alloy wheels respray

[Guest]

hello all.
i have a 82 944 and the coockie cutter alloys are looking pretty bad (just the clear lacque is peeling). is there any good paint/lacque out there for wheels??? i will get all the old lacque off and finishing it with wet and dry or something on the lathe, but not too sure what to spray it with, can any1 help??

thanks
regards charlie

 

[pwebb]

My son has an 87 944 which was in pretty scruffy condition, but have just completed some bodywork repairs and partial respray. The wheels are the original teledials, and were in awful condition, not kerbed, but big blisters of corrosion. Sent them to Spit and Polish via the bodyshop and they stripped and refinished all four for £200. Well worth it for the visual improvement. They're on 01732 367771.
Peter

 

[Guest]

cheers, thats where i will send them if i muck it up lol, cause i have access to a large lathe and a workshop i want to make the most of it, seeming as i have spent too much £££ on everything else already

thanxs for the sugestion anyway, i have found "Simoniz Wheel Paint Steel Aerosol" on the net, has any1 used this be4 is it good? do i have to put a clear lacque over this paint...????

thanks for the help
regards charlie

 

[John Sims]

cause i have access to a large lathe

I would be very very careful with the lathe. Sand blasting and polishing only reduces the wheel thickness around areas of corrosion where as with a lathe there could be the temptation to clean away the surface pits reducing the overall thickness of the wheel rim accordingly

 

[Melv]

Diamond Styling, London, NW10 020.8969.9690

Rgds
Mel

 

[Guest]

A few years ago I repainted all my Fuchs with Hammerite satin black (the nearest colour to the original). Took a long time to clean and mask each wheel, and, even today, all they require is a small touch up of stone chips every so often. I did not use any laquer, as my wheels are not meant to be laquered, and Hammerite requires less preparation than normal paints. Not a mirror finish, it's true, but the wheels are 24 years old (off a previous car !)

Not quite the same problem as with your wheels (different shape/finish), but this is just to show that even I can do this level of refurbishment !

 

[Guest]

thanks for the replies.
i put it up on the lathe and decided just to use some emery and wet and dry to polish it after i have got the lacque of the trim. i was looking at some products and found "Simoniz Wheel Paint Steel Aerosol " is this product any good? has any1 use this?

thanks regards charlie

 

[944Turbo]

Would of thought any of the wheel paints from halfords or similar, you could mask the outer edge and just paint the centres, and then clear lacquer over the whole lot keeping the rims shiny but protected. Never done it on a wheel so cant comment on the durability, but used clear laquer before on naked aluminium, stops the corrosion but keeps most of the shine.
Tony

 

[John Sims]

It is a bit of a "have a go and see what happens" job. I agree with Tony on the lacquer coat to seal the polished ali and I'm glad to hear that you didn't attack the wheels with any cutter heads.

If it all goes horribly wrong you can always have the wheels refurbished professionaly and will only have wasted a couple of cans of paint and a few hours graft.

 

[Guest]

but used clear laquer before on naked aluminium, stops the corrosion

Strictly speaking, when aluminium corrodes, it forms a very hard layer (which is what anodising is), which then protects the ali, unless it is disturbed.

Laquering the metal gives water a chance to get between the laquer/aluminium, which makes the corrosion worse.

So, my nice shiney aluminium wheels, without laquer, don't corrode, just get dirty/scratched.

 

[Guest]

[]
just sprayed my wheels, well just the outside, not the black centers. i masked it all up and sprayed white primer (2-3 coats) then the silver paint i mentioned earlier, bout 3-4 coats, there was no need to use wet and dry between coats cause they were pretty good, well all i can say i have done 2 and two more to go. waiting a couple of days be4 i will put the tryes back on. looking goood well happy, but the most important question is will it last???? i hope, meanwhile i have painted my calipers red.(just front so far)

i am thinkin shall i put a couple layers of clear lacque?? but the paint doesnt metion a finsh with lacque.... i am worried it dirt will be hard to remove if i dont.... dont know what i will do now but i think i might not bother...
[]
i am a happy man and spent £20 on paint instead of £200... fingers crossed hope it lasts

 

[John Sims]

I note John's comments and agree that anodising is an electrolytic process. I am a little concerned however with John's suggestion that leaving untreated aluminium exposed to the elements will be fine.

In my experience, when ordering anodised aluminium, there are various grades of anodising; this relative to the depth the anodising process penetrates or modifies the surface. Exterior grade anodised aluminium is a different specification to that only intended for interior use. This goes further as while most people associate anodised aluminium as a satin finish it can also be obtained in a mirror polished finish.

Again, noting that architecturally external anodised aluminium is different to internal, I would doubt that doing nothing to a polished anodised surface would be sufficiently controlled to ensure a good finish.

My thoughts are further supported by my experiences with my Westfield racing car. The interior (if there is such a thing in a Westfield) was clad in aluminium. This was unanodised flat sheet. Periodically, for shows and the like, I would polish the aluminium with metal polish. After polishing it would look spectacular with a mirror like shine but this would soon dull to the satin aluminium finish we are all familiar with. If, however, it got wet then a powdery residue would form on the surface.

This said, and perhaps in support of John's theory, if the aluminium sheet was left alone, whilst looking dull and murky, it didn't get a white powdery surface.

In summary, whilst I'm not sure on John's comments, if you want nice shiny aluminium then I would suggest you are going to have to lacquer it. If you don't mind it dull and murky then you could try leaving you wheels exposed to the ellements and see what happens.

 

[Guest]

hmmmm. i have decided to paint them as lacque i think might not be a long lasting look and protection as the lacque can easily peel off over time. Also the main problem with lacque is the finish on the wheel must be very good or it will show up with a bad finish, and as i decided not to use a tool tip to machine my alloys this will not be achieved with just wet and dry. also bout the dul finish, if you was to lacque it you would have to lacque it within a day of finishing it, as the oxidising effects happens immediately (the dull effect).
with the original alloys the lacque started to bubble and white powdery residue started to form, i think this was all the crap on the road reacting with the ali. i was also questioning johns idea but i just didnt want to say anything, cause he might not have ali wheels, migh be a special alloy?


regards charlie