# My attempt at a diy wheel refurb



## wibble

Been gradually working my way around the car sorting the wheels out over the last couple of weeks, so here's the pics (they're off a camera phone, so not the best of quality in places, but didn't fancy putting my dslr in close proximity to spray paint and a hose pipe ):-

*Left Rear*
This one had the least amount of damage, so thought I'd start off with an easy one 
The damage (click thumbnails for full size picture)

After a good clean with Megs Wheel Brightener, a very old tin of tar remover I found in the shed, wd40 and 00 gauge wire wool and finally for the really stubborn bits on the inside face of the spokes, some wet n dry.


The scuff rubbed back smooth with 600grit wet n dry

Taped up and primed I think, pic is a bit crap as the light was going.
I taped it up along the lines of the wheel and held a sheet of paper whilst spraying to stop overspray.

The finished wheel after 2 coats each of the Wurth silver and clear coat, SRP all over, 2 coats of PB Wheel Sealant and PB Bold N Bright on the tyre, forgot to take pics in between 


*Right Rear*
Straight off the car, as far as I'm aware it's the first time they've ever been taken off to be cleaned.


After much cleaning

If I remember rightly, it was a couple of weeks ago now, most of the damage that needed painting was on the inside face of the wheel and there was just the one scratch on the outside face of one of the spokes which was removed with Megs Scratch X, which I seem to have forgotten to take pics of 

*Left Front*
As removed from the car, showing damage and crap on inside face, the car had been washed the day before so the outer face is pretty clean.


Inside rubbed down and ready to paint

Outside rubbed down and ready for filler, decided at this point that it would be easier to paint the entire wheel than try to blend so many patches in.

Primed, looks like I forgot to take a pic of the filler before spraying the primer 

After 2 coats of sivler and 2 of clear, forgot to take pics of the inside as well 

The finished wheel


*Right Front*
The damage after a spray with Wheel Brightener and a rinse with the hose

The inside

Rubbed down and filler applied

Primer coat, again decided to do the whole wheel.


1st coat of silver on


Had a few problems with the 2nd spray can of silver spluttering, turned out that the bit of the spray nozzle that goes into the can had broken, luckily, I still had the empty one so swapped the nozzles over, I did however try to rub the lumps down when the paint was still soft and created a bigger problem

So left it over night to harden and rubbed it back the next day to this.

After a coat of primer and 2 of silver

The finished wheel, waiting for the rain to stop so I can put it back on


So that's it, they're not perfect but they're a damn sight better than they were and I'm now officially sick of the sight of alloy wheels 
I used Wurth German Alloy Wheel Paint, which is a perfect match for Vauxhall alloys (had to buy 2 cans each of the silver and clear) and Plasti-kote Aluminium Primer plus wet n dry in various grades from 240 to 1200 I think and the Megs Unigrit 2000, 2500 and 30000 for taking out imperferctions in the finish and I can't remember what make the filler is.
Each wheel was then given a coat of SRP and 2 coats of PB Wheel Sealant (Scratch X was also used on the rear wheels as they were not full resprays), plus the tyre was dressed with PB Bold n Bright.
In between doing the rear and front wheels the tyre valve adapter that I'd ordered for my airbrush finally turned up so I may revisit the rears and rub down the lines left by the tape and go over them with the airbrush at a later date.


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## Jim W

Excellent report mate. I'll certainly refer back to this come the time I think about doing mine!!!

Good work. :thumb:


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## Buzzsaw

Great write up - thanks for sharing and the results look great :thumb:


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## wibble

Thanks, forgot to add that I used Bilt-Hamber Autoclay to remove the overspray and it's great stuff, I've now done the entire car and 4 wheels with one bar of it and I've still got a little bit left :thumb:


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## bassologist

fantastic write up there Wibble, good effort, wheels ccame up a treat. might be worth putting some links if for the paint used to help anyone else who wished to have a go


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## wibble

bassologist said:


> fantastic write up there Wibble, good effort, wheels ccame up a treat. might be worth putting some links if for the paint used to help anyone else who wished to have a go


Good idea, I ordered it from from Performance Motor Care, link here, they're the 2nd and 3rd items down in the list on that page.


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## boxstaman

What filler did you use??


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## wibble

Just been downstairs to have a look, it's Tetrasyl Ultrasmart 2k Body Filler which I already had in the house - bought it originally to repair my spoiler after my drunken mates tried to give me a push start using it as a handle when I had a flat battery Christmas time


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## mouthyman

great write up, nice job :thumb:


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## Georgy

Nice write up mate, I think I need to do my wheels soon. They're not that bad, just to get them perfect!

Lovely Astra coupe turbo wheels aswell! Got a pic of the car? I've got an SE2 coupe


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## toni

They came out great IMO!

One question though: wasn't it a bit soon to use SRP & PB WS? SRP might be light on abbrazives but it's still abbrazive on a fresh paint ...


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## KnightUnit

Nice work and write up! Very informative :thumb:


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## Neil_M

Nice write up, damm im tempted to try your technique on one of my wheels!


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## wibble

Georgy said:


> Nice write up mate, I think I need to do my wheels soon. They're not that bad, just to get them perfect!
> 
> Lovely Astra coupe turbo wheels aswell! Got a pic of the car? I've got an SE2 coupe


Thanks, the most recent pics I've got are in here, being an SE2 yours will be Europa Blue as well then won't it?


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## wibble

toni said:


> They came out great IMO!
> 
> One question though: wasn't it a bit soon to use SRP & PB WS? SRP might be light on abbrazives but it's still abbrazive on a fresh paint ...


It doesn't seem to have done any damage, started off doing it on the rear wheel cos they weren't fully resprayed, didn't really think about it when doing the fronts, just slapped it on


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## Original Poster

Works really well!

Very enjoyable read, top work mate!


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## paulrandall

Nice writeup and before and afters. My SE2 alloys have a few scrapes, but could never do anything like that. They look much better. Just wondered if the filler would be strong enough and not crack?

Ive heard of a few people using liquid metal for a similar thing.


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## wibble

paulrandall said:


> Nice writeup and before and afters. My SE2 alloys have a few scrapes, but could never do anything like that. They look much better. Just wondered if the filler would be strong enough and not crack?
> 
> Ive heard of a few people using liquid metal for a similar thing.


I suppose only time will tell on whether the filler is strong enough, it's holding up ok on the spoiler so far and that's had six months of me forgetting not to use the spoiler to close the boot.


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## RickRst

Get some TFR on those wheels asap. They should not be coated with anything for at least a month, more like 3. The paint needs to breath to set properly, otherwise it won't harden properly.


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