Has anyone ever done a wheel restoration? I need to restore 4 silver 18" one-piece wheels....two with moderate curb damage.... the other with acid damage. The mobile wheel repair shops all want $85-185 each. I've already got too much into these wheels and I want to refurb them myself (but they need look like a pro did them).
Wheel Restoration
- Thread starter mini1
- Start date
Accumulator
Well-known member
mini1 said:
If you really want 'em to look that good I'd bite the bullet and pay a pro.
Fixing curb damage, i.e., adding metal, isn't something to DIY.
And IME finding a shop that'll bring 'em back to 100% isn't all that easy either. No mobile places for me...
I am going to assume you are repairing curb damage, a severe scrape in the wheel. In this case, you don't need to add any metal, just some body filler to make the surface even again. Once the filler is sanded smooth, you need to primer and paint. I attempted this before and I can tell you the most challenging part is to match the paint color, not an easy task. The one I did was not a great job due to the paint matching issue, luckily it was for my best friend and I did it as a favor.
Since you are repairing more than one, you have the option of choosing the paint you find matches best and paint all 4 of them, then it would look good for sure.
Since you are repairing more than one, you have the option of choosing the paint you find matches best and paint all 4 of them, then it would look good for sure.
Accumulator
Well-known member
mini1 said:
I never put much stock in "look how great this turned out!" stuff that I see online. I've seen really bad work from some of the bigger wheel restoration shops and when I called them on it they acted like I had unrealistic expectations.
I wouldn't rely on filler for curb rash that goes right to the edge of the rim, too fragile considering what that area is subjected to when tires are mounted/dismounted. Adding *metal* to wheels is tricky business that I'd leave to a pro.
And as 99Lude said, matching paint (esp. silver) is tricky.
Seriously, depending on how particular you are, this can be a tough job. Very good shops often take a few tries to get my wheels good enough for me.
Gee, aren't *I* the voice of discouragement
Just don't want you to find yourself neck-deep in something that you'll end up wishing you'd farmed out to an expert.If you *do* DIY it, hope things go well; nothing would please me more than having you prove me wrong!
I found this here on this website
Wheel Scuff Repair on Alloy Wheels | How-to Guide
I have Mercedes wheels, so the process this guy is using directly applies to my wheels. He says that paint is a direct match to Merc silver.
Wheel Scuff Repair on Alloy Wheels | How-to Guide
I have Mercedes wheels, so the process this guy is using directly applies to my wheels. He says that paint is a direct match to Merc silver.
Yeah that's the hardest part, there can be hundreds of shades of silver that vary slightly.
By the way it's 96Lude not 99Lude. Sorry, just had to give you a hard time about it. :lol
mini1: Since you seem to be certain it's the same shade of silver, give it a try. If it doesn't turn out too well, I would paint all 4 of them, but if that's the case try to use catalyzed 2 part paint, it will be much more durable, the only problem is that you need a compressor and a paint gun. Not worth buying all that equipment to only repair a couple of wheels, it's a big investment.
Let us know how it goes.
Accumulator said:
By the way it's 96Lude not 99Lude. Sorry, just had to give you a hard time about it. :lol
mini1: Since you seem to be certain it's the same shade of silver, give it a try. If it doesn't turn out too well, I would paint all 4 of them, but if that's the case try to use catalyzed 2 part paint, it will be much more durable, the only problem is that you need a compressor and a paint gun. Not worth buying all that equipment to only repair a couple of wheels, it's a big investment.
Let us know how it goes.
Accumulator
Well-known member
mini1 said:
mini1- I'll quit being a wet blanket and just say that I hope it works out better for you than it did for me. At least the Wurth spraypaint has nice nozzles and good flow-out characteristics.
Heh heh, that's what I get for trying to type it in quickly as opposed to doing a Crtl-C as I usually do
Sorry 'bout that...What about repairing lips that are polished aluminum? I started sanding the lips down on mine last night and got them to polish up ok by hand, but realized there was no way to fill in the deeper marks and have them match, really. Then I thought about filling them like the link posted above, and just finding a paint that looked like polished aluminum, and spraying the lips of the wheels, but that's a lot of prep work to make it come out right, w/ an even line up next to the black that I've already painted.
Here's what I've done so far...
Here's what I've done so far...
As I recall they build up by brazing. Look for another post of mine on polishing and get the proper polishing tools. For scratchs I would use the appropriate grease less compounds to either remove the scratch or round it out enough to not really be noticable. Beyond that, unless you can braze aluminum, it would need to go to a pro. No paint is really going to faithfully replicate polished aluminum... this I know!
I've done this before.
You're right, if you are leaving a polished lip, there isn't much you can do with regards to curbage. I had a dremel going all the way around the lip to sand out what I could. It wasn't perfect but the curbage was 80% gone. I also hit the entire lip with 80 grit sandpaper and then elevated grit levels all the way to 2000. After that, I polished it up with some compound and metal polish and it looked as new.
If you're painting the outside too, what you can do is buy Bondo plastic metal - this fills in those chips nicely from my experience.
You're right, if you are leaving a polished lip, there isn't much you can do with regards to curbage. I had a dremel going all the way around the lip to sand out what I could. It wasn't perfect but the curbage was 80% gone. I also hit the entire lip with 80 grit sandpaper and then elevated grit levels all the way to 2000. After that, I polished it up with some compound and metal polish and it looked as new.
If you're painting the outside too, what you can do is buy Bondo plastic metal - this fills in those chips nicely from my experience.
safetyman2010
New member
mini1 said:
Painting the wheels is the easy part. Repairing the damage and making sure they are prepped properly is the important part. In my experience, repairing wheels usually gets expensive in most cases to the point that you can almost get a brand new aftermarket set of rims for slightly more than the price of fixing the old ones.
Listen to the 96 lude guy. He"s dead on. Try going to a paint store that uses a Dupont computerized "zap" system. Sometimes if theres enough area for the zapper to get a reading on, it will give a real close match. If you are painting all 4 wheels and not blending the paint, then color matching shouldnt be an issue.