Wheels Finished – Part II

Another step forward with the completion of the wheels – which includes tyres and balancing.  In the end I made this project much more complicated than it needed to be.  I started with factory finished 6’s and 7’s.  I bought replica 8’s so that I could run 7’s and 8’s.  I bought the replicas because they were cheaper and I was assured they were as good as genuine.  I was never really that comfortable with them but had them polished and centres painted in satin 2K.  They still didn’t look right and were HEAVY.  The 7’s were also refinished but I left the 6’s alone.

I then purchased a new set of genuine 7’s and 8’s from the US.  The cost plus shipping was much cheaper than sourcing locally.  The ones I purchased were fully polished by needed some TLC.  As I was over the polishing from my 1st set, I sent them away to be done.  There’s a bit of pitting but they still came out nicely and you have to get close up to see it – I can live with that.  With the painting, I reconsidered painting myself.  The issue I had with 2K was that it is not repairable, if there’s a scratch or chip the whole wheel needs to be prepped and painted again.  I didn’t have great experience with spray can paints but I had some VHT Engine Enamel that I wanted to try.  Like their wheel paint, I had found it marked easily but have never baked it.  I pulled out a test piece of metal and painted and baked.  The finish was very durable, in fact it appears as scratch resistant as the 2K.  It’s extremely easy to paint and I can spot repair it down the track.  I’ll be washing with warm water with only a sniff of detergent so hopefully they’ll stay nice for a long time.

So 2 can’s of VHT later plus 2 cans of black VHT primer the wheels are painted, baked and ready to fit on the car.  Phew!!

Wheels Finished – Part 1

Fresh out of the box - 16 x 7

Now the rear - 16 x 8

 

On previous posts I had talked about the work involved to get the wheels refinished to a condition I was happy with.  Everything was done and I commenced the painting.  The paint was supposed to be a satin black but it came out way t0o glossy.  Not only that I had the gun set up all wrong and the finish looked very average.  My only excuse is that it was the first real attempt at painting using 2K so I at least allowed myself an excuse.

To remedy this I decided to take down to a wheel repair shop recommneded to me by my mechanic. A few hundred dollars later they came back looking much better.  They’re still not perfect but I think they’re OK and to be honest I’m just glad they are done.

While all this was happening I came across a set of 16 x 7’s and 8’s that are genuine and had already been polished.  The polishing was rough but I couldn’t resist picking them up with a view to finishing in my favourite combo – polished rims, polished spokes, painted backing.  I really like that early style and will be getting them done this way.  I’ll load up the pics when they get back in a couple of weeks.  With everything else I have got on the go I am outsourcing this job!!  The thought of working on more wheels is too much.  The newer ones will end up on the car and these ones will either go into storage or I might sell them to help pay for the next project..

Project – Polishing Wheels 16×8″ – Update 23rd July 2010

* All the wheel pics are here

UPDATE – 23rd JULY 2010

Decided to add the updates at the top of the post from now on.  Some of these posts will be quite long and I think it will read better if the newer stuff is at the top.  You never know, might change my mind again.

The latest is that although I’d finished the wheel in VHT aerosol and they looked great I just didn’t feel that the finish was going to last.  In the end I was right as a simple finger nail test proved that these wheels are going to need refinshing before too long.  So it’s back to square 1 and I am now prepping the wheels for 2 pack.  Bought the paint and new gravity gun.  At the moment I am priming the wheels with a suitable base (Upol Acid 8).  Hopefully I’ll be painting by the end of July.  In the meantime at the top of this post I added previously posted pic of a wheel finished in VHT – looks nice so it was a bit tough to sand it back..  Anyway, it’s all a learning experience.

UPDATE – 5th JULY 2010

Got the 8’s polished and painted.  Took a while and still not 100% sure about the satin finish as they are a bit more matte than gloss.  They don’t have the same shine as the originals but I’ll put the tyres on and see what I think.  If they don’t grow on me I’ll redo them – but the priority will be low.  They actually look good and the wheels are much newer looking.  The deep dish 8’s are going to make a big difference to this car.  With the other projects going on I might get to see what they look like by the end of 2010!!  More pics added to gallery.

Started polishing the wheels and after 6.5 hours of rubbing I just couldn’t get some pitting out.  It’s only minor but would annoy the hell out of me so I finally sucumbed to outsourcing this.  Contacted Graham at Coburg Mag Wheel Polishing and took them down.  He said they should come up good and laughed at my attempts to do this by hand.  I asked him how he does it and he showed me his big @rse lathe!

I should get them back next week.

The funny thing is that I was convinced I was going to go down the polished lips AND Petals/Pedals path.  At the last moment I couldn’t do it – while I love the look it’s not quite the right era for my SC.  Instead I am going to refinish the centres in satin black, which means that I will also redo the 7s that I am moving to the front.

For now here are some before pics including one wheel stripped and sanded but still not ready!!

I’ll update this post when I make more progress.  Can’t wait to stick these on the car.

Wheels arrived.

Found some 16x8s the other day and they arrived today.  Gonna stick these on the back and move the 7s to the front.

Need a strip and polish.  Plan is to polish the lips and pedals/petals (not sure which is correct spelling!).  Obviously need to do this to the 7s as well.

Will tackle this after Project – Front Suspension so it could take a while before the car gets it’s new feet.  Hoping to get them to look something like this:

Project – Polishing Wheels

Nothing helps the look of a 911 like the right wheels in the right finish.

I’ve read alot about what to do, whether it’s polishing, painting, anodizing.  In the end I decided to go polished lips and black centres.  Centres were already black so all they got was a good clean.

The polishing was done by a local guy who came to my work and spent the whole day to do the jobs.  Results are very good and make a huge difference to the car.  For what it’s worth the wheels are 16×6″ up front and 16×7″ at the rear.  Tyres are Potenza RE001’s – 205/55/16 and 225/50/16.  Good tyres for the money.

Here are some before and after shots.  While the guy was doing it he had all wheels off and car lifted on 2 jacks.  I hated to see the car like this, too risky – never again!!!  I have a pic somewhere so I’ll try and find it and update this post.

UPDATE: Upcoming project is to replace rear wheels with 8″ and move the 7″ to the front.  A much tougher look – I can’t wait.  With the new setup I am going to polish not only the lips but the pedals/petals as well.  A nice retro look without going as bling as fully polished.  My mechanic might hate it but I am going to love it……..  By the way, I am tackling this new project myself.