Kyzz's rim refurb and paint yo! (pics for illiterate fools)
HOW TO: Refurbish your crap rims including lip refurb, removing gutter rash and polishing as well as prepping for paint and painting!
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Aim: To make crap rims into rolling JDM goodness! oh and remove your gutter rash, polish them up and prep for paint and paint
Required:
- Protective glasses
- Gloves (if you have pussy hands)
- Array of sandpaper (80, 120, 240, 480, 600, 1200 wet and dry)
- Coarse and fine metal files
- Steel wool
- Water
- Drill w/ coarse steel wire fittings (large and very small for tricky sections)
- Maguires chrome polish
- Clean Micro fibre cloths
- 3M Blue scotch painters tape
- Enamel Primer
- Epoxy Enamel Paint
REMOVING GUTTER RASH AND POLISHING LIP ONLY:
Steps:
1. Take your wheels off of your car, and preferably with no tyres on them, this will make the gutter rash removal and entire process over9000 times easier.
http://i40.tinypic.com/28jk0lt.jpg
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(see after first steps for info on paint removal)
2. Set wheels up in garage, workshop, basement or wherever, make sure you're comfortable in your surroundings and you know where everything is!
3.Grab your coarse file and locate all gutter rash and marks you wish to get rid of. Start to file the lip down to remove the marks, making sure you file the entire lip and NOT just where the damage is, this will cause an uneven lip and look silly.
4. When you're happy with the removal of larger and noticable marks, get the finer file and round that lip back out, further removing any blemishes and scratches on the lip until you're happy with it.
5.Here's the fun part. Grab your sandpaper collection!
http://oi56.tinypic.com/fabog5.jpg
My advice is NOT to rush this! you're result will be 100x better when you take the time to get every detail fixed.
Start on 80, this is your coarsest paper, this will remove any decent scratches and marks on the entire lip, you should be aiming for a nice smooth grain without any cross marks or scratches going on a tangent. 120 is the same concept as it's still rough. Once your happy with each of the grits progress up to a higher grade paper.
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From filing and use of papers up to 600
For papers 600 and 1200, use the wet and dry method. 600/1200 are polishing papers and should be used only when you're 100% satisfied with the cosmetics of the lip! To do wet and dry, give the lip a good sand with the 600 and once it has smoothed out a bit, grab a damp rag and run it over the rim, making it wet. Now you start to sand as normal, black sh*t will go all over the lip but dont worry it comes off as it dries. Use a new peice if you wish!
1200 is your final grit, well it was mine, I think you can go higher.. This should only be done when you have ZERO marks on your rim and want to finish it off. Wet and dry method should be used here too
6. This will bring out even more shine to the lip. Grab your steel wool (the soft stuff) and go around the entire lip for several minutes, you'll start to see changes almost immediately.
7. Grab a clean rag or microfibre cloth and go around the lip after the steel wool, this will reveal your smooth finish by removing all grime and dirt left on the lip! make sure you rub this hard to create friction, warming up the lip and the fabric.
http://i42.tinypic.com/dpitz9.jpg
Mine without maguires polish
8. If you want a 'mirror' finish, grab some maguires polish and dab some onto a new microfibre buffing cloth, rub it in and repeat step 7, but with the polish. It might look a bit flat at first but after it heaps up and starts to come out you'll see that finish you wanted!
PREPPING FOR PAINT - BE SURE TO DO THIS PRIOR TO LIP REFURB!
PUT ON YOUR GLASSES HERE
Steps:
1. Give the surface of the wheel a light sand with 80 or 120 grit paper to loosen the paint a bit and remove any clearcoat or grime on the wheel.
2. Connect your LARGE coarse steel wire drill bit to your drill (or use angle grinder with paint removal peice) and ease into removing the paint until you see bare metal on the rim, very distinguished as it has a grainy texture and is typical alloy colour. Once you have achieved that alloy finish all round the surface is ready.
http://i40.tinypic.com/124yivq.jpg
3. Connect your SMALLER coarse steel wire bit to get into this tricky spots and holes, these aren't too important, considering it is a DIY, it won't be 100% perfect anyway.
4. After you're rim surface is showing practically all bare metal or majority bare metal, give it a quick wipe down and get out the degreaser, give a thorough spray on the surface of all wheels gettin in every nook and cranny, then leave it to soak for 3-5 minutes. I used a high pressure hose (Karcher, but there is gurney etc.) to remove it so I could get that extra force behind it.
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5. Polish lips through steps 1-8 above and tape up with 3M blue scotch painters tape (better quality than traditional painter tape) if you wish to paint the rim
When taping, be sure to cover the entire dish, making sure the edge of the tape is flush with the bottom of the dish. You're not going to be able to stick all the tape down to the lip if it's curved like mine or greater than 1" dish. If this is this case, tear multiple straight lines down the paper to approx half way down the tape like this:
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after you have made the tears and stuck the tape to the lip, you're going to want to cover those cracks in the tape, so tear off small peices and cover them, otherwise you might end up with little lightning bolt like patterns of paint! Here are all of mine ready for paint (almost)
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7186/img0402lpn.jpg
6. You're going to want to cover the rest of the rim, to do this grab some newspaper or any sort of scrap paper and tape it to any part of the rim you haven't covered, I'll post pics of this when i'm up to it!
PRIMER AND PAINTING
7.Applying Primer - This should be the first coat your going to apply to your wheels, I used 2 sorts of primer, a heavy duty primer for the first coat (fills out any imperfections) and a simple etch primer for the 2nd, as long as they are the same brand they should be fine to use together.
Your going to want to set your wheels up in a place free from dust and is well covered and protected from anything falling or touching the wheels whilst they dry, I used my garage (which is open one side, nothing a drop sheet can't fix) and put a dropsheet down on the floor also.
Here's what I had to work with.
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/4512/img0414pr.jpg
When applying primer, be sure to shake the can for about 1-2 minutes prior to paint. If it has been a cold day or where you store the cans is relatively cold, it would be a good idea to fill a bowl with hot water and put the spray can in there for several minutes - this will separate the paint particles inside due to heat and create a more consistent flow without blockage and clumps.
When starting to spray, use short bursts to the edges furthest away from you, making your way into the middle, be generous with the primer and be sure to buy 2 because I only bought 1 and had to make a quick trip to wattyl inbetween coats!
Once you're happy with your first coat, making sure everything is covered and the paint is consistent, leave the primer to touch dry for 20-30mins, there are other methods to doing this, but I find this the most effective.
After 30 minutes go back to the wheels, and apply your second coat. The reason for using a 30 minute time frame is that the paint isn't entirely hard-dried yet, and when applying the 2nd coat it creates a more consistent flow of paint around the entire rim, chemically fusing into one thick, smooth layer as apposed of 2 layers, where as any imperfections in the first layer would then be shown in the 2nd.
Leave this to dry for 2-4 hours depending on the 'hard dry' time on the primer.
8. Paint - Make sure the primer is COMPLETELY DRY, we don't want the paint fusing with the primer in any way, so make sure it's not sticky and is safe to touch and press down on - usually after 2-4 hours. This is where all your hard work pays off! Do the same prep for the paint can as the primer (hot water and shaking) although I would do it for a little bit longer considering the paint is more dense and heavy duty and will require more shaking and longer heat period to loosen it up completely.
Using the same method as the primer, be sure to be consistent in your spraying even moreso than before, and make sure that every single part of the rim is covered! Repeat to all rims until satisfied.
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I used the same 2nd coat method as with the primer, however i waited an extra 15 mins due to the heavier epoxy enamel. This is your final coat, so when applying your 2nd coat, be sure you don't miss anything and that you're completely happy with your result!
After all the wheels are done, give yourself a pat on the back and once again make sure the wheels are free from any dust or anything falling on them.
This is the hardest part, waiting. Make sure you wait atleast 10-16 hours depending on your paint before you do so much as touch or move the wheel! 10-16 hours is the recommended hard drying time for epoxy enamel, so be sure to be careful within that time frame.
9. Removing the tape - This should be done about 2 hours after your top coat of paint has been applied as it's still a fair bit soft but has a layer ontop of crisp paint. Be sure to be EXTREMELY careful here!
You want to peel the tape of nice and slow, don't rush it because you're excited to see your hard work, because you will peel off paint also. This should take 2-5 minutes each rim because you will be so careful.
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Congratulations, all you have to do now is wait until they are hard-dried and take them to your closest tyre shop and get them mounted!
10. Give the lip a repolish and bask in your greatness
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inb4 DIY lower car
expenses so far:
Rims = $100
Sandpaper= $6
Small coarse steel drill bit = $4.50
Wattyl Epoxy Enamel Paint = $9.50
Wattyl Grey Enamel Primer(2) = $16
3M Painters blue scotch tape(2 pack) = $9
Fitment + 1 new tyre = $120
Maguires polish = $NA (already had some, will cost you anywhere from $20-40)
My result has ultimately cost me $159, minus the expense of the wheels!
