Couple of weeks ago I scratched up a front nearside alloy - not deep but bad looking, several scratches right through the paint on one "spoke". Decided to have a go myself and it proved satisfyingly easy (have done it before but not for a few years)

In the couple of days before removing the wheel I steadily filled the cleaned scratches with just VW clear lacquer brush-on touch up - several coats.

Waited for a nice sunny day (we get them occasionally!) then took wheel off, laid it flat on a Workhorse, lightly sanded the blobbed touch-up area with fine wet and dry, used wet, till thoroughly smooth. Then carefully cleaned and dried of whole wheel.

Masked tyre off with card and masking tape, for about one spoke each side of the damaged one. Lightly sprayed damaged area only with Halfords VW Diamond Silver, several coats with half an hour between each. Then exactly the same with Halfords clear lacquer spray. Let the whole lot dry for an hour then carefully refitted wheel - car was not to be used that day.

All the spraying was "tapered" off in the few inches around the damaged area.

Whole lot took just one afternoon and I have to say I just cannot see where the damage was. The clear top coat looks exactly as per the original paint and blends in without and visible difference. As I had the paints anyway, it saved me about £50 to £70 I guess.

Edited 29 November, 201114 yr by ednmra

Sounds like a good job. Have you got any before, during and after shots?

Pics would be good. I am currently refurbing a set of r32 wheels, not got as far as spraying yet, just removed the curb marks.

Interested to know any tips for home refurb as my zeniths could do with being spruced up

No pics I'm afraid - if I took one now it would just look like a wheel!

The trick is (I think) to be thorough. So, for example, don't go on to painting until you are happy the repaired area is really smooth - never mind what it looks like at that point. If you have deep damage (i.e into the alloy, not just the paint) use a little filler, rather than brush-on paint, to level the surface.

Be thorough in the wheel cleaning so that no dirt gets locked in by the spraying.

Take time to do good masking. I cut thin card sheet to the rim shape and taped it down to the tyre.

As said before, allow plenty of time and spray in several very light coats of the silver (bear in mind the VW Diamond Silver applies to my original Skoda wheels but might not be an exact match for other makes).

The clear lacquer finish really blends it in to the rest of the wheel. If the wheel is laid horizontal on a bench or Workmate, the final clear coat can be a bit heavier without running - I use it a lot on my model painting and it tends to be very user friendly.

Edited 30 November, 201114 yr by ednmra

No pics I'm afraid - if I took one now it would just look like a wheel!

The trick is (I think) to be thorough. So, for example, don't go on to painting until you are happy the repaired area is really smooth - never mind what it looks like at that point. If you have deep damage (i.e into the alloy, not just the paint) use a little filler, rather than brush-on paint, to level the surface.

Be thorough in the wheel cleaning so that no dirt gets locked in by the spraying.

Take time to do good masking. I cut thin card sheet to the rim shape and taped it down to the tyre.

As said before, allow plenty of time and spray in several very light coats of the silver (bear in mind the VW Diamond Silver applies to my original Skoda wheels but might not be an exact match for other makes).

The clear lacquer finish really blends it in to the rest of the wheel. If the wheel is laid horizontal on a bench or Workmate, the final clear coat can be a bit heavier without running - I use it a lot on my model painting and it tends to be very user friendly.

Am I right in thinking VW Diamond Silver be the right paint for my 18" zeniths

i have used this stuff before for undetectable results on the vRS

My link

the filler does the job well but i did however find the paint to not be a good match.

far better than paying chips away £50 to do it for you though

Am I right in thinking VW Diamond Silver be the right paint for my 18" zeniths

No idea I'm afraid - but I would expect all VAG cars alloys to be the same colour silver. All I can say is that the Diamond Silver I used on mine is undetectable - and I'm pretty fussy!!

I used Wurth German Alloy Silver Wheel Paint to do a couple of my old VRS wheels

I used Wurth German Alloy Silver Wheel Paint to do a couple of my old VRS wheels

I think it depends if your doing the whole wheel or just trying to blend in a relatively small area. In the past I have been happy to spray the whole of a wheel (with the same VW shade paint.) But that does involve even more thorough preparation, more masking etc.

On this present job I only sprayed about 2/3rds of one spoke, from the very edge next to the tyre, down towards the centre. It also included maybe an inch or so of outer rim to the left and right of the spoke. Then the clear lacquer covered a little more than the new silver paint, say an inch or two out over the original surface.

That is why I was so impressed that you just cannot see the difference between the new paint and the old. (The wheel is a bit over 3 years old now as well.)