Refurbishing BBS RS rims (sort-of)

[Domel]

Hi all,

OK, so I got myself a set of BBS RS rims but I don't like the colour of the centres (basketweave) + the quality of the powdercoat is pretty sh*t anyway (it is not the original paint, someone's redone them in the past and did a poor job at that as well).
I don't want to take the rims apart, so I was thinking about just stripping the paint and polishing the bare aluminium and NOT repainting the centres - has anyone on here tried that? Does or will the centres corrode badly (I wash the car every weekend including the wheels)? Is there a product I could use to protect the aluminium from corroding?

Tried to find some info on the net but couldn't find any useful advice...

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Dom

[dylan8]

im sure its been done in the U.S before. I was going to polish/chrome my bbs centres but haven't looked into it much yet

[mikinoz]

My personal opinion is that if I wanted to have shiny centres, I would go for a plated rather than polished centre finish. Polished BBS centres could be could be soul destroying to maintain.

[Jarred]

let alone trying to actual polish the centres! that would be a nightmare in it'self!

[dom123]

do it right do it once pull them apart and either repaint/coat/polish yourself properly or get someone else to do it for you.

pulling them apart is really not that hard and plus if you dont and you strip the paint off the centres it will be bloody hard not to strip the clear off the lips (thats if they have any) and it'll be hard to get into the tight spots between the centre and the lip.

[Domel]

Thanks for the responses guys.

let alone trying to actual polish the centres! that would be a nightmare in it'self!

it'll be hard to get into the tight spots between the centre and the lip

The lips are polished, no clear coat.

To strip the paint off the centres I'd use this (they also have special bits for polishing as well) + lots of Autosol :

686-01 Sanding/Grinding Accessory Set / Model: 686-01

My main concern is that they don't corrode too much once I strip them. I don't mind cleaning/maintaining the wheels. Also, they are currently on my daily car so they don't have to be 100% spot on (although obviously I want them as clean as possible). I also don't really want to take them apart as they still have the original BBS bolts which I like (I don't think I could reuse them once undone - a lot of them would probably brake while trying to undo).

I suppose I will give the stirp and poilsh a shot and see how I go.

Will post up some pics once I get to it.

Cheers,
Dom

[rayray086]

You'll want to protect them after you've polished them. There's someone on here (from the UK though) that has done a set where he ceramic-coated the centres after polishing them. The result is still very shiny. Another method is to use POR15's GlistenPC which is a bare-metal protector that works over polished surfaces. Either way, I wouldn't leave them as is against the elements. Unless you can sit there and polish them over and over again, they will corrode.

[Domel]

Thanks HEAPS Ray! Will definitely check out this product (POR15's GlistenPC).