Wheel respray DIY

[Pullstarter]

Awesome work Mickey, excellent result

[fuzion]

Looks good dude. That's exactly what i was thinking of doing with my TT wheels. I guess now i can see if it will look any good before i bother doing it myself, haha.



I tip for hand sanding aluminium is to use some CRC 5.56 (WD40) or kerosene (wear gloves..) or even water works well too, as a lubricant for the wet+dry. It stops the abrasive loading up (getting clogged), gives you a better finish and the abrasive will last longer too.

I would have gone to 400 and then to 800 before polishing the spokes, but i guess being a toolmaker i'm pretty critical and pedantic about getting polished surfaces polished properly..

http://www.mx6.com/forums/2g-faq-appearance/150665-how-diy-polishing-parts-mirror-finish.html

http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/0705ct_aluminum_polishing/index.html

if you want a mirror finish.. preeny knows im sure very well how to! lol

[rayray086]

Good work Mickey!

[KI11Z]

not bad at all Mikey, i'm sure they look a load better in person too! Be nice to see it with painted insides to really bring out the polished face keep at it!

[Preen59]

This is what i was talking about...



See how it "looks" polished, but notice that big score mark at the bottom edge of the polished surface? This is because they have polished it before it was truly ready. The high points are polished, but all the low points (scratches) still remain in the surface.

Buffers do a great job, but you have to get the surface to an even (and fine) finish before you bother with them in my opinion.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Ah ok thanks Preeny. I know what you mean by the block thing, they're a pretty common thing haha. This was only a practice to see how it would turn out and now that I like the look of the finish I'm going to re-sandblast the wheel and do what you said. Do I have to go to 400 first or could I just start on 120-180 or so and then 240,400,800?

[Preen59]

Ah ok thanks Preeny. I know what you mean by the block thing, they're a pretty common thing haha. This was only a practice to see how it would turn out and now that I like the look of the finish I'm going to re-sandblast the wheel and do what you said. Do I have to go to 400 first or could I just start on 120-180 or so and then 240,400,800?

I'd block it straight up with say, 240 and see how it's coming up, then go back to something coarser if you need to. Like i said, start mid-range and see how it looks, then decide if you need to hook in with something more substantial.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Righto, thanks.

More progress tomorrow! Stay tuned!

[Jarred]

I'd block it straight up with say, 240 and see how it's coming up, then go back to something coarser if you need to. Like i said, start mid-range and see how it looks, then decide if you need to hook in with something more substantial.

good advice there Preeny. and the other posts there too. thanks for sharing!

[Preen59]

good advice there Preeny. and the other posts there too. thanks for sharing!

No worries dude. I guess me being a "post whore" has its benefits sometimes eh?

[Mrk_Mickey]

Another update, although this wasn't a very good one unfortunately!

We sprayed some primer onto the wheel tonight to get the effect of the polished/painted idea. It looked great but it will need a different approach to get the result I want.

The wheels, already being polished and 'finished', shouldn't have been touched. Anything like wax and grease remover, tape, paint, even fine wetdry sandpaper and rags will dull the surface. So after painting my wheel tonight I've decided that I will have the other wheels 100% paint stripped, tape up the surface I want polished and paint everything until I get to the stage of spraying clearcoat. Then I'll start polishing the spoke surfaces being careful not to scuff the paint (it's easier this way than protecting polish while painting..trust me! lol) and once I'm happy with the result I'll clear the lot.

We only got one coat of primer on tonight because my mate forgot to turn the paint pressure down when he primed my wheels (we were priming bike fairings tonight too) . We got a very unfair amount of runs which resulted in a really bad finish, and basically too much work to bother getting a second coat on tonight. This is my test wheel anyways so I'm able to plan ahead on my other wheels

I like my red tape Oh, and the lip is going to be WAY too hard to tape up so I'm not going to bother polishing it. Pics from tonight:



I don't think 2pac paint is good for my camera...*shrugs*:


Check it! More runs than America's best baseball team!


Wetsanding with 800 (and 340 where the runs are, to level them down)




Tonight's finished product:


I like the look. I'm really looking forward to seeing the flakey silver going on the primer, especially if we mix a bit of black in!

This week I'm hoping to completely strip the paint off all the wheels. If that happens, the weekend will see primer and colour!

Cheers.

[VeeDubs]

nicee mickey! they are going to look good...

too bad they are going to be such a mission to finish!! if you need a hand with anything give me a call...im not a pro painter or anything...but i sort of know how to tape off things or stand off to the side and look beautiful.

Cant wait to see them finished!

[Mrk_Mickey]

You can come over on the weekend for the hell of it if you like

[Jarred]

were you using electrical tape there mickey???

[Dubdubdubdot]

Idea. Polished spokes and harlequin where you have primed, i.e each wheel is a different colour, but still has that polished look on the front of the spokes. Either way add real colour!