Diamond cut alloy wheel refurbish..

[StoreyR]

Alloys look amazing in their first few years.

 

I've actually spent 3 full days refurbishing these with mainly sandpaper, some power tools. The amount of labor and time to put into making each section look good, you really need to be committed. And once you've started, you've then set yourself up to have to finish it.

 

This is a front wheel alloy before..

 

 

This is actually a different rear wheel alloy after completing the bulk of sanding.. 

 

 

 

Anybody who has the same or similar problems and wondering why? I realized its very likely the heat from the brake discs, the front discs are fairly bigger on the VRS models anyway.. not entirely sure about other models. Both front alloys were in a lot worse condition than the rear.

Not only this I've seen water does get underneath the film and start to eat away. So regardless. Your alloys are screwed! I don't want to say that Skoda can't paint their alloys properly, I've read it happens to a lot of these type of wheels.

 

I'm going to repaint them Racing silver with VHT brand, very high temperature alloy wheel paints, and VHT gloss clear coat. Supposed with withstand approx 120 degrees centigrade. Using a strong primer to start. Will see what happens..

 

 

 

All pretty much complete ready to respray.. Front wheels on the left are clearly worse.

 

 

 

[Ootohere]

It is an Etch Primer you need first and very lightly applied. 

Then the primer lightly applied, more is not better.  More prep is more important than loads of coats. 

[StoreyR]

If anyone has done this before!? Please comment your experience of repainting these and what you used! And if you wish the effort of sanding them 😂😆

[StoreyR]

2 minutes ago, toot said:

It is an Etch Primer you need first and very lightly applied. 

Then the primer lightly applied, more is not better.  More prep is more important than loads of coats. 

Yes i have Etch Primer! Going for 2 tins of primer, 4 tins of paint, and 2 tins of gloss

[Ootohere]

Have you watched plenty of videos and read up on what you are doing.

Light coats. Not even half of what you have is needed for 4 wheels. 

[StoreyR]

1 hour ago, toot said:

Have you watched plenty of videos and read up on what you are doing.

Light coats. Not even half of what you have is needed for 4 wheels. 

I'm no expert mate. I just bought enough. There's some good and bad videos on doing it right.

 

[Ootohere]

I am not an expert, but was a Car Sprayer and did wheel refurbishing / spraying so did many using professional equipment and also rattle cans.. 

So spend time on the prep, sanding, filling, sanding and do not just try to cover damage with more and more coats. 

The wheels are not stripped back to bare metal / alloy so you need the first etch primer just enough to get a key, and then a light covering, same with the colour coating and then you want the lacquer. 

Mask the bolt seatings and the centre bore properly. 

[StoreyR]

3 hours ago, toot said:

I am not an expert, but was a Car Sprayer and did wheel refurbishing / spraying so did many using professional equipment and also rattle cans.. 

So spend time on the prep, sanding, filling, sanding and do not just try to cover damage with more and more coats. 

The wheels are not stripped back to bare metal / alloy so you need the first etch primer just enough to get a key, and then a light covering, same with the colour coating and then you want the lacquer. 

Mask the bolt seatings and the centre bore properly. 

Ah mate, why didn't you say so.. I was literally at this for 3 days trying to smooth out as much as possible. 

I have ground it with sandpaper on bare metal in some sections because the paint was so damaged.

The Etch Primer I bought is 'E-Tech Technik Self Etch bare metal alloy Primer (grey)'. 

Got VHT rally silver paint and VHT clear coat gloss. 

 

I've seen one American guy in a video recommend a 2k Primer for the bonding. He used colour tin per alloy and 2 tins of gloss. Maybe its the American ego - going for bigger is better? 

I can see your point that prep is more important. And fair play if you done this for a job. It is pure graft..

 

One question I've got for you.. The highest grade paper I've gone round these is only so far 240! As it wasn't even scratching the surface. And was having to use between 80 and 180.

Is it worth going round again before Primer with a 600 or just smooth with a 600 after the Primer? 

 

[StoreyR]

4 hours ago, toot said:

I am not an expert, but was a Car Sprayer and did wheel refurbishing / spraying so did many using professional equipment and also rattle cans.. 

So spend time on the prep, sanding, filling, sanding and do not just try to cover damage with more and more coats. 

The wheels are not stripped back to bare metal / alloy so you need the first etch primer just enough to get a key, and then a light covering, same with the colour coating and then you want the lacquer. 

Mask the bolt seatings and the centre bore properly. 

 

3 days spent sanding alloys.. 

 

Whereas In one morning, I managed to get the bumper off, clean, place p38 filler over a deep cut and smooth off, and mask up ready to respray. Sanded down with 600 already that same night.