Weekend wheel redo
Thread Starter
|
Starting Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 178
Weekend wheel redo
I picked up a set of 15x7 "lace" wheels from a 91 Blazer on Craigslist for $50 to use as my winter wheels to put snow tires on. They looked better in the pics on CL but I bought them anyways since they weren't curbed or bent and I hadn't found any other cheap wheels. I bought some stripper, first can I used was Marhyde aircraft paint stripper from Advance Auto. I had bought a can of ZipStrip before but wasn't sure it was what I needed. I burned through the first can of aircraft stripper and it got most of the paint/clear off but still had some spots left. I went over them with the ZipStrip and it pretty well got the rest of the paint off. Once they were cleaned up I began to scuff them up and try to get off the corrosion and little bits of paint left stuck on. Of course I had to pick the most intricate 1st gen style wheel to redo! These things sucked getting in all the little divots and crevices to get all the paint off! I used 220 sand paper, steel wool and a red Scotchbrite scuff pad on the lips and just the Scotchbrite pad on the centers. Once I had them all sanded and clean, I wiped them down with wax and grease remover. I masked the lips off and cheated and just made a smooth line around the lip instead of following the factory "gear" style edges. I used Dupli-Color wheel paint in graphite and topped with their wheel clear. I had some silver caliper paint left over from when I did the calipers on my Camaro SS, so I used that on a brush to paint the cast in bolts on the wheel edges. Once that was dry I sprayed the clear. I used one can of color and one can of clear to do all 4 wheels. I was surprised it went that far as I had bought 2 of each thinking I'd run out with that much. They turned out really well for my first go at refinishing aluminum wheels and first go with spray cans. I had painted some steelies for my wife's Jeep Wrangler but just scuffed those and sprayed with automotive paint/clear with a real paint gun at my dad's. Here's the pics:
Thread Starter
|
Starting Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 178
I've got a set of chrome Bowtie hex center caps coming that I hope will fit. I couldn't find any factory style caps for this wheel. I need to get some chrome lugs as well. Hopefully will be ordering snow tires for it when I get paid on Friday.
Thread Starter
|
Starting Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 178
I'm pissed, got the center caps I ordered today. They're BARELY 3" across and the tabs that hold them on are an inch smaller so they're a no go for these wheels. That was a waste of $20. I ordered a set of 94-05 GMC hex caps that hopefully will work.
