Bought some steel wheels for my brothers mk3 polo run around to smarten it up a bit. Thought I'd give a quick rundown of my 3 can wheel face refurb.

You will need:

- a set of steel wheels (tyres on or off)

- a screwdriver

- wire brush drill bit and drill

- wet and dry of varying grades

- a few old magazines or similar

- some microfibre cloths

- 1 can of Upol power can etch primer £8 from motosave

- 1 can of Simoniz five wheel silver paint (acrylic) £5 online

- 1 can of Simoniz clear lacquer (acrylic) £5 online

The aim was to get the best finish with minimal money and messing about required.

First off I bought some steel wheels with tyres and centres for under £50 :-D

As you can see they are a little tired and had rusty areas around the rim and stains and the ugly balance weights on the front of the wheels (the tyres are big but will do for now as car is stock ride height).

Remove the balance weights (if there is any) from the wheel rim by simply prising them off with a screwdriver using the trye as leverage.

Clean and degrease all the wheels thoroughly. For this I used hot water and washing up liquid as it is actually pretty good at degreasing and lives on the sink side :-) Make sure you get all crap off them.

Have a good look at the wheels and see what is needed in terms of repair. Mine weren't in too bad shape really rust around most of the rims and little spots over the wheels but nothing deep or corroded.

Using the wire drill bit and drill I removed all the rust and flakey paint from around the rim and any other large rust bits. I then used 400 grit wet and dry (wet) and sanded any othe rust spots away to bare metal, then 600 grit and also used this to key the surface of the wheels. I didn't see the need to remove all the old paint etc as it wasn't too bad and would have taken ages and been messy.

It would be at this stage that you would use metal filler for curb marks or to fill any deep corrosion. Luckily my wheels weren't in that state.

Now clean the wheels again ready for primer. Deflate the tyres and using torn up and folded magzine pages slotted in between the rim and the tyre. This works really well and meant that I didn't have to use masking tape once! Use any old tape (I used parcel tape as it was lying about) to cover the valves. Do this clean and neat so that it doesn't stop paint getting in that area properly. After this make sure the wheel surface is clean of any dust etc.

Using the UPOL etch primer I gave the wheels 2 good coats with appropraite drying time in bewteen. It went on really well, the can sprayed well and held good pressure. Its nice and thick too and the one can gives more than enough for four wheels. Leave to set indoors for 24 hours.

The top wheel in the pic is etch primered and the others you can see keyed up and rust ground away.

** As pointed out by heartagram (later in this thread) it could be a good idea to scotch the primer at this stage, then clean again before laying down the paint just for best possible adhesion of the paint to the primer. In this situation i didn't. The Primer was rough once completely dry and some of the areas were sanded back a touch so i just went ahead and painted without. I will let you know if not scotching the wheels has any detremental effects over the next couple of months.**

Once the primer has been on a good 24 hours you can apply the paint. I used Simoniz 5 wheel acrylic paint after reading some good things about it online, it being a nice standard silver colour and also it has enough in it to paint 5 wheels apparently.

Make sure the wheels are clean and dust free. I didn't need to key the primer as it had a nice rough surface. Spray the paint in light coats. Each wheel got about three coats and there is still some left in the can for touching up if necessary. I cannot rate this paint for this job highly enough. I went on so easy and evenly, the can worked well and didn't blob or splutter. I always keep cans I'm painting with in a bowl of hot water anyway so the paint is at a reasonable spraying temp. Spray at differnt angles and make sure you get every bit covered.

You could use whatever colour you like but just make sure that the paint, primer and lacquer are compatible otherwise they may react with each other ruining the finish.

Wheels all painted (obviously I'm not painting from that distance).

Leave to dry for another 24 hours.

It's time to clean the wheels again and add the clearcoat. I used Simoniz clear lacquer (acrylic) as i knew it would be fine to use the with the paint I chose to use.

If the surface is very smooth key the paint with 600-800 grit wet paper before clearcoat. I didn't to be honest but the surface was fine for the clearcoat without the need to sand it any. The clearcoat goes on exactly as the paint did. 3 coats for each wheel with around 20 mins in between each coat. As with the paint the lacquer was great and there was no orange peel or anything bad about it. It went on great.

Shiny lacquered wheels compared to the dull silver before.

Once the lacquer is dry, remove the tyre masking and tape from the valves and stand back and admire your work. The wheels should sit for around 48 hours to fully harden before going on the car.

To say it cost roughly £20 in materials, I painted the wheels in the yard and it was easy to do I am very pleased with the results. There is some tiny bits in the paint but when painting outside of a booth it is never going to be perfect.

Done and done.

Few points to add:

- for your own well being spray in a well ventilated area and wear a mask of some description. I didn't as I was spraying outside but if I did it again I would be wearing a mask (even a cheapo one).

- try paint in a clean, dry environment to stop dust and water etc ruining your work.

- take your time and the finished product will turn out better. The smoother your prep the better the finish.

Give your wheels some love :-)

Edited 31 August, 201115 yr by demolover

Oh and sorry for the small amount and quality of the phone pics.

see kids get out there and do it, it's not hard and no need for acceptence from others before you do it!!!!

wheels look spot on pal, rattle can steels FTW!

agreed!

nice job dude hows the car treating him? blagged him to lower it yet? :p

They look awesome dude!

Cheers gents :-D I'm happy with how they came out and they have plenty of paint layers on them. The only investment being £20 and a couple hours of graft each day over the weekend.

The same could be used on alloy wheels. I would just use a softer wire brush drill bit and more wet and dry paper due to alloy not being as hardy. Also masking an alloy wheel with a tyre on isn't as easy as the way an alloy wheel rim sits more flush with the tyre.

nice job dude hows the car treating him? blagged him to lower it yet? :p

Car hasn't treated him at all yet It's being treated first. Two new rear genuine wheel bearings, brake lines front to back, brake flexi hoses, new rear exhaust box, new pressed legal plates and then it has a nice 12 months ticket on it. Then its timing belt and pump, full service and a new clutch cable and then it'll be back on the streets. I'm then going to let him drive it for a bit and get used to the car before any suspension work gets done.

All in good time.

Fair play on getting so much out of just 3 cans.

If i were attempting this, i wouldnt have even started having just 1 can of each lol.

How many coats of clearcoat did you do?

Got about 3 layers. Granted you could use more paint if you wanted. It's more of a quick spruce, if I was going to bother with a can plus per wheel I'd have had them powder coated and saved my time.

There is plenty enough on them and I will update as how they hold up when in use. There is much more on them than what I sanded back. I'm happy it will last long enough to make the pain of that £20 investment subside in my mind.

:-)

Edited 23 August, 201115 yr by demolover

Nice Job :)

Should really scotch between the priming and painting stage. Just to make sure the paint sticks properly. Don't want it flaking off when you wash them. Only time you wouldn't is if you were going for some wet on wet action. But thats not really advisable.

Good job there...look so much better now..well done

Moved to FAQ & pinned :)

They look better than new.

what car were these wheels off i intreseted in buying some stock steels

Look like golf mk2 gti/driver ones.

think they're off a late caddy

Late caddy steels is correct. I'll get the part number for reference. Scotching between those stages probably would be for the best. I'll update this in a few months to show how they are shaping up.

hmm my judgement was correct, thanks mate i like them think i might get some as they look more standard than my e30 bbs and better i'd say better, but mainly changing due to insurance

We are now around 6 months from when i originally painted these wheels.....

My brother seldom washes his car and they have seen a lot of daily drive and salty, winter road abuse but they are holding up great. No paint has chipped off or lifted and the only marks on them are the minor marks i got on them when spraying (small run and the odd finger mark).

So seems to be doing great for the money i spent on them.

I will get some pics up when i get chance.

:-)

Good work fella. Don't forget to budget for rebalancing if your keeping the same tyres on. If you're changing them obviously it doesn't matter.

Good work fella. Don't forget to budget for rebalancing if your keeping the same tyres on. If you're changing them obviously it doesn't matter.

Good point they were rebalanced with the weights on the inside when i had them reinflated at the garage that was doing the MOT on the car at that time. They didn't charge me much. Could always leave the wieghts on and paint them too if you are being really pikey. Best to whip them off though.