# First time Alloy wheel refurb - 4 x Honda Penta 17" Alloys



## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

Furloughed again in Lockdown 2.0 

However has given me plenty of time to do a few things I otherwise would struggle to get done.

My son has some spare wheels for his Civic that are frankly, in a horrible state. :lol:

He's never going to use them so he said let's put them on eBay.
I said no-one will want them they're so badly kerbed, but while I've got some time on my hands I'll help you have a bash at tidying them up! :thumb:

At least if they were all the same colour, and the kerb rash was removed, they would stand a decent chance of selling and looking appealing to someone.

Even if I messed them up, they would be no worse than before.

Before durings and afters to follow in a minute 


IMG_0074 by *JMR*, on Flickr

Yes they really are in a bad state aren't they :wall:


IMG_0076 by *JMR*, on Flickr


IMG_0073 by *JMR*, on Flickr


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## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

Sanded down the kerbed edges with various grades of sandpaper, and flap discs on the drill, starting with P120.

Some of the kerbing was too deep to fully remove, so I just cleaned up as much as I could and smoothed it out


IMG_0091 by *JMR*, on Flickr

All four have had their lips and faces sanded and keyed ready for prep


IMG_0092 by *JMR*, on Flickr

I cleaned up the whole of the face and windows with IPA solution which left a great clean finish.
Acid Etch Primer x 4 coats


IMG_0102 by *JMR*, on Flickr

Left about 15-20 mins or so between coats.

Then applied 3 coats of Honda Satin Silver colour coat, again about 20 mins apart.

This left me with this, looking A LOT smarter, not 100%, but more than presentable and ready for lacquering.


IMG_0105 by *JMR*, on Flickr

Left them for 24 hours+, and then gave them 3 coats of polyurethane lacquer, 30 mins between coats.

Stuck them in the garage with the dehumidifier doing its business, and a day later they look and feel great.

Finished items


IMG_0184 by *JMR*, on Flickr


IMG_0187 by *JMR*, on Flickr


IMG_0182 by *JMR*, on Flickr

More than happy with the results and my lad was over the moon.

We've listed them tonight on eBay and Facebook and he had an offer on them within 15 minutes !!!

Like I say, not a pro job, but I've learned a bit and wont be scared of attempting something like this again.

I was that happy with the job, I wish I'd take a bit more time.
But my lad was pushing me on saying just get some paint on them dad. :lol:


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## MDC250 (Jan 4, 2014)

They look brilliant, job well done.


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## percymon (Jun 27, 2007)

Great effort, lovely result


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

Those look fantastic!! Well done!

Cooks

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## Rakti (Nov 11, 2019)

Well done:thumb:

TBH, if it makes any sense, apart from the kerbing, they looked in pretty good nick to start with. Big advantage to have them without tyres on to do the work.

Interesting that you left them 24hrs before clear coat. Paints4u datasheet says "Do not wait more than a maximum of 2hrs before applying the lacquer". Do you know otherwise?


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Cracking job and well done on selling them so quickly :thumb:


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Exellent work, a job I once did and ill admit am in no rush to do again. I had sold the Clio and bought a Fiesta before I even finished them, they were pretty nasty and the filling and sanding is the bulk of the work. I went for a Graphite Grey, left them for a week or two. Lightly flattened the clearcoat and hand polished them up. They did look good for a DIY job. Put them on ebay and the highest bidder got them, they got boxed up and bubble wrapped and picked up by courier on there way to..... Hungary


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Rakti said:


> Well done:thumb:
> 
> TBH, if it makes any sense, apart from the kerbing, they looked in pretty good nick to start with. Big advantage to have them without tyres on to do the work.
> 
> Interesting that you left them 24hrs before clear coat. Paints4u datasheet says "Do not wait more than a maximum of 2hrs before applying the lacquer". Do you know otherwise?


not sure why, I followed this as a guide. might be to prevent any reaction between base and clearcoat is all I can think of. Not sure if this makes the clearcoat stronger or weaker by waiting though.

https://www.mg-rover.org/threads/how-to-refurbish-alloy-wheels-detail-and-picture-heavy.427081/


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## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

Rakti said:


> Well done:thumb:
> 
> TBH, if it makes any sense, apart from the kerbing, they looked in pretty good nick to start with. Big advantage to have them without tyres on to do the work.
> 
> Interesting that you left them 24hrs before clear coat. Paints4u datasheet says "Do not wait more than a maximum of 2hrs before applying the lacquer". Do you know otherwise?


Yep the colour coat says wait 24 hours before applying a clear lacquer

I've never done anything like this really so I just followed the instructions on the cans, taking in to account adding a little more time between coats as it was cooler weather.


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## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

Rakti said:


> TBH, if it makes any sense, apart from the kerbing, they looked in pretty good nick to start with. Big advantage to have them without tyres on to do the work.


Certainly made things easier with the tyres off :thumb:
So much kerbing on them though, and some edges had been very poorly sprayed up, so I'm happy that they're all the same colour now


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Excellent effort.


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

I’ve found that with aerosols the longer you can leave the base coat to dry the better. Aerosol lacquers are so thinned out that there’s a danger they can re-wet the base coat and make the metallics particles flow and leave cloudy uneven patches unless you’re very careful.

Completely different in my experience to high solids clears through a proper spray gun which need the base coat to ‘grip’ the lacquer so you don’t get peeling later on.


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## JB052 (Mar 22, 2008)

Excellent result, I like the idea of doing the complete wheel rather than trying to paint match small areas.


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## James_R (Jun 28, 2007)

Thanks for all the comments fellas :thumb:


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## SamD (Oct 24, 2015)

Great effort mate, those struggling to dry base coat I’d suggest stealing your partners hair dryer and using it between coats to aid in drying.


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## St Evelyn (Mar 15, 2019)

Awesome job, they look amazing - fair play fella! :thumb:


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## nbray67 (Mar 22, 2012)

Cracking effort James.

Well worth the effort especially with selling them in 15mins on fleabay.


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## P2K (Jun 17, 2020)

Nice work James, they came up great


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## bluechimp (Dec 21, 2017)

Great work James. They have come up a treat!

What a result.


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