Mighty Shilling

Righto. I'm looking to resurface my wheels... AFAIK, the steps taken are as follows:

1)clean up wheels REALLY well...
2)sand surface
3)clean off dust with a paint prep...
4)mask areas not to be painted
5)paint with care
6) coat 2
7)unmask
8)clear
9)clear again
10) carefully mount wheels and tires, put on car, enjoy!

anything wrong there? also, how can I get a mirror finish? Polish or is there a paint for it? what paint do I use for the rest of it? is Duplicolor alright?

shmucklebuckle

I'm no paint expert, but I don't see any problem with your process. I don't know about which paints would be best though.

pearldrum944

Looks fine to me. I used duplicolor wheel paint and it worked great. Going with the chrome lip and graphite center?

cjeckert

I actually used this stuff called aircraft stripper on my pd's and light the name implied it completly removed the old coating. Then i sanded the surface untill it was smooth and all the old scraces were gone, i think i used aluminum oxide however i know there is a type you def dont want to use cause it wil l react w/t the alumminum after you paint it and ruin the finish. Then i used this special cleaner that removed all the sanding residue. I used duplicolor enamel and clear cloat putting a new layer on every hour or so untill i had like 3 coats of paint and 4 of clear and then i let it cure for about a week. Before i had my friend put the wheels on i covered the serfice in this removable duck tape thats ment to protect windows in huricans but can be removed easily.

Oh also i have two sets of wheels so i didnt have to worry about time constraints. Total cost was 140 for the wheels and 150 for paint, supplies, refreshments for ppl who helped me.

AndyK

Cost me $260 to have all 4 D90's powder coated...dropped them off, picked them up. Done.

Mighty Shilling

Tyler, Yeah.. that's exactly what I'm doing... and since I have no time constraints, and my summer tires were shot to hell, and removed, and my snow tires/wheels put on, I've got a winter of time....

would be nice if my car was able to move right now....

WhoDak

I'm getting mine refinished in the winter as well, plenty of time to leave it tucked away in the corner of the garage on stands for a week or so.

What would you guys recommend to do about slight curb rash, I mean slight. A 1/4" wide by 1/2" long is the biggest one, I think theirs 3 spots total. Should I file them smooth, they aren't more than 1mm deep. My guess is the paint will lay smooth over it, I'm just worried about the little "dip" that you might notice when it's all uniform.

I plan to get the tires unmounted for it, should I have them finish the inside of the rim like the rest of the wheel, clear coat and all?

My friend's dad runs a place that does sandblasting, powdercoating, high temp painting and all. What method do you think would hold up the best on phone dials? Thanks, I'm really a noob when it comes to wheel finishing.

ibkevin

Geoff, Beeg and Julie are really looking forward to the visit, great people to sit and chat a spell with. I've also taught Brian a couple of tricks. One is, upon asking nicely, that is absolutely unforgivable for a host to deny his guest behind the wheel time in the Turbo S. And of course the second is to never take "no" for an answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he knows all about drafting, heel-toeing, blah,blah,blah....

Anyone have a spare DME/KLR mounting board? I know the pass seat is on the "correct" side of the car for Brian, his repeated attempting to mash the brake pedal over there has me a little concerned for the mount!

Chalk a couple more international friendship's up to Renn and our damn Porsche's

Mighty Shilling

DO NOT SANDBLAST PHONE DIALS!!!

I cannot stress this enough... it will ruin them... you can strip them and have them powdercoated and all, but for the love of god, don't sandblast them. i've even seen those hollow glass beads destroy a nice set of phonies.

as for curb rash, I think someone said something about Bondo, but I'm gonna take my wheels somewhere and have them built up and sanded smooth so I can polish the lip...

as for Polishing, what do I use to do so?

944kid

here is a link to a site that might help. Maybe you've been there before?

http://www.pelicanparts.com/944/944tech_articles.htm

Lots of other tips on how to polish, etc.

-the kid

Skip Wolfe

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/ext43.shtml