Refurbishing alloys myself - possible?
Discussion
Monday morning after sorting out a few bits on the car and my thoughts turn to wheels.
So: my jag has a set of dimple alloys that look thus:
The wheels on my car include the corrosion seen on rim like in the pic above, and it's ugly and I want to get rid. However, getting the wheels returned on a lathe or similar costs lots in relation to the car's value, and I am poor.
The alternative is to get them painted, but whenever I've seen it done they always go over the dark bits too so it winds up looking much more dull. I relaly want to preserve the "turned" look as when the car's clean it looks awesome. Not like this:
So - with the aid of a Dremel or similar, is it possible to grind off the rough areas and repolish to a nice finish, it will it look crap?
If anyone has done similar it will make me very happy as I can a) get the car looking gorgeous as it should, and b) go and buy a Dremel as I've wanted one for ages but haven't had an excuse.
So: my jag has a set of dimple alloys that look thus:
The wheels on my car include the corrosion seen on rim like in the pic above, and it's ugly and I want to get rid. However, getting the wheels returned on a lathe or similar costs lots in relation to the car's value, and I am poor.
The alternative is to get them painted, but whenever I've seen it done they always go over the dark bits too so it winds up looking much more dull. I relaly want to preserve the "turned" look as when the car's clean it looks awesome. Not like this:
So - with the aid of a Dremel or similar, is it possible to grind off the rough areas and repolish to a nice finish, it will it look crap?
If anyone has done similar it will make me very happy as I can a) get the car looking gorgeous as it should, and b) go and buy a Dremel as I've wanted one for ages but haven't had an excuse.
Never tried it myself but if you mask off the black bits you should be ok with the painting. Very easy to overdo it with a dremmel on a relatively soft alloy so I'd be inclined to do it by hand with wet and dry.
The key to painting is in the preparation, and having patience to let everything fully dry before moving on to the next stage.
The key to painting is in the preparation, and having patience to let everything fully dry before moving on to the next stage.
They can paint those parts of the wheel separately. I once tried stripping down a set of rims and gave up after about 4 hours on the first one with little success. I tried Nitromors, sanding and a wire brush attachment on a drill, it just wasn't worth the time for me for the amount of effort I was putting into it. My dad had his alloys painted last week for £60 per rim, although they weren't Jaguar ones.
Your wheels have a painted rather than polished finish, so whilst you could polish them you'd have to do all of it and not just the corroded areas. Plus a polished / diamond cut finish requires a lot more maintenance.
There's no reason why you couldn't repaint them DIY and mask up the darker areas. A professional wheel refurbishment company would be able to recreate the same two tone finish, and by the time you've costed paint / materials and tyre removal and refitting then it can work out that there's little difference in cost. However DIYing it can be very satisfying, if somewhat time consuming.
There's no reason why you couldn't repaint them DIY and mask up the darker areas. A professional wheel refurbishment company would be able to recreate the same two tone finish, and by the time you've costed paint / materials and tyre removal and refitting then it can work out that there's little difference in cost. However DIYing it can be very satisfying, if somewhat time consuming.
I have done a few sets of wheels at home, the key is patience, I have found that the tyres can stay on, I deflate them, buy a pack of playing cards and the cards can then be inserted round the rim, them masking tape and paper for added overspray security, for kerb damage and deep scratches I wet and dry the area then fill with chemical metal, sand the whole thing down then undercoat, few layers of paint then lacquer....
Takes bloody ages..lol
Takes bloody ages..lol
Righto - so it's not the laughably simply task that I had hoped for. Bugger.
To be fair, I perhaps had over-egged the issue of corrosion. The wheels are in no way knackered, I'd just like then to look a bit cleaner. I think however that if I set to them with some wet and dry and try to get the task accomplished in an anfternoon, than they may well end up fit for nowt so I'll leave them for now and get them properly refurbed down the line. Anywhere between M4 and M40 out to c. Reading way will be fine for me so any suggestions of a non cowboy outfit will be great.
To be fair, I perhaps had over-egged the issue of corrosion. The wheels are in no way knackered, I'd just like then to look a bit cleaner. I think however that if I set to them with some wet and dry and try to get the task accomplished in an anfternoon, than they may well end up fit for nowt so I'll leave them for now and get them properly refurbed down the line. Anywhere between M4 and M40 out to c. Reading way will be fine for me so any suggestions of a non cowboy outfit will be great.
home refurbs are labour intensive if you want half decent results.
you might spend £20-40 in materials and still look at them every time you wash the car thinking god they look s***e so if you can have them refurbed by a professional firm for say 150 to a factory finish then id say yous pays ya money yous takes ya choice. seems cut and dry to me for the sake of another 100 or so quid.....plus you can watch catch up TV at home or take the dog for a walk whilst your wheels are being done
you might spend £20-40 in materials and still look at them every time you wash the car thinking god they look s***e so if you can have them refurbed by a professional firm for say 150 to a factory finish then id say yous pays ya money yous takes ya choice. seems cut and dry to me for the sake of another 100 or so quid.....plus you can watch catch up TV at home or take the dog for a walk whilst your wheels are being done
I had the Mag wheels on my Marcos blasted (not sure what sort, I've a feeling it was bead) many years ago and then sprayed them with the Holts touch-up cans (silver and then clear lacquer).
Even if I say so myself, they still looking pretty decent today.
I'm pretty sure getting them professionally blasted helped though.
M.
Even if I say so myself, they still looking pretty decent today.
I'm pretty sure getting them professionally blasted helped though.
M.
8Ace said:
Righto - so it's not the laughably simply task that I had hoped for. Bugger.
To be fair, I perhaps had over-egged the issue of corrosion. The wheels are in no way knackered, I'd just like then to look a bit cleaner. I think however that if I set to them with some wet and dry and try to get the task accomplished in an anfternoon, than they may well end up fit for nowt so I'll leave them for now and get them properly refurbed down the line. Anywhere between M4 and M40 out to c. Reading way will be fine for me so any suggestions of a non cowboy outfit will be great.
Your alloys don't look that bad. I literally just finished a DIY refurb yesterday (pics below). The main trade off is time. Yes it's considerably cheaper and more satisfying, but it takes forever. I put in an average effort on the prep, because of time constraints and the fact they were going on a cheap family workhorse! They look 100% better than they did. To be fair, I perhaps had over-egged the issue of corrosion. The wheels are in no way knackered, I'd just like then to look a bit cleaner. I think however that if I set to them with some wet and dry and try to get the task accomplished in an anfternoon, than they may well end up fit for nowt so I'll leave them for now and get them properly refurbed down the line. Anywhere between M4 and M40 out to c. Reading way will be fine for me so any suggestions of a non cowboy outfit will be great.
Your corrosion needs sanded right back. I noticed on mine it was right through the lacquer, top coat and primer. Taking it back to bare metal means you would need an acid primer to make a chemical bond. Spraying a section of the wheel only, is an option, but would be very difficult to colour match. On the plus side the wheel design is a simple one in terms of a diy job - nice and flat for the most part!
I paid £60 for materials and probably spent 2 days at them.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff