Clio 182 *DIY* Alloy wheel refurb

[Snake182]

My alloy wheels were looking very tired and battered (previous owner never bothered with refurb).
I have driven around with them for 10 months and didn't want to pay £££ for a decent refurb so thought I would give it a go myself.

I decided to spray them a darker shade than the standard colour as my car is Inferno Orange and darker wheels look nice against that colour. I went with the Ford Graphite Grey after much research lol.

Before (as you can see I tried touch up as a temporary measure):

The preparation took ages :dead:, after sanding down the burrs in the metal using 400 grit I then switched to 800 then 1200 and 2000 grit wet and dry.

Filling the dents and scatches, I decided to use davids isopon car body filler as it keys well and is easy to sand back, again saded using 400,800,1200,2000 grit

Primer and paint and laquer stage, I applied 3 coats of primer an sanded back its coat to ensure a smooth surface (took long then I anticipated lol), then 3 coats of paint and laquer

Not forgetting the wheel center caps:

That's it, did all four obviously. Took a few days to do all four wheels around my working hours aswell. To my surprise they are near perfect, anybody that didn't see my paint them doesnt believe I did them lol.

 

[Yorkshire]

Great job! Certainly worth the effort

 

[chaski]

That's a quality job that for a DIY refurb mate!

If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost you in total?

 

[Don]

I love it when a plan comes together. The problem is that it is such a pain in the arse to know when its perfect it is a nightmare.

I did similar on my 182 spare wheel...but in my opinion it is a pretty s**t job as I used the spare for a day while waiting for replacement tyre which had to be ordered...and it started flaking without any real abuse.

 

[Knuckles]

Looks awesome, well done

 

[Christopher.]

Looking good. Might have to give it ago

 

[MonacoDan]

Looks like a quality job, tempted to do my other set myself now.

 

[car.crash]

Looks better than my £220 professional refurb.

 

[Snake182]

Cheers guys, it cost me a total of £65 in materials, that's the primer, paint, lacquer and a complete wet and dry sandpaper set and masking tape.
Already had some filler in the cupboard . It was fun to do, the problem is im a bit picky which meant it took longer than I thought it would lol.

Definatly worth a go for anyone thinking about doing it. I was apprehensive at first but they looked terrible before so I had nothing to lose .

 

[Jack-C]

Top job!

 

[Mr Plums]

They look great mate, very good job, i have done them in the past and there is always something that im not 100% happy with, so i now take them to the professionals lol.

 

[Diagro]

Did you sand the inner parts too? and paint the entire lot?

have seen no end of DIY jobs where people JUST do the front lol then wonder why it bubbles from back to front

 

[James28]

I've done several sets. Never been kurbed as bad as that so never used filler. The sanding is such an epic epic bore though.
Yours looks like a great job

 

[dann2707]

I started mine, managed 1/10th of a wheel, gave up and now they're going to the sand blasters who's charging me a pint to do all four haha.

Excellent work mate. Looks fantastic.

 

[dann2707]

Would you recommend zinc etching primer?

 

[Snake182]

Did you sand the inner parts too? and paint the entire lot?

have seen no end of DIY jobs where people JUST do the front lol then wonder why it bubbles from back to front

I prepped and Painted the inner/outer of the alloy yes.

 

[Snake182]

Would you recommend zinc etching primer?

Yes definatly, etch primer has much better adhesion than normal primer so will resist peeling/flaking much better in the long run.

 

[Snake182]

I've done several sets. Never been kurbed as bad as that so never used filler. The sanding is such an epic epic bore though.
Yours looks like a great job

Cheers mate, I have never painted alloys before so was fun to give it a go, sanding was a bit of a ball-ache lol.

 

[James28]

Another ball ache is if you over spray and end up with a run line, which you then have to wait to dry before sanding, before you can add more coats

 

[dann2707]

Yes definatly, etch primer has much better adhesion than normal primer so will resist peeling/flaking much better in the long run.

Thanks for that.

The problem i'm going to run into is that the wheels are going to be shot blasted next week which means its going to be pitted ever so slightly and the etching primer probably won't fill this void. Not entirely sure what to do about that.

 

[cat171]

Great job there, very well done.

Please tell us that you sealed them afterwards ?

 

[Leeshez]

A job well done .

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Thanks for that.

The problem i'm going to run into is that the wheels are going to be shot blasted next week which means its going to be pitted ever so slightly and the etching primer probably won't fill this void. Not entirely sure what to do about that.

Filler primer?

 

[Snake182]

Thanks for that.

The problem i'm going to run into is that the wheels are going to be shot blasted next week which means its going to be pitted ever so slightly and the etching primer probably won't fill this void. Not entirely sure what to do about that.

If the pitting is tiny, then you can use filler primer which builds the surface and pretty much flats itself aswell

 

[Snake182]

Great job there, very well done.

Please tell us that you sealed them afterwards ?

Ofcourse, Chemical guys wheel guard

 

[Snake182]

Another ball ache is if you over spray and end up with a run line, which you then have to wait to dry before sanding, before you can add more coats

This happened with the lacquer, had to wait days for it to harden properly.

 

[Diagro]

How did you get such a smooth finish?
Just primerd mine and so many issues were shown. Loads of bumps and stuff...

Looks horrible!