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WHEEL REFURB...QUICK HOW TO WITH PICS!



  ballistic jap missile!!!
apoligies for the couple of dodgy sized pics,dont know whats happened!

just a bit of a quick guide,not very detailed but will give an idea of whats involved
.if you think its good enough to be in the guides section then can a mod please move.

first start with your wheel
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then rub over the face starting with wet 320 grit wet and dry,for any scratches/marks rub across the mark rather than down it with the same grit,if its a deep mark you can use 240 grit(also wet) then move onto the 320 to feather into the remaining paint
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once your happy with the finish move onto wet 400 grit wet and dry to loose any remaining imperfections and give a nice flat finish.
once done wash and dry the wheel ready for priming,this will show up how good(or not!) your rubbing down skills are as the primer will pick out any marks that you may have missed.
once your happy with the wheel its time to prime,shake can and always try to have the paint warm as it goes on better,4 coats of primer max leaving about 10 mins between coats,for best results have a rub over with wet 1000-1200 grit paper between coats
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once the wheel is primed thoroughly you can apply the paint,i start by lightly spraying the hard to reach areas like inside the wheelnuts or spokes,then a light coating of the rest of the wheel,again leave around 15mins between coats and you could use a hairdryer or little blow heater just for a little extra help,another 2-3 coats should be needed to give a really thick coat on the wheel,its worth noting that when using metallic colours the can should be distanced further back to dust the wheel evenly otherwise you'll get patchiness due to the metallic pigment in the paint.

before the final coat(some say between each coat but its up to you)give the wheel a rub down with wet 1200grit wet and dry,allow to dry and heat both the wheel and can(this will reduce the chance of runs in the paint) then apply the paint,i tend to apply the first coat of laquer while the paint is still wet to give a good first finish,repeat painting steps for the laquer but allow at least 2 hours before rubbing down and apply very little pressure,the final thing to do after a day of drying is to rub over with a mild abrasive polish such as t-cut to bring up that final smoothness,then its a wipe of your favourite polish the stand back and enjoy!

the finish that can be acheived can be really suprising.
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now for those a little more adventurous you could even polish the lip.
the steps for wheel refurbing are identical but first you have to expose the metal to be polished then prep the wheel after you've got the desired finish for the lip,firstly use a flat sander with 240 grit sandpaper(not wet and dry) to take out any kerbing marks,then dab a paint stripper such as nitro-mors on the area to be polished,its worth having a rag handy to wipe off excess from unwanted areas before it takes hold.
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once your got the majority of the paint off it should look like this
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rub down with 220 grit wet and dry(wet)foolowed by 320 then 400 then 800.this is the finish to be expected
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now its time to follow the refurb guide but between coats dip a rag in paint thinners and clean rim back to its bare state,this will save loads of effort later,it may be necessary to feather into the wheel where the stripper has strayed.
once the wheel is painted expose the metal by rubbing it with 1000 grit wet paper taking extra care to avoid your nice fresh paint.
finally rub down with 1200 wet paper then attack with some kind of metal polish(i recommend meguiars,it gets a really good finish with very little effort but is very expensive),some would say at this point to laquer the whole wheel to keep the metal from tarnishing but this does leave the risk of the laquer peeling in later life so i'd rather just polish up once a week.

this should hopefully be your finished product
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i hope this guide is usefull to you and will make you think twice before going out and spending £40 upwards per wheel for a pro job,it really isn't a difficult thing to do for anyone with a bit of patience and a spare weekend and the results can be very satisfying.

Lee
 

MRBILLYUK

ClioSport Club Member
  FF Jeden Osiem Dwa
For really deep scratches you can use Upol D Metallic Filler . My only criticism of the guide would be . Why wasn't the same wheel used from step 1 until the finished product ? It would give a better idea of what can be achieved if the same wheel had been used imo .
 
  ballistic jap missile!!!
the wheel used in step was is the white one finished,i used different pics throughout to show how the finish would be after every stage.i didn't want to show just 1 wheel as its a general refurb guide to show the process rather than for just being just a specific 172 f1 thread.
 
  ballistic jap missile!!!
if you want to polish the wheels you need to get the paint off,or is there a hint of wittiness in there somewhere?
 


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