# What Do I need to Paint & refurb my alloys?



## Keir

What Do I need to refurb my alloys?

My Farther in law is getting the kit to respray his Jaguar S type. If I wanted to paint my Alloys (modern wheels, 2006) What do I need?


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## Andyb0127

Before I start, I take no responsibility for any damage you cause to yourself, or you property by use of this guide. This guide is not gospel, use some common sense and a bit of personal judgement when refurbishing your wheels.

Stuff You Will Need. 
I've tried to estimate the paint ammounts required, this has been estimated from my usage, using aerosol cans. If you are just refurbishing the fronts you will need less.

Etching Primer (Acid Etch 1k stuff) (200ml per wheel [ish]) 
Grey Primer (300ml per wheel [ish]) 
Paint (of your required colour probably silver) (400ml per wheel) 
Laquer (300ml per wheel) 
Some polish/t-cut and polishing cloth / electric polisher 
An electric detail sander with 60 & 120 grit pads (optional) 
Wet and dry paper 800-1000 grit 
Unibond metal repair kit (liquid metal) if repairing kerb damage

The Guide

A full refurb will take around 4 days in total, 2 days sanding 2 days painting. If you're just doing the fronts, you can probably do them in a weekend.

I can't stress enough that taking your time is the key to getting a good finish. If you rush it WILL go wrong!

To do a full refurb, you will need to remove the tyres from the wheels. Get this done at a local tyre centre as you'll never get them off yourself without doing damage. Get the weights and valves removed as well!. If you wish to just refurbish the front then mask off the tyres when painting.

Take the wheels off the car and wash them down front and back with some decent wheel cleaner to remove all the brake dust and grime from them.

Take one set of slightly damaged wheels, not looking too hot.

The first stage is to remove any paint, this is important if your wheels have been previously refurbished improperly. My wheels had been sprayed straight onto with black paint, it chipped easily and was not a good base to spray onto.

I've always used an electric detail sander to remove the paint as it gets into the corners easily and speeds up the job. You could however remove the paint with celulose thinners or sand by hand. I think electric sander is the best option unless you can get the wheels sand blasted.

1) Sand the wheels with 60 grit paper followed by 120 grit paper. This should removed the majority of the paint.

2) If you've got kerb damage like I did, file or sand the damage down untill the lip is circular, then mix up some of the liquid metal and smeer plenty of it on to fill the damage. Let it dry and then sand it down to the same level as the rest of the wheel.

When spraying, spray at a distance of 6inches and spray with a smooth motion and with light coats. If you spray beyond the edges of the wheel then you can avoid geting an excess of paint building up along the rim.

Lots of light coats is much better than 1 heavy coat. If you've put too much paint on (small pools of wet paint) then let it dry and see what it looks like. Don't try and cover it with more paint. If you get a run, let it dry and sand it down with the 800 grit paper.

Always spray the rear of the wheel first, as some paint will overspray onto the front.

3) Spray the entire wheel with a light coat of etching primer, untill you can't see any bare metal This is very important with alloy wheels. Once dry Spray several coats of regular grey primer ontop of this. Put plenty of coats of primer on as you will need to sand it back.

4) Once the primer is properly dry rub it down (very lighty) with wet 800 grit paper this will give you a nice smooth finish, try not to sand through the primer. If you do you can always spray some more.

5) Clean the wheel off with a damp cloth and spray several coats of the colour of your choice. I chose black. Again try to avoid putting too much on in one go, and again start by spraying the back.

6) Make sure the paint is dry, spray on several coat of laquer to finish it off. Spray the coats lightly and evenly as its quite easy to mess this up. Dont put too much on in one go!

7) Let the laquer dry overnight and polishes needed.

Hope that helps mate only a basic guide. :thumb:


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## ryans day

cracking guide.this will no doubt help me when i get cracking on my wheels.


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## Mondeo220

How I refurbish my wheels -

Remove wheel from car, break the bead.

Remove damage using a DAS6 starting with a 180 grit (80-120 if really bad, rarely use filler)

Refine and feather damaged area using 240-400 grit

Clean using a strong cleaner, my favourite at the moment is Smart Wheel or Ali-shine. The whole wheel is keyed using a fresh grey ultrafine scotchbrite and flatting paste, this cleans the wheel and party keys it ready for the next stage.

Rinse off and dry wheel. Use Tardis to remove tar spots and wipe with fast/slow panel wipe.

Final key using fine/red scotchbrite (pre-worn)

Use light coat of etch primer or adhesion promoter on exposed alloy areas. No need to prime the whole wheel as properly keyed paint will allow refinished paint to stick very well. Never have any flake issues. Primer is really only needed if filler has been used.

I mix my colours to match from my paint system with the exception of the shadow chrome finishes which I buy in. 2 good coats of scratch resistant 2k clearcoat and bake off with IR for 15 minutes, the wheel is ready to be refitted to the car.

You should end up with something looking like this -


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## ryans day

very nice that


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## ianFRST

sometimes, it just not worth it :lol:

i got my wheels powdercoated for £30 a wheel, and that included having them blasted, i got a mate to remove and refit tyres for me

i was looking at spending around £60-£70 in paint, etch primer, primer, lacquer paper, filler, and sanding stuff alone to do it myself, plus the HOURS you would have to put in

if you have the stuff, and the hours to spare, DIY it 

if you dont have the stuff, find a local stove enameling place that will do the wheels  (alot cheaper than specialist wheel refurb places)


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## Matty77

Good little guide that...thanks for sharing!


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## tmitch45

ianFRST said:


> sometimes, it just not worth it :lol:
> 
> i got my wheels powdercoated for £30 a wheel, and that included having them blasted, i got a mate to remove and refit tyres for me
> 
> i was looking at spending around £60-£70 in paint, etch primer, primer, lacquer paper, filler, and sanding stuff alone to do it myself, plus the HOURS you would have to put in
> 
> if you have the stuff, and the hours to spare, DIY it
> 
> if you dont have the stuff, find a local stove enameling place that will do the wheels  (alot cheaper than specialist wheel refurb places)


Where on earth did you get £30 a wheel for all that? The places I looked at were much much more expensive than that!!!


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## BrummyPete

I've just been in the same boat, I managed to sort some winter alloys for 20 quid off eBay that needed some attention I worked out I would need around 50 quids worth of paint, lacquer primer and other materials to do the job properly, as it happens there is a powdercoaters in birmingham that charge 20 a wheel to refurb which means all the pain of sanding and painting etc is taken away from me and it will most likely look better than what I can achieve, safe to say I chose the easy option


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## badly_dubbed

just had mine done for £140 blasted and refurbed.....its cheaper and easier getting a company to do it.

Primer



























rears done in OEM Grey









Sealed with Polish Angel Master Sealant


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