Rattle can refurb?

[DaveDreads]

Now bare with me on this.

My standard 172 alloys are curbed and dented to f*ck and would need a full refurb to make them look even half decent,
which I just simply can't afford seeing as the belts are due this year, amongst other things.

I know I might have to get the old flame suit out for this,
but can I just take a rattle can to my fecked alloys to change the colour pikey style?

I know i'll more than likely get nothing but 'it'll look like sh*t' replys, but they already look like sh*t,
in fact the only way they could look any sh*tter, is if I actually smeared my own sh*t on them.

Is it a waste of time using rattle cans, will it just crack and fall off, will people point and laugh?

Thanking you for your abuse in advance.

 

[Simon@SprayShack]

If you take your time, prep them well, i.e fill, sand, primer, clean, then theres no reason you cant get them looking decent with a rattle can,personally id go for a matt / satin finish if using a rattle can, decent quality prep, primer andpaints should see them last ok.

 

[Bluebeard]

Its all in the prep, prep is 90% of the finish imo.

 

[James23]

in fact the only way they could look any sh*tter, is if I actually smeared my own sh*t on them.

I genuinely lol'd at that!
But as said - do a nice job filling and sanding and they'll look alright.

 

[DaveDreads]

What I want is Rover Stone Grey alloys to match my badges and bullets,
how much would I have to sand them, untill the coating's gone, or just so the primer has a rough surface to cling to?

 

[Jonff]

Just be prepared to have sore fingers afterwards if you do them yourself lol. Sanding wheels by hand is a slow boring process. I;ve done two sets of wheels with a rattle can now and they've come out decent enough.

 

[Andyk1801]

I may be wrong on this but my understanding is that when you sand them you are simply roughing the surface slightly do that the paint will adhere to it...

 

[Simon@SprayShack]

In the areas where there isnt filling or scratching, all you need do is key them......i.e make the current paint dull, what id recommend, and its certainly how we do it for allloy wheels is to use flatting compounds, and scotch bright for the intricate bits that you just cant get to with sand paper.

 

[DaveDreads]

Right then, looks like i've got some research to do.

I know they're not going to look perfect, or as good as a full refurb and powder coating,
but tbh i'd just settle for them looking better than they are now.

If I start on the spare then I can get all the f*ck ups out the way before I tackle the others.

 

[Jonff]

Also something I've learnt from experience. When it comes to spraying the wheels, test the spray can to make sure the nozzle works properly before going anywhere near the wheels with it. Nothing worse when it dribbles blobs of paint all over the wheel when you've spend ages prepping :|

 

[MartinR]

Dave take them to city powder coating in brum it only costs £80 for a set of 4....it will cost near on half that price in primer, paint and lacquer.

http://www.citypowdercoating.co.uk/

 

[Dan@M.A.D]

^+1 for £80 it's not worth the hassle, I've got a set of Alfa wheels there at the minute, they have always done a great job for me.

 

[Rob]

If you look through my old threads, you'll find two on wheel refurbs.

If you can be bothered to do the prep, and that's a BIG if, you can achieve an excellent finish.

I did 172 alloys twice, and did an o.z f1 to match a set I had.

With the 172 wheels I did the following:

Attacked any AWFUL bits with a 120, then worked this up to 180, 400, 800. (i.e the lip around the edge, and the proud bits of the spokes)

I then attacked any not so awful bits with 400

Then went over the whole wheel (EVERY SINGLE NOOK AND CRANNY) with 800.

I then did three coats of primer, 800 flatted any bits that weren't perfect

Then three coats of paint. (If you mess up at this point, 800 and blow it in)

Then did three coats of lacquer. Done.

I do however promise you that once you're finished you'll regret doing it and not paying, as it's hard f**king work.

 

[MartinR]

It took me 4 weeks to do mine never again..

 

[Alex5]

i had no experience with doing anything like this but decided to give it a go on my dynamique wheels, each one was curbed and scratched. i did a full refurb getting rid of all of damage and sprayed them renault black.
sanded, filled, primed, painted, laquered and they have come out really nice! i was suprised that i could actually do it lol

 

[Rob]

Here's the level of finish you can get with rattle cans and a little patience:

Or here's a 172 wheel:

 

[DaveDreads]

Wow, there's some proper hard work gone into those Rob, they look amazing!

I think the best thing to do is take some photos of them tomorrow so you can all see what state they're in,
the raised lips the standard 172s have are quite bad on mine,
so some repair work needs to be done and I could do with some advice.

 

[Alex5]

the raised lips the standard 172s have are quite bad on mine

mine were in such a bad way, i filled the whole lip with metal filler then sanded that down to make it smooth then when you spray over it they look good as new!

here they are

 

[mark123]

It is alot of work and I found even though I got a good finish that the paint was quite soft and easily chipped. A lot of places will struggle to fit the tyres without damaging the paint around the rims if they are like mine. If you know some one who'll take the time and care to not scratch them then you should be fine though.

If I was going to refurb them myself again I think I would accept a lower quality finish lol.

 

[Knuckles]

Isn't there a guide on here (with Saxo wheels) that was really good. I'd recommend looking that up

Got any pics so we can see how bad they are? If it was me I'd key the surface, fill the curb marks, sand them flush, primer to show up immperfections, fill/sand as needed then spray them

Your very hands on lately, what's up lol?

 

[Jordi17]

Did mine myself. took me 24hours to do all 4 and back on the car. Looked perfect and didnt have any runs etc. Felt nice and looked real glossy. Was pleased with them for £40 for the cost of the paint. Most people thought I had them done professionally.

 

[DaveDreads]

Isn't there a guide on here (with Saxo wheels) that was really good. I'd recommend looking that up

Got any pics so we can see how bad they are? If it was me I'd key the surface, fill the curb marks, sand them flush, primer to show up immperfections, fill/sand as needed then spray them

Your very hands on lately, what's up lol?

Haha, boredom's what's up with me,
I spend most of the week taking photos of morons, so the car's something to do so I don't go mad.

Plus i'm about to spray the rear diamond, which is the last badge to be 'anthracited' (Rover stone grey)
and I know once they're all done, i'll want to do something else to it.

Refurbing the alloys the same colour would tie it all together.

I did read the Saxo wheel guide which is why i'll post some photos of mine tomorrow,
his were is near perfect nick when he started, mine are......well.......buggerd tbh.

It might cost me nearly the price of a city powder coating refurb in supplies alone,
i'll probably spend £40/£50quid, when getting them powder coated is £80quid.

Did mine myself. took me 24hours to do all 4 and back on the car. Looked perfect and didnt have any runs etc. Felt nice and looked real glossy. Was pleased with them for £40 for the cost of the paint. Most people thought I had them done professionally.

You got any pics of those?

 

[Bobby.]

Do it yourself I reckon, and get some before and after pics aswell...

 

[Knuckles]

Dont suppose you have a s**t, spare set to put on while you refurbish yours do you?

May be worth spending an afternoon/evening liquid metalling and sanding the curbing to get them nice and smooth

 

[DaveDreads]

No unfortunately I don't have any spare wheels. :dapprove:

A dog walking mate has a set of cheap aftermarket wheels he had fitted to a Renault 19 16V,
pretty sure they're 15s but I can't remember exactly what size they are or whether they'll fit,
or even if they have road worthy tyres.

 

[Rob]

It's a bit of a pain, but just swap the spare over each time and do one at a time.

Make sure you use the exact same process in terms of coats etc, otherwise you could end up with slightly different colours!

 

[DaveDreads]

That was what I was thinking do one at a time using the spare,
it's just that i'm a bit worried about the cost of materials in relation to city powder coating in Birmingham.

If I'm spending near £50quid on paint etc, then it might be worth just saving £80quid and taking them for coating,
i'd just need to source a spare set while they're getting done.

I'll make my final decision tomorrow after i've posted some pics of them
and got all your opinions on the damage they have.

 

[sbridgey]

I did mine with a mate and the finish is good, dont know wheter you looked at them or not but if i were to do it again i would take them to city powder coating in Birmingham for the sake of an extra £30 or so. I have a spare set of wheels if you want to borrow some.

 

[Rob]

TBH if city are close, get them to do it. You WILL spend more than you think on materials. Especially when you factor in wet and dry, tape.. etc..

I'd bet money someone on here has some wheels you could borrow. People are helpful if you help.

 

[The Fatty]

It took me 4 weeks to do mine never again..

How the hell did it take you 4 weeks?! its 2 days per wheel MAX for an absolute beginner!

 

[DaveDreads]

I did mine with a mate and the finish is good, dont know wheter you looked at them or not but if i were to do it again i would take them to city powder coating in Birmingham for the sake of an extra £30 or so. I have a spare set of wheels if you want to borrow some.

Nice one mate that's really good of you, I might take you up on that.

Tbh it might just be better to get them coated in Brum,
i'm just not sure if the lips are damaged too much to do anything with.

TBH if city are close, get them to do it. You WILL spend more than you think on materials. Especially when you factor in wet and dry, tape.. etc..

I'd bet money someone on here has some wheels you could borrow. People are helpful if you help.

That's the conclusion i'm starting to come to.

 

[Jordi17]

You got any pics of those?

Not got any close ups but got the whole car in the photo, so can see the wheels just not real close

 

[DaveDreads]

I've slept on the idea of a self refurb, i've come to the conclusion that it'll probably cost me close to £20quid a wheel in supplies,
and seeing as City Powder Coating in Birmingham charge £20quid a wheel, it's probably best I let them do it.

After looking closely at the wheels, they're not as bad as I thought,
but there are some nasty bits that'll need repairing before any coating happens.

^^Quite a nasty dent.

^^Probably the worst bit, although most of the wheels have some sections like that.


Any advice/comments on how best to sort these out would be appreciated,
as would a rough idea of repair costs.

 

[Wick]

Sod doing it by hand when city powder coating will do it for £80 or £120 with tyres off and on. No experience of them but at that price it'd be rude not too!! IMO of course.

Decent primer, paint and lacquer for 4 wheels is surely going to set you back £50 anyway I'd have thought, plus then you add in 10-15 odd hours of your own time.

Good luck whatever route you go down!

 

[DaveDreads]

I'm pretty sure i'm going to get them powder coated in Birmingham tbh,
I just don't know what to do about the damage to the lips.

 

[sbridgey]

Give them a ring tell them about the condition of your wheels and go from there.

 

[sam_clio182]

If you take your time, prep them well, i.e fill, sand, primer, clean, then theres no reason you cant get them looking decent with a rattle can,personally id go for a matt / satin finish if using a rattle can, decent quality prep, primer andpaints should see them last ok.

exactly as he says a good finish is possible with rattle cans just make sure the surface is prep,d correctly and take your time done on previous cars and was very happy how some of them turned out

 

[Dan@M.A.D]

They will fix that curbing, I sent a mangled set of turinis in a while back and they came back like new!

Just picked a set of Alfa wheels up from them today and they do a fantastic job for the money.

There must be 5o sets of wheels in there at the minute, Defiantly the busiest iv'e seen them!

 

[DaveDreads]

Oh right, I didn't know they did repairs aswell, I just thought they just coated them.

I may have to pay them a visit and get a quote.

 

[Don]

Dan (cotball) has used them a fair few times...thought he was on commission

Dave, get them to do it as they repair, powdercoat and take off and put tyres back on for £120. If you were on minimum wage doing it and it took say 10 hours for all four wheels...that's £60+ parts...so there are pennies difference and its a couple of days turnaround.

I would do them in a flash if I had spares to use to get them all done together so that they look perfect. Saw Tony's at Star City and the finish was bloody good for £20!!!

Plus, you can pick a stock colour for that price...or a special colour for a few quid more if you're feeling adventurous!!!