels.

However, as the paint was flaking due to rubbish lacquer I have had to sand all the wheel completely down to bare metal, this has so far taken me about 4 days of sanding and as the rears of the wheels were just lacquered diamond cut alloy I am having to hand sand the rest off which is taking a while. I had the tyres removed after I delaminated them on a track day.

I am doing mine as I am a poor student and the wheels cost me less than 100gbp so it seemed daft to pay more than their worth in repair.

I look forward to seeing your finished wheels.
 
pastymuncher said:
Coming on nicely there.


On a side note. If I did that in the house I would be a dead man!!
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I guess I am lucky the mrs is still pretty young at 25 so I am guessing that there is plenty of time for that to change. She would kill me if I did it in one of the rooms that I have gutted and redecorated but in that room she couldn't care less. That will all change once I have made it into our office but for now its just that mess at the back of the house to her.
 
Here are a couple more pics of what the wheel looks like in its top coat with the masking removed.





There are a couple of tiny imperfections but nothing I cant live with for my first wheel. In the second picture you can see the over spray on the inside rim, next job is to mask up and take this back before clear coating the wheel I think. Next time I will mask it up differently to avoid having to do this.
 
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afraid to say for 4 hours labour plus materials per rim I would much rather spend the money having it done for me. That said I dont have the time nor patience to do it.

nice job on the cheap, how much should the materials cost in the end?
 
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