Alloy wheel DIY refurbishment

Pinkythelabrat

A2OC Donor
I'm sure most on here are perfectionists but some will be, like me, on a shoe-string budget with a daily driver that we want to look as good as it can.

A big pot-hole, a Scottish winter (or three) and a slow puncture mean my SE alloys need a refurb badly. I did have them returned and powder coated and they looked good for 14months. At £80 a corner it's a bit steep for now and I looked for alternatives.

A set of 7 spoke TT alloys with tyres fortuitously nearby present an opportunity. They are not in the best nick but worth a shot perhaps?

Some thorough cleaning reveals a fair bit of damage and kerbing

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Some work with a detail sander and a lot of sandpaper and a Brillo pad (or ten!)
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before I load the holes up with two part alloy wheel repair compound. This sets REALLY quickly!

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Next I sand the wheels again and level the filler off and smooth it down. I'm up to 1200 wet and dry. I've got 2500 but I'm too impatient for that.
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Now to mask and prime! I used plastic backed (cheap) playing cards to fit down the back of the alloy rim and protect the tyre from spray. Some masking tape and we're done! Three packs was just enough. one left for poker!
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Primer on! It's a self-etch and goes on pretty easily to form a Matt grey finish. Shows up some bumps so sand these again.
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Now for the silver paint!

I'm leaving out the LONG pauses between activity to get dry days when I'm not at work and to allow things to dry and set.

They need a day to set and then the clear coat layer which takes TWO WEEKS to cure! Anyone got a big oven?

I'm not thinking these will be perfect but from anything but really close up they look good so far and are A LOT better than what's on just now. I can always get them done properly later.

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Total cost
Wheels and tyres £100 (thanks buddy! Helpful forum person )
Paint kit (filler, primer, paints, lacquer, sandpaper) £30
Cards and masking tape £3


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Looking good there pinky , you could use a hair drier between coats as find it speeds up drying times with areosols, or in this weather you could put them in the green house :eek: there surely bake
 
Looking good there pinky , you could use a hair drier between coats as find it speeds up drying times with areosols, or in this weather you could put them in the green house :eek: there surely bake

Thanks Jigsaw.

Today was great for it - was drying really quickly.

No greenhouse I'm afraid. No drive either! I do have a tiny 6x4 shed to stack them in while they set though! roll on two weeks!


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Brilliant work Alex. Very impressed and the playing cards is a great tip. I've scuffed a small section on the Octavia so I'm going to have a go at fixing it myself using this method . Cheers
 
This is what I used.

E-tech alloy silver wheel repair and refurbishment kit. Now on Fleabay for £24.

I'm not sure about the colour match for the existing silver paint on another alloy -and I bought extra sandpaper (and playing cards ) - but the paint seems pretty good so far. The etch primer stuck to the resin centre caps as well - no problem.




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Fantastic job, well done. Just goes to show what can be achieved on a budget.
Allways wear a mask of some sort when spraying, especially with etch primer, contains acid of some description to bite into the sprayed surface.
I damaged a wheel in a near perfect set, will use your method to save on costs.
But will take wheel to the motor factors, who have a spectrometer and supply paint to match.
Had to replace a vinyl coachline on my motorhome, but unobtainable. They matched the colour, and job sorted.
Cheers Graham
 
Lacquer is on and the wheels are stored for a couple of weeks to harden.

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Lack of space and too much stuff have led to a rather cramped shed but this fits okay.


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If you can get them outside in this sunny weather the 2 weeks will be reduced to a few days


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The wraps come off today. Hopefully fit and get rebalanced and aligned tomorrow.

This one was by far the worst - looks pretty good. I could do with giving it an abrasive polish to shine the clear coat - there are a couple of runs. The others are better - this one was the first I sprayed.

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I should have used a glaze filler to finish as the alloy repair component filler crumbled slightly when sanding where it was thinnest to give a little unevenness and pitting. This was a big missing chunk so it's a lot better but some of the imperfections only became noticeable when the shiny silver went onto the Matt primer. I should have stopped but, like I said, it's a LOT better than it was.

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I could polish out the slight dusty/orange peel finish with T-cut but I might do that later once I see how they are on.

Whoop!


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Four hours later and I have four wheels on. Things I have learned:
1) it still gets dark when you don't want it to.
2) axle stands are all very well but lifting the car off all four wheels with the standard jack is somewhat perilous.
3) the little screw which holds the brake disk to the hub to align the screw holes is very important

Number 3 is the reason it took four hours and it got dark. Without that screw it kept misaligning and cross threading the bolts. Lucky I had spares.

Anyone know the size/name of the stupid missing screw?

Anyway, hopefully get some finished pics tomorrow before I go for balancing and alignment check.


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