[Mk2] [NA] My new old wheels...

[ian1703]

Well having read around the net about refurbing alloys I decided it was time to give mine a go.

Picked up these 16" Enkei wheels for £30 on ebay a long time ago. They're 7jj front and back, et 38.

As you can see they had no centre caps and were quite badly scratched with a blue centre.

First job was to fill the scratches, then affix some Toyota centre caps that i bought in preparation (involved cutting off the clips and sanding the backs flush then aralditing to the wheel).

Once prepped, filled, sanded and primed I went with dark silver metallic (to go onto a black car).

I will hopefully finish them this weekend and get more pics up then!

Before



After

[The TVIS Kid]

They look great, i like the colour a lot and the centre caps look good too. I wanna try refurbing some rev5 wheels soon but i get so bored with the sanding part!

[mattymr2]

i was gonna refurb some wheels myself, but i was told, even if you prep them correctly, using spray cans the finish wont last. therell look good for a few weeks then they'll start to look tatty as the paint weathers/flakes.

when wheels are refurbed professionally they are heat treated so the paint finish lasts.

would be interested to hear peoples opinions on this as i'd like to do mine my self but dont want it to only last five minutes.

[slipping clutch]

Heard the same thing as mattymr2 - I believe that wheels are powder coated rather than spray painted when they are made.
Let us know how well the respray you have done holds up - I want to do my buddy club p1's in gloss black but am a bit of a numpty at painting!!!

[cantfindausername]

For £40 a wheel I'd rather get someone else to do them.

Good effort though lads.

[mattymr2]

Heard the same thing as mattymr2 - I believe that wheels are powder coated rather than spray painted when they are made.
Let us know how well the respray you have done holds up - I want to do my buddy club p1's in gloss black but am a bit of a numpty at painting!!!

yeah they are powder coated


http://www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk/Fil ... rocess.php

[ian1703]

I've looked into this a lot before deciding whether to do it myself or not.

Basically you can have your wheels shot blasted then powder coated, but this is fairly expensive.

Alternatively there are wheel repair places (and even mobile ones nowadays) who do the same thing us amateurs do, as follows:

I bought 'metallik' (brand) filler from Motor World that when hardened is basically a metal the same as the wheel itself. I then used wheel primer that is heat resistant, wheel paint that is heat resistant, and then an oil and heat resistant laquer. I believe that this is the process the pros use, albeit they may only be repairing a scuff rather than recovering the whole wheel face.

In this case surely the longevity (but probably not the quality!) ought to be the same as the £40 per wheel guys?

[Munnsy]

looks good ian, when do you plan on putting these on your car mate??
get some pictures up

[craig]

Good job, I did my Advans with Halfords rattle cans gloss black and they look as good as the day I put them on the car, which was mid october last year.