Hey all,
I was asked to put this guide together after chatting in the 'Silver MK1' thread going on at the minute... it's a guide on refurbishing your alloy wheels, which I've recently done and it's worked!
Hope it's useful to some anyway! Here goes.....
Tools you will need:
1 x Electric sander
10 Pack each of coarse, medium and fine sanding sheets (I went through about 2 or 3 sheets of each per wheel)
Couple of ultra fine (180+ grit) sanding pads for finishing (these flex easier for the curves)
* At least 2 x tins of primer (I used the standard Halfords stuff that seems to be permanently on 3 for 2!)
* At least 3 x tins of finish coat (as above)
* At least 3 x tins of clear lacquer (as above)
Vacuum cleaner with flexible attachment attached
Time! It took around 90 mins to prepare each wheel
* As a guide, I used 2 x layers of primer, 3 x layers of topcoat and 3 layers of lacquer. You might want to use more/less, so adjust the cans as necessary.
Cost wise - if you already have an electric sander, the whole lot of the above should be around £30 - if you need to add a sander onto that, maybe another £15-£20.
It's worth noting at this point that I didn't have tyres on the wheels when I did this, so there was no need to mask them up, saving time. Also, I was able to get to the outside edge of the wheel because of this - I'm not sure how accessible this is with the tyre on.
Anyway - down to business:
Preperation
1. Lay the wheel flat on a covered surface (I scratched my table to hell before I put the blanket down!).
2. Fire up the electric sander. Using the most coarse sandpaper sheet first - sand along the edge of the wheel to remove gouges and scrapes - this area is where most of my damage was as you can see from the photos... well, it is nearest the kerb!
3. If there are any particularly deep gouges in there, angle your sander to 45 degrees and apply a fair bit of pressure in a circular motion to that area. It'll take a few seconds, but the gouge should gradually get levelled out.
4. Work inwards to the centre of the wheel, getting each level smooth. After you've concentrated on getting the deep gouges out, make sure any paint that was still ok is 'roughed up' a bit, just to get rid of the polished, lacquered finish.
5. After using the power sander, depending on what your alloys are like, there'll probably be some curvy bits you couldn't get to with it. Unfortunately these'll have to be done by hand, again using the coarse sandpaper to get the surface 'roughed up'.
6. Use the vacuum to get rid of the dust you've accumulated so far. This should uncover any missed holes, scrapes, gouges, marks etc. If there are any, keep going with the coarse paper as necessary.
7. The surface should now be gouge free and also very dull and scratched looking! Repeat steps 2 - 6 using the medium grit sandpaper. The surface should start to look less scratched and more smooth.
8. Repeat steps 2-5 with the fine sandpaper - more and more scratches should disappear.
9. Vacuum the dust off again, then clean the wheel with water and a soft cloth. Double and triple-check for any more missed gouges... None? Good!
10. Now time to final prep the surface - use the ultra-fine pads at this point, lowest grit first all over the wheel (by hand obviously), then the same again with the highest grit one. The grit values I had on mine were 180 and then 220.
11. The surface should now be very smooth, but also 'keyed' (ready to accept paint). It's a hard thing to describe, it's not a glossy surface, but it's very smooth to touch!
12. Vacuum and then clean the wheel with water again. Then dry thoroughly with a chamois leather.
Priming
I did mine outdoors - it'd be much better indoors as you don't get the wind blowing paint away from what you're spraying and wasting it. Also, you don't get your cats thinking it'll be fun to come and sniff what you're doing and getting silver noses... but hey, that might just be my place!
I don't claim to be an excellent spray-painter, in fact I think I've done it once before and that was pretty poor, just pointed and shot and got more runs than the morning after a curry eating convention!
1. What I would do, and it seemed to work, is warm the can of paint up a bit. I put it in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for around a minute. This makes it more, well, warm! Which allegedly helps it come out of the can better and not clump up.
2. Shake the can well for about 30 secs.
3. Spray a bit somewhere random just to make sure it's coming out 'smooth' and the end's not blocked.
3. Hold it about 6 inches away from the wheel, then move your hand from left to right smoothly, pressing the nozzle in as you move it - MAKING SURE NOT TO POINT DIRECTLY AT ONE POINT ON THE WHEEL AND JUST SPRAY. This will create a mound of paint in one spot and it'll run and look horrendous.
4. Keep using this side to side motion and work your way round the wheel. At first it'll probably look like it's not coating very well as it's a thin coat... don't be put off, this is the way it's supposed to be built up.
5. Once the whole wheel's been covered, leave it for about 15 mins (this'll be ideal time to do the others anyway).
6. Repeat steps 3-5. This should now get a good tough coat of primer on to the wheel and it should look a nice solid dull grey!
7. Any marks or holes you may have missed - not that I'm suggesting for a minute that you would have! - will also be pretty obvious at this point. If this is the case (it was in mine) go back and sand them out, then re-apply the primer to the affected part.
8. I left mine overnight after this point, to fully dry.
Top coat
1. Clean the wheels and dry thoroughly with a chamois leather.
2. For application, pretty much follow the instructions as for the primer, however, I used 3 coats of the main colour on mine to build up the depth and toughen it up a bit.
One thing I did notice (although I noticed too late as it happened - I'd already lacquered them!) is that if you're using metallic paint (I was using Renault iceburg silver) you're supposed to sand it after all coats have been applied, something about getting the correct finish ready for the lacuqer. Anyway, mine look fine having not done this, so I guess it's up to you...
2. Again - leave overnight for the paint to harden fully.
Lacquer
1. Clean the wheels and dry thoroughly with a chamois leather.
2. Again, very similar to the above stages - you'll notice immediately that the lacquer is a lot different consistency-wise to the others though, it's a lot stickier and smells different. Why did I mention that? I don't know really....
3. Coat the wheels in 3 coats of lacquer using the technique as above.
4. When this is done, leave the wheels to completely set for a few days if possible. Because the lacquer is thicker and stickier (ah, I knew there was a reason for mentioning it!) it takes longer to fully harden and be ready for use.
5. Possibly the most important stage of all - Sit back and admire your handywork!
Hope this helps a few people if they're thinking of taking it on - I've never done anything like it before, but thought I'd give it a try and it seemed to work!
cheers
James.
Here's some pics of the before and afters on mine anyway:
Before:
After:
I was asked to put this guide together after chatting in the 'Silver MK1' thread going on at the minute... it's a guide on refurbishing your alloy wheels, which I've recently done and it's worked!
Hope it's useful to some anyway! Here goes.....
Tools you will need:
1 x Electric sander
10 Pack each of coarse, medium and fine sanding sheets (I went through about 2 or 3 sheets of each per wheel)
Couple of ultra fine (180+ grit) sanding pads for finishing (these flex easier for the curves)
* At least 2 x tins of primer (I used the standard Halfords stuff that seems to be permanently on 3 for 2!)
* At least 3 x tins of finish coat (as above)
* At least 3 x tins of clear lacquer (as above)
Vacuum cleaner with flexible attachment attached
Time! It took around 90 mins to prepare each wheel
* As a guide, I used 2 x layers of primer, 3 x layers of topcoat and 3 layers of lacquer. You might want to use more/less, so adjust the cans as necessary.
Cost wise - if you already have an electric sander, the whole lot of the above should be around £30 - if you need to add a sander onto that, maybe another £15-£20.
It's worth noting at this point that I didn't have tyres on the wheels when I did this, so there was no need to mask them up, saving time. Also, I was able to get to the outside edge of the wheel because of this - I'm not sure how accessible this is with the tyre on.
Anyway - down to business:
Preperation
1. Lay the wheel flat on a covered surface (I scratched my table to hell before I put the blanket down!).
2. Fire up the electric sander. Using the most coarse sandpaper sheet first - sand along the edge of the wheel to remove gouges and scrapes - this area is where most of my damage was as you can see from the photos... well, it is nearest the kerb!
3. If there are any particularly deep gouges in there, angle your sander to 45 degrees and apply a fair bit of pressure in a circular motion to that area. It'll take a few seconds, but the gouge should gradually get levelled out.
4. Work inwards to the centre of the wheel, getting each level smooth. After you've concentrated on getting the deep gouges out, make sure any paint that was still ok is 'roughed up' a bit, just to get rid of the polished, lacquered finish.
5. After using the power sander, depending on what your alloys are like, there'll probably be some curvy bits you couldn't get to with it. Unfortunately these'll have to be done by hand, again using the coarse sandpaper to get the surface 'roughed up'.
6. Use the vacuum to get rid of the dust you've accumulated so far. This should uncover any missed holes, scrapes, gouges, marks etc. If there are any, keep going with the coarse paper as necessary.
7. The surface should now be gouge free and also very dull and scratched looking! Repeat steps 2 - 6 using the medium grit sandpaper. The surface should start to look less scratched and more smooth.
8. Repeat steps 2-5 with the fine sandpaper - more and more scratches should disappear.
9. Vacuum the dust off again, then clean the wheel with water and a soft cloth. Double and triple-check for any more missed gouges... None? Good!
10. Now time to final prep the surface - use the ultra-fine pads at this point, lowest grit first all over the wheel (by hand obviously), then the same again with the highest grit one. The grit values I had on mine were 180 and then 220.
11. The surface should now be very smooth, but also 'keyed' (ready to accept paint). It's a hard thing to describe, it's not a glossy surface, but it's very smooth to touch!
12. Vacuum and then clean the wheel with water again. Then dry thoroughly with a chamois leather.
Priming
I did mine outdoors - it'd be much better indoors as you don't get the wind blowing paint away from what you're spraying and wasting it. Also, you don't get your cats thinking it'll be fun to come and sniff what you're doing and getting silver noses... but hey, that might just be my place!
I don't claim to be an excellent spray-painter, in fact I think I've done it once before and that was pretty poor, just pointed and shot and got more runs than the morning after a curry eating convention!
1. What I would do, and it seemed to work, is warm the can of paint up a bit. I put it in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for around a minute. This makes it more, well, warm! Which allegedly helps it come out of the can better and not clump up.
2. Shake the can well for about 30 secs.
3. Spray a bit somewhere random just to make sure it's coming out 'smooth' and the end's not blocked.
3. Hold it about 6 inches away from the wheel, then move your hand from left to right smoothly, pressing the nozzle in as you move it - MAKING SURE NOT TO POINT DIRECTLY AT ONE POINT ON THE WHEEL AND JUST SPRAY. This will create a mound of paint in one spot and it'll run and look horrendous.
4. Keep using this side to side motion and work your way round the wheel. At first it'll probably look like it's not coating very well as it's a thin coat... don't be put off, this is the way it's supposed to be built up.
5. Once the whole wheel's been covered, leave it for about 15 mins (this'll be ideal time to do the others anyway).
6. Repeat steps 3-5. This should now get a good tough coat of primer on to the wheel and it should look a nice solid dull grey!
7. Any marks or holes you may have missed - not that I'm suggesting for a minute that you would have! - will also be pretty obvious at this point. If this is the case (it was in mine) go back and sand them out, then re-apply the primer to the affected part.
8. I left mine overnight after this point, to fully dry.
Top coat
1. Clean the wheels and dry thoroughly with a chamois leather.
2. For application, pretty much follow the instructions as for the primer, however, I used 3 coats of the main colour on mine to build up the depth and toughen it up a bit.
One thing I did notice (although I noticed too late as it happened - I'd already lacquered them!) is that if you're using metallic paint (I was using Renault iceburg silver) you're supposed to sand it after all coats have been applied, something about getting the correct finish ready for the lacuqer. Anyway, mine look fine having not done this, so I guess it's up to you...
2. Again - leave overnight for the paint to harden fully.
Lacquer
1. Clean the wheels and dry thoroughly with a chamois leather.
2. Again, very similar to the above stages - you'll notice immediately that the lacquer is a lot different consistency-wise to the others though, it's a lot stickier and smells different. Why did I mention that? I don't know really....
3. Coat the wheels in 3 coats of lacquer using the technique as above.
4. When this is done, leave the wheels to completely set for a few days if possible. Because the lacquer is thicker and stickier (ah, I knew there was a reason for mentioning it!) it takes longer to fully harden and be ready for use.
5. Possibly the most important stage of all - Sit back and admire your handywork!
Hope this helps a few people if they're thinking of taking it on - I've never done anything like it before, but thought I'd give it a try and it seemed to work!
cheers
James.
Here's some pics of the before and afters on mine anyway:
Before:
After:
.
