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Fast Alan
02-28-2011, 08:29 PM
Hey All

Thought rather than clog my build thread full of pics of my wheels as I refurbished them and in an attempt for us all to give our opinions on a job we will probably all tackle on our cars.

Please add your constructive criticism as we all have our different ways,budgets and facilities and at no time do I claim to be an expert,just someone thats quite handy with a rattle tin usually :) amongst my wheels I should be able to tackle all the things we may come across,some are badly bubbling all over the backs some on the front theres kerb damage etc

If my budget allowed and I wasnt about to attempt to do 9 wheels my first step with some if not all of the wheels would be to have them sand blasted,however Iam substituting this with good old elbow greese.

I have started with the worse wheel,well two of them were really bad on the back but one was so blown on the front I had to take files to it,unfortunatly I didnt take a pic of the front before I started.


Ok and before the first pics a little fun I just set up a new storeroom at the college made out of 3 Victorian coal bunkers knocked into one space,the last room if I get away with it will be my new workshop...some pics

Oh and I cocked up my setting on the camera so sorry for the quality of this first lot

store 1
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2494.jpg?t=1298924130

store 2
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2493.jpg?t=1298925469

store 3 and my workshop
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2496.jpg?t=1298924130

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2492.jpg?t=1298925870

The college cat ( Hi-Tech ) and the worlds most expensive cat too £8-10,000 has been raised over the years by students and staff to keep her alive.she follows me everywhere
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2495.jpg?t=1298924130

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2491.jpg?t=1298925945

Ok enough of that lets get going
heres an array of things Ive used up to this part of the thread,there was to be some attachments for my drill with wire brushes on but like all things they seem to have mysteriously disappeared from my tool box,Ive also got the use of a jet washer.

In this pic,bucket of soapy water,degreaser (courtesy of my mates garage) various wet and dry paper and a lot of heavy paper thats free at the college,wire brush,sanding blocks,a tin of Hammerite grey primer,various files paint brush and cleaning brushes
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2497.jpg?t=1298926207

Again this is the worst wheel blown badly on the front and it affected every spoke,I had to tackle it with files and then heavy grade paper,then it was followed up with some medium wet and dry,the next stage will be hand painting on some primer and leaving it a couple days to harden while I tackle another wheel
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2500.jpg?t=1298926618

The reason Iam painting on the primer is Iam going to use it like a filler,letting it dry then sanding back over it with a medium/low piece of wet and dry,the paint will then fill the areas that are low from the rubbing down.

On to the backs maybe not as important but lets try and get them looking as good a we can

again I missed the photo but wheel two is as bad,this is after a scrub with soapy water.the only good thing is thanks to a good quality tyre with a rim protector there is no kerbing on these first two wheels
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2487.jpg?t=1298927216

Next the back of the wheel was sprayed with degreaser jet washed off and then I did about an hours worth of filing sanding and wire brushing to get it ready to paint in my grey Hammerite primer.
Two coats were applied by brush and then it was left to dry from Thursday to Monday while I actually did some work for the college :)
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2489.jpg?t=1298927604

I restarted Today,Monday,and decided to see if I could now get the back of the wheel smooth by using a fair bit of rubbing down with 1200 wet and dry,again using the paint like a filler but trying not to cut to far back through as I did not want the backs to hold me up too long.

What I found was really pleasing the primer slowly cut down nicely and I got a smooth flat finish after about half an hour and only cut through the paint in a few of the roughest places.
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2498.jpg?t=1298928128

Work caught up with me today and I never got round to painting any more primer to the bare ally patches,so I will do that tomorrow and start on another wheel while its dries

welshone
02-28-2011, 08:43 PM
Going great so far Alan, good idea about using the primer in that way :)

& that cat is very special it even has an invisable leg :laugh:

& i like the bottom shelf of your work shop,already BRM stuff in there.Should be renamed the BRM work shop :D



http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2491.jpg?t=1298925945

Fast Alan
02-28-2011, 08:50 PM
Going great so far Alan, good idea about using the primer in that way :)

& that cat is very special it even has an invisable leg :laugh:

& i like the bottom shelf of your work shop,already BRM stuff in there.Should be renamed the BRM work shop :D

Ha ha Iam having trouble hiding a sunroof though trying to leave it at night looking like I didnt spend a day working on my car

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2490.jpg?t=1298929745

Fast Alan
03-02-2011, 05:10 PM
Wouldnt normally use so much in the way of paint on primer,but as this wheels probably one of the worse Ive ever doneI decide to give the front 2 coats as well,probably the last time youll see me use this method on the front of a wheel

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2504.jpg?t=1299088789

Some painstaking rubbing down the next day as I need it smooth with no brush strokes takes me about 60-90 mins with both 800 and 1200 grades as this is one curvy wheel and not user friendly

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2514.jpg?t=1299088789

The whole wheels smoother and flatter now,so I can get on with some spray coats,this is were I would probably be on a normal wheel with an average amount of corrosion,but the the worst bit out of the way

Fast Alan
03-09-2011, 05:16 PM
Well back with it,have been a bit busy lately and also had to do a bit of online shopping for some sparke silver,white primer,laquer,wet and dry and a couple of tack cloths for good measure.

Heres a good comparison,some halfrauds wet and dry,quite expensive I thought at the time and some wet and dry bought here
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180480748531#ht_665wt_905
The next picture shows the Halfauds crapo on the right and the Klingspore on the left after around the same amount of use
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2517.jpg?t=1299691212

The wheel had a good rub down with medium grade 800 after the paint on primer and then got a couple of spray primer coats,after a further rub down with 1200 I decided to give it a coat of silver wheel spray as I had some kicking around,really as I needed to see how good or bad my finish was.

I then let it dry over the weekend and returned to it now just rubbing down any blemishes etc I wasnt happy with
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2516.jpg?t=1299691212

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2515.jpg?t=1299691212

A last coat tonight and Iam quite happy now just really needs some more fine around 2000 all over and then I will spray the siver sparkle

How I finished tonight,in wheel silver
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2518.jpg?t=1299691212

welshone
03-09-2011, 06:03 PM
Cracking job Alan, Well Done :thumbsup:

Adam
03-09-2011, 06:59 PM
Cracking Al! You fancy doing the sets I have? :D

Fast Alan
03-09-2011, 08:13 PM
Cracking Al! You fancy doing the sets I have? :D

Depends on their condition and how much of a hurry your in :)

Adam
03-09-2011, 08:14 PM
Haha, no hurry but I have two sets now that really need doing :rofl:

fostar*87*
03-09-2011, 08:18 PM
looken good :thumbsup:

Fast Alan
03-09-2011, 08:24 PM
Really its how much you want too do because really a proper refurb you would get the tyres removed so you could get the inside,I will have done 9 the time Ive finished and have 4 for sale (2 will be inside as well poss all 4)or they could be part ex¬d against another set for any member who wanted them I suppose.as long as I showed a profit

what Ive often considered is getting a tyre fitting machine so I could do this myself

welshone
03-09-2011, 08:35 PM
You can do My spare set as well if you like once you've done Adams :laugh:

Fast Alan
03-09-2011, 08:37 PM
You can do My spare set as well if you like once you've done Adams :laugh:

Blimey how many of us have more than a set we must be hogging the cosmo wheel market :)

welshone
03-09-2011, 08:40 PM
Blimey how many of us have more than a set we must be hogging the cosmo wheel market :)

You can never have to many cosmos :D

Adam
03-09-2011, 08:41 PM
Yup, 2 sets here. One day I'll actually do one of the sets in orange :D

Fast Alan
03-11-2011, 11:01 PM
Ok folks on with the show,I know you can only look at so many wheel pics :)

Gave the wheel a good rub down again but this time got a lot finer...2000 grade and really just cleaned the surface with that stuff,only cut through to primer in one spot,so it was on with the Silver Sparkle :thumbsup:,three coats roughly and then the sun came out so I washed my car and placed the wheel in the sun to dry

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2519.jpg

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2520.jpg

Hey anyone remember the open grill I started last year and then had a wobbly because the paint kept cracking,well yes it was green,but now its got dug out and its going Silver

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2521.jpg

Ok a combination of sun and a hair dryer and I pushed on ,the wheel then really got a rub over with 2500 grade,this does little more than give it a clean from over spray,I used this till the surface felt silky smooth and its so fine you wont really risk cutting through the paint.That meant its laquer time and I gave the wheel around 4 fine coats

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2522.jpg

Its probably the only time I would say the photos are not doing the paintwork justice,with my car its always been the other way round,but I cant capture just how good the laquers made the wheel look,excuse the still wet tyre dressing,and the wheels had a light polish as its not fully hardened yet

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2524.jpg

You can see why its called silver sparkle it really does have a lot of metallic in it which gives it its sparkle,makes it quite easy to spray too :)

Also while I was at it the back of the wheel got done with a pound shop tin of wheel silver,ha ha crappy tins that spray only if you dont take your finger of the trigger but cost cutting a bit there as I was never going to get the back perfect unless I wanted this thread written up in 6 months time

http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx68/FastAlan/DSCN2523.jpg

So first wheel done and an unusually bad one,the rest should be a country walk,but I will tackle a badly kerbed one next on this thread

welshone
03-12-2011, 07:39 AM
Your pulling our leg Mr Alan, I know you've just exchanged your bad one for a brand new one :tease:


Yes it really does look that good well done :)

Fast Alan
03-12-2011, 01:26 PM
Ha ha cheers Ian, one note to myself.......dont use parcel tape to mask wheel frickin stuff is hard to get off