172 Tidy up for less than £100

[Kneel]

Ok, this is like a mini project so its not good enough for the projects section but should see a few updates...

I recently bought myself a ph2 172, I got it for a reasonable price with a couple of niggles I need to sort out. For now I just want to tidy it up, when I've got some money I might start improving parts but until then I've given myself a £100 budget to have the car looking good. Wish me luck?

The 1st thing to do was to change the wipers to flat blade wipers, a cheap mod but probably my fav mod to do on any car. £10

Next up was to start refurbing the wheels, all wheels are kerbed and they are quite a state. This is going to be the longest process but I figure I'll show you the start to make a point, to make more of a point this is the spare aswell not one of the actual wheels :dapprove: The others are probably worse, anywho here we are:

1st up, tools for the job. So far I've spent about £18:

Just to make a point of how badly kerbed these wheels are:

Now the tyres are still on the wheels and I'm starting off with 60 grit, so a wee trick I'm using to be able to go at it properly without sanding my tyres down... a strip of metal between the rim and tyre:

After a bit of sanding (this took about an hour so far, and I've done about a 3rd of the rim Sanding by hand ftl) this is the result, I've taken the pics where I'm sanding to show the difference:

I'll update again when the wheel is painted to show the difference. I'm spraying the wheels satin black and I'm trying to decide if I should try polishing the outer rim or just painting it too. I've also got some 10mm spacers so my cousins going to see if he can get me some longer wheels bolts from where he works and if he can they'll go on aswell. Once this is done I hopefully will have enough left in my budget to get myself a standard spoiler so I can get rid of the handle on the back of my car

 

[Vish]

Interesting to see the how you get on with your wheels mate, I need to do a similar thing with mine.

Agree with you on the flat blades, very cheap and simple, noone will probably ever comment on them, but they make a difference to me lol

 

[Fletcher]

My old 5 spokes look like that, rather you than me.

 

[Kneel]

My fingers are going to end up getting sanded through the state of the wheels I think some of the marks might be beyond a fix with sandpaper, I might need some metal filler I'll see how I get on.

 

[theduck]

You say you spent £18, but I see 3 halfords rattle cans and they are atleast £5.99 each, so... did you have some of the stuff already? or did you get discount? If so how? I might need some more halfuds bits for my project!

 

[D1CKY]

Looks a good project mate.

Good luck with the wheels, your hands must be red raw and sore after sanding one

Keep us posted

 

[Kneel]

I have some laquer lying around already from when I rattle can'd the S13, so I only bought a can of primer and a can of paint.

 

[theduck]

ah ok. Was hoping you'd got a way of getting discount, lol.

 

[Kneel]

lol, not quite but getting laquer from autopaint kinda works like a discount, I think its around £3.99 for laquer there instead of £6.99 from halfords. Sandpaper was 97p from wicks, and masking tape dad pinched from work. winner

 

[Pete.]

Good luck with that, there's a lot to be said for having power tools.

 

[Kneel]

Power tools came to mind but its too small for the orbital sander or grinder

 

[Jonny1*2]

could you not filler them mate if they are really bad?

 

[Kneel]

I'm not sure, I hate using filler its messy and Im not sure if body fillers a good idea for the wheels. I'll see how it comes out with the sandpaper 1st and if they are still a mess I'll give filler a try. This is only the spare I guess if I fcuk it up then the other 4 will get a half assed job until I can afford some new wheels.

 

[guysy]

You not using any filler in the curb marks?

Liquid metal or something i think its called.

I might attempt mine. But after having the wheels taken off the ideally have to get them sandblasted/dipped, (F*uck sanding them) I think its worth paying to have all done at once.

Still Be good to see your results.

 

[theduck]

if you get them out reasonably well, then it might be worth trying halfords filler primer

 

[Kneel]

Filler primers not that great tbh, at best it smooths out a slightly rough surface I've used it before. How much does it cost for proper metal filler?

 

[Chesh]

I wouldnt use metal filler or any filler with the tyre on there, when you come to change the tyre theres bound to be a bit stuck on it which will pull the rest of it up!

 

[Jonny1*2]

surely with the amounts he needs to fill the dints that wouldn't happen? so long as they were sanded down correctly and didn't overlap the ridge

 

[mickstoke]

keep sanding and they will slowly start to dissapear. would be best using a jazzer though.

 

[Ian_182]

Good luck with it...

 

[Gaz.]

keep sanding and they will slowly start to dissapear. would be best using a jazzer though.

Or file out the major stuff, then finish it with sanding.

 

[Edd]

Wouldn't fancy that much by hand! I've always used one of these, sanded my 5 spoke 172 wheels up in about 10 mins and they were in a similar state to yours.

Rattle can job on my last 172

 

[Kneel]

keep sanding and they will slowly start to dissapear. would be best using a jazzer though.

Whats a Jazzer?

I wouldnt use metal filler or any filler with the tyre on there, when you come to change the tyre theres bound to be a bit stuck on it which will pull the rest of it up!

If I was going to use filler then I would mask off the tyre so it shouldn't be a problem.

Wouldn't fancy that much by hand! I've always used one of these, sanded my 5 spoke 172 wheels up in about 10 mins and they were in a similar state to yours.

I've got an orbital sander but its too big for the wheel considering that I only wanna use coarse paper on the kerbed bits, its too much work sanding it smooth again to do the whole wheel with 60 grit heh. I might try dads power sander, its a fair bit smaller but I'm not sure it will work still

 

[Hutchie]

I'm not sure, I hate using filler its messy and Im not sure if body fillers a good idea for the wheels. I'll see how it comes out with the sandpaper 1st and if they are still a mess I'll give filler a try. This is only the spare I guess if I fcuk it up then the other 4 will get a half assed job until I can afford some new wheels.

im in the process of firbing a set of wheels that had a tiny chunk out of rim so i used body filler.

i hope its ok, reading your douts has left me worried

 

[barnesautos]

how much did you spend on bits

 

[Rob]

Kneel I can get tins of primer for £1.20 if you want some? Dont know how much it'd cost me to post but it'd be a good way of staying on budget.

Can get grey white or black.

EDIT: oh and if you could get yourself a sanding attatchement for a drill (can be got in a variety of sizes) then you would only sand the edges.

 

[theduck]

Kneel I can get tins of primer for £1.20 if you want some? Dont know how much it'd cost me to post but it'd be a good way of staying on budget.

Can get grey white or black.

EDIT: oh and if you could get yourself a sanding attatchement for a drill (can be got in a variety of sizes) then you would only sand the edges.

This post makes me sad I recently spent a fortune in halfords on paint and primer!

 

[Rob]

Sorry Can't get paint just primer, If you've not used it take it back and I could mail you some of these???

 

[Kneel]

im in the process of firbing a set of wheels that had a tiny chunk out of rim so i used body filler.

i hope its ok, reading your douts has left me worried

Let me know how it does with body filler?

how much did you spend on bits

So far, £28ish. Spares lying around from old projects is helping a lot

Kneel I can get tins of primer for £1.20 if you want some? Dont know how much it'd cost me to post but it'd be a good way of staying on budget.

Can get grey white or black.

EDIT: oh and if you could get yourself a sanding attatchement for a drill (can be got in a variety of sizes) then you would only sand the edges.

Mate if you can get primer for £1.20 a tin then that'd be really helpfull, I'll ask for a good few cans of black and white and then arrange a courier for a bulk order? I'll send you a PM when I'm home I wonder if my Dads got the attachment for a drill he has just about every power tool under the sun heh.

 

[Rob]

Tell me exactly how many you want and of what colour in PM and I'll work out the costs for you. I have one full tin so I can weigh it, and times it by how many you want, then have a walk down the post office and ask how much it'll be to post.

Always good to save some cash.

Don't think its a big brand but it has done my wheels to a good standard and I've had no problems with it.