24 replies to this topic

[lxndr]

A while back I picked up a set of "old school" Kosei K1's that were on a car that was imported in pieces from Japan. I scored them cheap because of one major flaw...

They were painted pink!




I promptly went to work stripping the pink off with the small hope of keeping the original finish which happened to be an odd grey/green color, almost like an Army green.

This didn't work...

I found that the reason they were repainted was to hide the damage and curb rash in the original finish.

Here's what they looked like after stripping them down with Jasco paint and epoxy stripper, and a wire brush attached to my cordless drill.

In this picture you can see how I decided to repair the curb rash by carefully smearing a glob of JB-Weld around the rim (left side of wheel).

After the JB-Weld dried for a day, I painted some primer around the rim in preperation for the next step...










The ghetto lathe!

Edited by lxndr, 15 September 2006 - 11:01 PM.

[RARECRX]

powdercoat them.. Its pretty cheap!!!...

[badpenny]

A BMW site I was on had a really good method of correcting gouges and scratches in alloys, I will see if I can find it.

[lxndr]

The easiest way to remove the JB-Weld and reshape the rim was to use a file on the wheel as it's spinning on the "ghetto lathe". The primer was simply a guide so I could see when I was down to bare aluminum. I found that there were some large globs of JB-Weld that caused the file to bounce around on the wheel so I used my dremel to help smooth out the lumps.

Dremeling...


Filing...


Sanding...


More sanding...


When the wheel was on the car I also cleaned up the insides with 220 and 320 grit sand paper. I would not have done this if I had decided to polish the wheels.

The "ghetto lathe" wasn't as scary as it looks, I had the car in 3rd gear and just let the idle spin the wheels. I found that 1st gear was too slow and 5th gear was too fast. Notice my safety glasses, gloves and safe posture!

Actually, I thought about using gloves but decided it was safer to use my bare hands. This way there was nothing that could snag and pull my hand into the wheel!

Edited by lxndr, 15 September 2006 - 09:51 PM.

[C8V6C]

That looks dangerous! This would be a nice DIY though, and it looks like you are doing a good job so far

[projEKtjokes]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I see you also have Don King in a head lock

[lxndr]

AAAaahhh...

Look at that beautiful clean edge.


In this pic you can see where the JB-Weld filled in the curb rash and was smoothed out to be flush with the aluminum.

All done, rinsed and drying...


After they were completely dry, I masked them off and hung them by wires using a bolt and a couple of nuts through the valve stem hole as a hook.



Once they were hanging I degreased them, wiped them down with a tack cloth and started spraying several thin coats of etching primer on them.

Edited by lxndr, 16 September 2006 - 01:25 AM.

[lxndr]

After much trial and error, debates with my wife and friends, and 6 different colors of paint, it was decided that Rustoleum "antique brass" was the nicest color for these wheels.

Being that it's Rustoleum paint, I was concerned with how it would hold up to the abuse of being on a wheel so I picked up some Duplicolor "clear wheel coating" to finish them off with.



After lightly sanding the primer, here's the first thin color coat...


I wanted alot of paint build up on these wheels since they are made of cast aluminum and are very rough in texture. The first 2 color coats were wet sanded smooth with 400 grit, then the wheels were rinsed, degreased and hung back up for a third coat.

3rd coat

Edited by lxndr, 16 September 2006 - 12:15 AM.

[badpenny]

I would have repainted them Pink. Pink is the new Bronze.

[lxndr]

I found that I was having a problem with overspray (which you can see in post above) so I decided to wet sand them with 400 grit and spray them one more time. However this time I used an old bucket and layed them face down to spray the insides. I then hung them up to dry which is what the next pic shows.

Nice and even!


After the insides were dry, I flipped them over and sprayed the face. The next pic shows them wet sanded, sitting on the bucket and ready for the final color coat. I elevated the wheel up from the bucket using a few rattle can caps.



I used the same technique for the clear coat but I won't bother to post pics because you can't see the clear coat.

Edited by lxndr, 16 September 2006 - 12:06 AM.

[lxndr]

Now at this point, I waited about a week and a half while the wheels were sitting in the sun on my back deck. This was to give the paint time to cure so the tire monkey can't gouge them when the tires are mounted. But seeing as how I painted these wheels over a month ago, you get the instant gratification of seeing them finished now.


But first...

Is there anything better than the smell of new tires?












Here they are!

Mounted and balanced



BTW, this picture shows the actual color suprisingly well (according to my monitor).

Edited by lxndr, 15 September 2006 - 10:54 PM.

[lxndr]

And here they are on the car with black aluminum valve stems and black Mugen lug nuts...










Next project, rebuilding the brakes!

[badpenny]

*drool*

[Sgt. Pepper]

Awesome job on the wheels! Although the pink was HAWT! See, you CAN polish a turd! Can't wait for the brake rebuild since I'm doin' the same.

Edited by gen1CRX, 15 September 2006 - 09:44 PM.

[C8V6C]

very nice man....you couldnt have done a better job....besides giving them to me of course