Rim job (AKA restoring my wheels

[Anonymous No.603658]

Hello /diy/nosaurs,
Long time lurker, fist time posting.
I need some help deciding the best way to restore the lightly damaged and worn wheels of my new old car.
It's a 1994 Volkswagen Gol, got a good deal on it, had some mechanical problems that have been sort out and now I'm focusing on the looks.
I live in a beautiful third world country where old used cars keep its value pretty well and people is willing to pay extra for a car with nice looking wheels and a good audio system.

My plan was to clean them with some industrial de-greaser (ie: Malco Red Thunder), sand it (by hand, blasting not possible) and then paint it over....not sure with what exactly (no oven either...).
I do have a compressor and I might be able to borrow a paint gun.

So, the question is:
How do I make them look like new? What kind of paint should I use to get a long-lasting finish? Any tips or suggestions to share?

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous No.603692]

Just get some sandpapers, start at 400 then 800 then 1000, then 1500
then 2000 if need be. and then polish with buffing wheel. seriously its called polishing and its the right way to fix them for nothing but your own time and work, paint cost money and looks cheep, you will spend 50$ on paint, or you can spend 20 bucks on sandpaper and polishing compound. and they will look better then new. it will take a few days of work , about 1 day each wheel to polish or it will take 1 day for all 4 wheels to paint. your call. I would polish

[Anonymous No.603694]

>>603692
Well, will have to consider that.
I wanted to paint them because that seems to be the original finish of the wheels... or at least they are coated with something, not sure what, I don't believe they are anodized.
What kind of compound should I be looking for?

[Anonymous No.603695]

Also, another picture

[Anonymous No.603696]

dipyourcar.com

Easy to do and undo

[Anonymous No.603698]

Also, here's another picture

[Anonymous No.603939]

>>603696
plastidip and all that stuff is shit!
It looks great the first 2 weeks. removing isnt easy at all.

do it right. sand'em & spray'em blaaaaack

bought some fucked up 18'' rims added some filling paste and paint et voilà
>pic very related

[Anonymous No.603944]

>>603658
sand
primer
dupli color
more coats
buff

Done

[Anonymous No.603962]

I suggest you ask on /o/. They will call you a fag, then give you the best answer.

[Anonymous No.604004]

>>603696
Saw a whole car painted with that...it looked kind of shitty, I'd rather avoid it.

>>603939
You must be from /o/. I'm going for a more classic look, trying to restore it to not loose market (younger people might be more attracted to something a bit more flashy, but it's an instant put off for old folks). The ultimate goal for this car is to be sold at the maximum profit possible.
Still, thanks a lot for the suggestion.
Regarding duplicolor, that's not available in my country and importing has become almost impossible.
All I have available here for this kind of job is Krylon and Rustoleum. Which one should I use?
Also, should I have any consideration while picking a primer? (same brands)
What about wet sanding between layers?

[Anonymous No.605121]

>>604004
>classic
>1994 VW

Right. My own autism aside- The best bet in your situation is to sit watching ebay/craigslist/kijiji/newspaper ads whatever classifieds they have in your country like a hawk for similar or identical wheels. I'm assuming they're stock and stock wheels will usually go for cheap, especially on some POS VW because all the kids are putting sawblades on them anyhow and selling the stock wheels. For the 80 or 90 bucks you're gonna spend on 4 semi-new ones that require a spit shine at most you would spend as much if not more on those since the only way to get them looking brand new is to have them re-anodized or powder coated. Neither process being particularly cheap. And if you decide you're gonna do somehting like rattlecan the fuckers with whatever cheap paint you can get from the local hardware store you're gonna blow some 50 bucks in paint and sandpaper, wind up with a goddamn inch of paint on them and still look like ass.

[Anonymous No.605123]

>>605121
Oh, and waste your time- But your mileage may vary on that since some people's time is nigh worthless.

[Anonymous No.605201]

I used to work in a factory that made wheels like that. We'd call them skim cut with clear coat. What they did originally, after the wheel is cast, then initially turned in a lathe, they then paint it all one color, typically grey/silver. That's what you see as the base color in the wheel window. Then the wheel is put into another lathe and the face is just lightly machined to remove the paint and a small layer of aluminum. That's what gives the spokes that finish look of lines. Then finally the whole face of the wheel is clear coated.

Now to refinish the wheel, especially with the corrosion, is gonna be tricky. You need to remove all of the corrosion before you can paint as it will just continue to "rust" beneath the paint and cause premature failure. I would recommend media blasting, like steel shot. That would have been the original prep method at the factory. Something around 120 grit would work. Hire someone to do that for you.

At this point I would recommend you try an initial balance of the wheel. See if they're way out of whack. If they're really lopsided, you probably should just junk it. You'll never get them to balance correctly, but it is possible.

Once you have all of the old paint, clear coat, and corrosion gone, you can then decide what you want to do with the wheel's look. The paint and clear coat are originally a baked-on enamel paint, so you'll want to get that on there again. Perhaps even a powder-coat.

You'll probably have taken off that "lined" look on the faces, which you could get back by having the wheel turned again, but I can only imagine how expensive that would be.

The two-tone (silver and raw aluminum) can be accomplished either through masking the wheel or by the turning method I mentioned earlier. Either way, you really need to get a good coat of paint on all of the wheel.

[Anonymous No.605203]

>>605201
Also, do a serious look into these things before you stick a lot of time or money into them. New rims don't cost that much. Refurbing aluminum rims are tricky at best and imho often not worth the $$. You can typically find aftermarket or different model ones for a good price. I replaced a set of my eclipse way back in the day with a set from a Dodge Avenger. It looked great and only cost about $110/corner.

>I would recommend media blasting, like steel shot.
The windows on the wheel show that finish, usually a kind of mottled finish. It can look nice, but it will not be nice like the face looks when new.

>You'll never get them to balance correctly, but it is possible.
I meant to say that they'll be hard to balance and probably need a ton of weights.

Here's a tip too, when you're all said and done, get them balanced without tires. Get them to mark the "low point" on the wheel. Tires are marked with a "high point", usually a yellow or green dot. Get the tire mounter to match those up and you'll have a wheel that is mostly balanced without wheel weights!

[Anonymous No.605218]

OP bookmark these guys -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oG-1uzLJr0

Yeah they're kinda silly sometimes but they've got some good stuff. /o/ hates them because /o/ hates everything so take that as you will.

[Anonymous No.605565]

>>605201
Not OP, but that was an interesting bit of insight into how much work goes into those wheels. Thanks.

OP said he's in a third world situation, so odds are good that a professional refinishing job isn't available. That's why he's thinking of paint.

Following earlier advice on sanding should remove the crud and smooth the finish pretty well. Aluminum doesn't like to be painted, but if you sand it down to bare metal and then leave it alone for a few hours, it will rebuild its natural oxide layer and stabilize the surface.

The cheapest thing to do is spray on 3-5 coats of Rustoleum bedliner. It comes in a can like any other spray paint. It's self-etching, so you don't need to prime it first. The results are a uniform matte black. If the center cap is plastic and you want to spray it, you'll want to scuff it first, then apply adhesion promoter before applying the bedliner.

If you want it to look as good as possible, take the wheel off the car and deflate the tire as much as you can. Then stick playing cards between the tire and the rim, all the way around. Maybe cover the exposed tire with paper. Then you can spray all you want without getting it all over the tire, and it'll have a flat surface to dry on instead of running down the side.

Google "bedliner rims." You'll see a lot of Jeeps done that way, but it also looks good on other cars. It holds up very well, too.

[fllaw No.606174]

1) sand the ever living fuck out of them
2) wash with soap and water
3) wash with degreaser
4) wipe down with alcohol
5) spray 4-8 super light coats of VHT Epoxy paint (or appliance epoxy, but it does not have UV resistance so it wont hold up the same)
6) lay them out in direct sunlight for a whole day, longer if possible to cure those fuckers
7) install

Appliance epoxy is tough stuff. that bedliner stuff could work but it might be hard for you to find. appliance epoxy is what a lot of guys use for rims and chassis parts and should be obtainable for you.

[Anonymous No.606492]

>chemical strip..it`ll take the clearcoat off faster
>sand starting with a 180 grit working on up to 1000+
>wash down with degreaser
>wash down with alchole
do whatever you want from here...paint with epoxy appliance paint, plasti dip, go full polish etc.

you can buy kits to fill in the curbing but its such a pain in the ass to do i would never bother doing it for stock wheels. if i were you i would just paint them a light grey.

[Anonymous No.606498]

>apply paint stripper to remove clear coat
>sand with 80 grit working down to 220 to remove blemishes
>apply wheel clear coat
done.
I did my jeep rims 4 years ago they're holding up well considering salted roads in winter.
protip: if you have a fullsize spare you can do one wheel at a time and still drive your car erry day