Help on wheel refurb

[m1tch]

Hi everyone,

I have a set of Efini FD OEM rims now for my FC, 2 of them have quite bad surface corrosion, what should I used to remove it from the wheel? I will probably be painting them afterwards, but need to get rid of the corrosion before I can paint them!

What should I do?

[Marcrs]

Not familiar with the wheels, but if it\'s pitted, you\'ll need to sand it out, and then use a filler (not body filler) if the pitting is too deep. Use araldite rapid steel, or a CA adhesive with an activator - both will take well to the ali, and will sand back ok.

I assume they are painted, in which case the first thing to do is remove all the paint, I use Nitromors. If you only work on an area that has already signs of corrosion, you might miss a potential problem in the very near future...much better to remove all the paint, so you know where you are.

Once the paint is gone, you an assess the damage, and either fill, or paint, as necessary

[m1tch]

Wouldn\'t the Nitromors damage the bare alloy? lol wouldn\'t just sanding with fine gritt wet and dry be ok?

[Marcrs]

Should be fine mate, I use it on many types of alloy wheel, seems to work a treat

You\'ll be there all day with wet\'n\'dry...or 20 minutes waiting for the nitromors to work

[carlbrainiac]

I know you can take great pride in doing a job yourself but to be honest getting them professionally refurbed is very reasonable.

[Ricco_04]

Or you can get the wheels blasted and then still paint them yourself?

[Nik da Greek]

Don\'t paint them yourself. You can get good paint finish with rattlecan paints nowadays, especially if you make sure it\'s nice and warm, but it is not possible to get a home-use laqcuer that\'s man enough for the job of keeping wheel finishes intact. It\'ll chip, peel, fall apart and look shlt within weeks and you\'ll be heartbroken that the massive amount of work you\'ve put in (and it is a massive amount) has all gone to waste. The price of professional refurb may seem steep, but weigh it against what two days of your life are worth and it swims neatly into perspective. Especially as it\'ll be two days wasted when the laqcuer comes off and you have to start again.

[Marcrs]

I\'ve painted plenty...let it cure properly and it should be fine. You can get PU lacquer in Hellfrauds, seems pretty tough to me. Just make sure you \'bake\' the wheels to cure the paint

[Carbon RX]

powder coat or just dont bother tbh...

[m1tch]

I have heard that the VHT engine enamel type paint works well?

[m1tch]

I have just sorted out the rims to an acceptable standard with some 400 grit wet and dry paper

[Marcrs]

I would go over them with something finer than 400, have you got any 800?

[SiH]

http://www.citypowdercoating.co.uk/
£20/wheel.
It will cost half that in materials, and a lot more in pain, and won\'t be as tough.

[Marcrs]

Powdercoating has the advantage of getting in the nooks and crannies and adhering better at the edges of spokes etc - but don\'t think it\'s the be all and end all. It is paint, after all
There are some very hard paints out there, especially on the german marques, which is why you see less stonechips on beemers than you do on mazdas
 
I painted my winter wheels in standard ppg paint, with a compressor and small gun. They lasted really well, even with winter use, and didn\'t chip at all...

[Marcrs]

Saying that though, if I could get my wheels to a place that would strip and powdercoat them for £80 a set - I wouldn\'t have wasted my time in the booth :rollin
 
not because painting them is no good, but that is such a good price - it\'s double that round here!