# Wheel refurb gone wrong...



## benjiV50

I recently tried to refurb a wheel, followed the usual steps, rubbed down, high build primer, dried, added top coat, dried, added laquer. All looked good until 24 hours later and it's gone completely dull and full or tiny little cracks, kind of like a shattered phone screen, any ideas what's happened? The only thing i can think of is I got blowback from a pressure washer on the wheel while it was still wet


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## SamD

Primer may not of been fully dry, what clear did you use?


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## Christian6984

some of the scrapes need filler, and a sand down after its dried. Did you sand after the hi-build primer? The water could be a potential issue. Needs to stay dry after painting and clear coating. but from experience Hi-build doesnt give a smooth finish on its own and needs sanding, much prefer standard primer but the bad marks would want fixing first.


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## benjiV50

SamD said:


> Primer may not of been fully dry, what clear did you use?


I'm sure it was a paints4u bottle, the prime4 and paint were simoniz


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## Christian6984

If a guide helps this is the one that taught me to do it, Is a massively time consuming job and the prep is so important, get that right and the painting is fairly straight forward.

http://forums.mg-rover.org/how-do-i...ish-alloy-wheels-detail-picture-heavy-427081/


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## ffrs1444

Hay some Pro’s do a rubbish job also so don’t put your work down, Had a wheel refurb look good but didn’t mask inside was Rought like sand paper


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## SamD

ffrs1444 said:


> Hay some Pro's do a rubbish job also so don't put your work down, Had a wheel refurb look good but didn't mask inside was Rought like sand paper


Rarely see anyone mask the inside of a wheel if I'm honest.


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## ffrs1444

SamD said:


> Rarely see anyone mask the inside of a wheel if I'm honest.


Should do Cause it rough else with over spray making it stubborn to clean


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## WristyManchego

Sounds like crows feet mate. Typically caused by sub par panel prep and moisture.

Nothing you can do about it but sand and respray.


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## SamD

ffrs1444 said:


> Should do Cause it rough else with over spray making it stubborn to clean


If you opted for a powder coat inside and out would of been done, general refurbish will just be the faces of the wheel, so highly doubt this pro did anything wrong, you are that 1% of the detailing world who cleans behind the faces.


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## Christian6984

SamD said:


> Rarely see anyone mask the inside of a wheel if I'm honest.


when i painted mine i painted and lacquered both face and barrel of the wheel.




























They made much more than i expected when i sold them on ebay. Must have cost the guy a fortune as they got sold to a guy from Hungary.


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## benjiV50

Christian6984 said:


> when i painted mine i painted and lacquered both face and barrel of the wheel.
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> They made much more than i expected when i sold them on ebay. Must have cost the guy a fortune as they got sold to a guy from Hungary.


Wow!!


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## macca666

Christian6984 said:


> when i painted mine i painted and lacquered both face and barrel of the wheel.


Yours obviously look better than mine but I did the same but did a colour change and kept the tyres on.


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## Andyblue

macca666 said:


> Yours obviously look better than mine but I did the same but did a colour change and kept the tyres on.


Did you use rattle cans or ?

Father in laws are looking a bit sad and might have a chat to see if he fancies redoing them :thumb:


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## macca666

Andyblue said:


> Did you use rattle cans or ?
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> Father in laws are looking a bit sad and might have a chat to see if he fancies redoing them :thumb:


Cost me about 40/50 quid all in Andy. My intention is potentially to get them refurbed in the future so thought I've nothing to lose. I had wet and dry, primer And masking tape from previous work so didn't spend anything on it and bought three tins of wheel silver and three tins of lacquer from Halfords which did the 4 wheels And were about 7 or 8 quid each.
I just deflated the tyre to make sure there was a bit of play in the sidewall to allow me to mask up fully.


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## Andyblue

macca666 said:


> Cost me about 40/50 quid all in Andy. My intention is potentially to get them refurbed in the future so thought I've nothing to lose. I had wet and dry, primer And masking tape from previous work so didn't spend anything on it and bought three tins of wheel silver and three tins of lacquer from Halfords which did the 4 wheels And were about 7 or 8 quid each.
> I just deflated the tyre to make sure there was a bit of play in the sidewall to allow me to mask up fully.


Cheers mate :thumb:

I'll have a chat with him and see what he thinks about having a go...


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## ianrobbo1

SamD said:


> If you opted for a powder coat inside and out would of been done, general refurbish will just be the faces of the wheel, so highly doubt this pro did anything wrong, you are that 1% of the detailing world who cleans behind the faces.


:thumb: I'm a 1%er it's nice to know 

benjiV50 and Andyblue, Those are cracking jobs, well done, :thumb:


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## Christian6984

macca666 said:


> Yours obviously look better than mine but I did the same but did a colour change and kept the tyres on.


id say they look better than mine, look great mate :thumb: I've said due to the time of the prep would be the last i ever do, they had multiple marks each to fill, sand etc before i even got to primer. If they were in good condition and was just a colour change would be fairly straight forward. The hardest thing i find spraying is after the first initial coat, getting to a point heavy enough laying down paint for a good finish but not too heavy you get runs.

I have also used CardipUK, the peelable stuff previously but if its not thick enough its a swine to remove. The Fulldip stuff seemed better when i did a test area.


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## SamD

Christian6984 said:


> when i painted mine i painted and lacquered both face and barrel of the wheel.
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> They made much more than i expected when i sold them on ebay. Must have cost the guy a fortune as they got sold to a guy from Hungary.


In an ideal world my friend, very nice job btw!


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## Demented

benjiV50 said:


> I recently tried to refurb a wheel, followed the usual steps, rubbed down, high build primer, dried, added top coat, dried, added laquer. All looked good until 24 hours later and it's gone completely dull and full or tiny little cracks, kind of like a shattered phone screen, any ideas what's happened? The only thing i can think of is I got blowback from a pressure washer on the wheel while it was still wet


The shattered windscreen effect normally occurs when using solvent based paint and not allowing sufficent time for each coat of paint to flash off before applying the next coat.

Flashing off, is waiting 10-15 minutes for Solvents within the paint to escape/evaporate before applying the next coat.

I believe the cracking can also occur when a high build primer has been applied a little too heavy and although allowed to flash off between the coats, it needed a little longer flash time.

Both occurrences dry perfectly and look good, maybe for hours, days or even weeks, before the cracks appear.

I've only ever experienced this on repainted body panels, either by rattle can or spray gun and once it occurrs, the area has to be flattered back to its original paint.


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