Photo gallery - Wheel refurbishment

[Chadders75]

Hello all,

So one of my high priority items are the wheels, there is basically no protection left on them. So the question is what approaches have you all taken to refurbish your wheels and how long have the results lasted.

[mrzigazaga]

Hi mate...There are ways to sort the Oz rims...

1. Take them apart

Never done it but i recall its not for the faint hearted...

2. Polishing wheels with a dremel and drill using buffing mops...Highly satisfying.

You could use autosol metal polish but apply it in small areas and work it in before it dries..It will take a while getting in amongst the bolts..But once polished you can protect it with either a wipe over of WD40...Alloy wheel wax or even spray body wax...

3. Pay someone to do them...This is an option that returns mild satisfaction.

[Chadders75]

Is there no paint applied to them to keep them looking good? Just polished metal!
Is that how they left the show room.

[mrzigazaga]

There is paint on the spokes...Silver alloy wheel paint ..I think most of the rims may have been polished...

[wedgeman]

Chadders75 said:

Is there no paint applied to them to keep them looking good? Just polished metal!
Is that how they left the show room.

Absolutely. The rims are just polished metal. So select the metal polish of your choice and get to work.

The more frequently you polish the wheels the better they will look.

I find several hot mugs of tea and plenty of music from the period helps...

[pwd95]

Give these guys a call.

http://www.renowheel.co.uk/contact.html

[ClassiChimi]

wedgeman said:

Chadders75 said:

Is there no paint applied to them to keep them looking good? Just polished metal!
Is that how they left the show room.

Absolutely. The rims are just polished metal. So select the metal polish of your choice and get to work.

The more frequently you polish the wheels the better they will look.

I find several hot mugs of tea and plenty of music from the period helps...

^^^^^^^ one of my fondest memories of my S2.ownership was taking the OZ Wheels off and polishing them with Solvol,,,, On a number of occasions.

Yep good old elbow grease and some punk rock.

[Geoff38]

Lazy man's way , buy new rims and get inners painted
Cost not too much more than having them fully refurbed professionally ( I increased width at same time )

Edited by Geoff38 on Saturday 30th April 08:30

[Chadders75]

They look stunning

Are the rims coated or just polished alloy.

Can I ask how much all all the separate bits where.

[Geoff38]

Rims are just polished , the place I got them from do sell protective stuff too.
See thread titled "who's got 8 inches" in this forum to sell seller name and discount code , the rims , bolts and nuts cost £450 in total.
Be careful on the size depth wise as their measurement was not what I thought I needed so mine will be even wider than I really wanted but can live with it.

[Oz2]

The process of refurbishing mine, hope it helps.
It was very rewarding and they still look just as good now.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=118...

Adam

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

Geoff38 said:

Rims are just polished , the place I got them from do sell protective stuff too.
See thread titled "who's got 8 inches" in this forum to sell seller name and discount code , the rims , bolts and nuts cost £450 in total.
Be careful on the size depth wise as their measurement was not what I thought I needed so mine will be even wider than I really wanted but can live with it.

Handy to know as I want to go skinnier, how much extra was it than expected so I can re-calculate.
I may even go 7.5" rear and 7" front, so they fit 225/45/16 better.

[Geoff38]

I ordered 2 1/2 inch because I measured the old rims which make the wheel 7 inch wide as 1 1/2 inch but looking again the old rims loose 1/2 inch as the mounting face is not flush with the back of the rim. I will post pics later .
So my wheels will be 8 1/2 inch wide where the tyre mounts

[wooly350i]

Hi, the old rims are possibly lacquered on the shiney bits as mine were , when I refurbed them I removed all the bolts and separated the rims from the centres then cleaned them all up before spending an absolute age polishing the rims with various grades of wet&dry and plenty of water before using a polishing mop kit on a drill using the waxes and autosol before I finally had enough, I got a local sprayer to paint the wheel centres then put them all back together which was the most satisfying bit, I managed to bagsy a set of machined oz wheel centres turned up by one of the Pistonheads guys a few years back and they are spot on, if you do it yourself as time allows where a bag over your head and face coz you'll end blacker than a black thing!
By the way I used Pertsch & Partners Germany for the nuts and bolts plus some silicone and wheel cleaner and they were really prompt getting the transaction sorted.
I should add that I didn't bother to re lacquer the rims , I just try to keep them clean and dry and spray on wheel polish every so often.

Edited by wooly350i on Saturday 30th April 16:49

[Geoff38]

This is the old rim showing how it looses 1/2 inch in width.

This new rim showing mounting surface flat on bench so gains width