How to go about DIY restoring heavily corroded alloy wheels?

Its a shame there is not a website that hosts thousands of videos that you can watch, on how to refurb alloys...
 
I've done it with older wheels and like.others have said, it's just a case of hard graft to get it off.

I've used rattle can paint before too with a silver base and clear top.

It came out ok, but not much more ...

Looking back, if you consider the time spent and how much my time is worth at an hourly rate , I'd just get them done by a powder coated next time.

It was a fun exercise granted, but not worth it in hindsight.
 
I prepped mine using a multi tool sanding attach - it was a 2 month ball ache - mate over the road sprayed them and they looked fine- you must put a clear coat on top or the first pressure wash will lift the rattle can paint off. - I would never ever do it again.
 
I've done my own wheels before but they weren't as heavily corroded as that, i sanded them all down my hand as i couldn't really get in to all the grooves in the spokes with any kind of tool. Made sure it was all smooth, acid etch primer, sand, more primer, sand, then did maybe 4 or 5 thin coats of the colour sanding in between the first couple and finally 2 of clear coat. They came out really well and lasted maybe 2 or 3 years. Redid them again before i sold the car but that was a lot easier as it was just a flash over with primer and then a couple of coats of colour.

Depending on the tyre place they may chip off around the edges as it's never going to be as hard wearing as powder coated so it'd be easiest to get new tyres put on first and then spray them, i made a big circle of card that i could place in the groove between the tyre and alloy to avoid any overspray and get right into the edge.

I think it took me maybe 4 or 5 evenings to do it the first time for all 4 wheels.
 
Just had mine done, I thought they were bad but nowhere near as bad as those.
Mine all slowly leaked air as the corrosion when into the barrel and effected the seal.
Also I couldn’t have them done in silver as the corrosion would show through apparently
 
done it a few times as you know.

prep is going to take a long time, getting all the rubbish flaking paint off will take the longest, smoothing it all will take a lot of time too.. probably will require filler putty to fill in worst bits etc.

painting it self is not hard to be fair, some etch primer, filler primer, sand it down with a 1500 or so and then go over with colour and fat coat of clear.

done my mazda 3 wheels, lasted for a long time.. did my z4, did my lexus and now coated the s2k wheels because they needed refurbishing.

it isn't quick or easy but good results can be achieved.

E.g of s2k wheels after refurbishment

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Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
I did this some years ago, nitromors to remove the paint, light sanding (by hand) then used Holts alloy wheel paint. Cost about £15 for all 4. Lasted a couple of years and were fine.
They were toyota wheels, the ones that have the diamond cut front originally (off a celica)
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£15 will barely buy 3 rattle cans. In my experience, it will take a lot more than that. Especially if you go for primer, colour and lacquer.

I have to echo the above. I've done it myself, got decent results, just not as good or hard-wearing as a professional refurb and would rather pay a little more and save all the hassle.
 
jellybeard999 said:
£15 will barely buy 3 rattle cans. In my experience, it will take a lot more than that. Especially if you go for primer, colour and lacquer.

I have to echo the above. I've done it myself, got decent results, just not as good or hard-wearing as a professional refurb and would rather pay a little more and save all the hassle.
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I did say some years ago ;)
 
Clarkey said:
Exactly this. You will end up spending that much in materials anyway, then the huge amount of time it will take. Just not worth bothering.
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Exactly my point. Better off working two days at overtime rate, doing something that I know how to do, and pay someone to do properly. If was about washing the car, then, different opinion. I rather do myself, but then, I'm not looking for bang per buck. And doing it myself, unless a good detailer, would cost a pretty penny, anyway.
 
I did it once, on a volvo 480 turbo. Cleaned, sanded, masked up, and went over in silver, with a coat or two of clear.
Lasted for a while before I sold the car :)
 
£20 a wheel without tyres and if you leave them with them for a few days. £30 a wheel if they come in with tyres. £40 a wheel if you want them the same day (£45 a wheel if you drop the wheels off on the car), which is quite possible when you're a 3.5hr drive from B'ham. Adds up pretty quickly and you're no longer at £80, but easily double it. Plus return fuel (two lots off if not same day).

I've been thinking about getting mine done by City Wheels, and I'm only 2hr from B'ham outside rush hour. The problem is I'd need the same-day option as it will cost £50 in fuel, so that's £210... Not quite £80 is it! If I leave them with them it's £170, still very much not £80. That's all assuming I can get a spare set of wheels too, cos if I can't it's £230.

Now, Acme is roughly twice as a far away, and he gets even worse fuel economy than me in his S60, but even conservatively let us say it will cost him £100 in fuel. If he goes same day, leaving at 0430 to get there for the 0800 drop off time, before collecting them at 1700 and finally getting home for somewhere around 2030, it's going to have cost him £260 in fuel + refurb cost, plus having to get lunch/dinner in Birmingham/on the road. That will put him, again conservatively, at £300 for getting 4 wheels refurbed on a £250 car, and will have wasted an entire day with 8 hours driving and 9 hours of fannying around in a frankly rubbish city. If he can't do the same day then add another £100 in fuel.

Yes, powder coating is the best option for finish and longevity but is it the best option in this scenario, for a car worth £250? Absolutely not. Perhaps we can focus on answering the question he asked now.
 
Lopéz said:
I've done this before and I won't do it again.
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Same here, a horrible job that takes many, many hours. I guess that wasn't so bad when I was younger with plenty of time and skint, but I wouldn't consider it these days.

For anyone recommending Nitromors, it's absolute garbage since they removed the Methylene chloride. It struggles on basic house paint let alone automotive paint.
 
Cookeh said:
£20 a wheel without tyres and if you leave them with them for a few days. £30 a wheel if they come in with tyres. £40 a wheel if you want them the same day (£45 a wheel if you drop the wheels off on the car), which is quite possible when you're a 3.5hr drive from B'ham. Adds up pretty quickly and you're no longer at £80, but easily double it. Plus return fuel (two lots off if not same day).

I've been thinking about getting mine done by City Wheels, and I'm only 2hr from B'ham outside rush hour. The problem is I'd need the same-day option as it will cost £50 in fuel, so that's £210... Not quite £80 is it! If I leave them with them it's £170, still very much not £80. That's all assuming I can get a spare set of wheels too, cos if I can't it's £230.

Now, Acme is roughly twice as a far away, and he gets even worse fuel economy than me in his S60, but even conservatively let us say it will cost him £100 in fuel. If he goes same day, leaving at 0430 to get there for the 0800 drop off time, before collecting them at 1700 and finally getting home for somewhere around 2030, it's going to have cost him £260 in fuel + refurb cost, plus having to get lunch/dinner in Birmingham/on the road. That will put him, again conservatively, at £300 for getting 4 wheels refurbed on a £250 car, and will have wasted an entire day with 8 hours driving and 9 hours of fannying around in a frankly rubbish city. If he can't do the same day then add another £100 in fuel.

Yes, powder coating is the best option for finish and longevity but is it the best option in this scenario, for a car worth £250? Absolutely not. Perhaps we can focus on answering the question he asked now.
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If you want the honest answer for a £250 car;
a) don't bother at all
b) find replacement wheels which are in better condition, it may be worth it vfm wise if the tyres are good? probably not though.
c) wire brush, good sand and hammerite

To do a proper DIY job isn't cost effective IMO. Whether the car is worth £50, £5000 or £50000 - you can get all 4 wheels done for ~£200 professionally all over the country. I reckon you're in not far off £100 for materials to do a proper DIY spray job; add in your time, potential for a disappointing end result and poor longevity and it's not worth it on any car. That outlay on a £250 car definitely isn't worth it. I'd argue the professional job is more worthwhile as you could sell the wheels on if they're desirable in any way (I doubt the OPs are!) and will at least be hardwearing.

There is no middle ground IMO; cheap crap job, professional job or just don't bother.
 
paradigm said:
So what’s new?
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Nice.

I asked for tips on a DIY fix and 90% of the responses are people ignoring what I asked about and telling me to pay someone to do it professionally.

Thanks to those who actually answered my question, I'll have a crack at it possibly this weekend. :)
 
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