My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

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Arya2.0S
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My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Arya2.0S »

The old 4 spoke alloys on my 2.0 S have definitely seen better days, as have the tyres which are nearing 10 years old, they where on the car when i bought it over 3 years ago, and have covered many miles since including a couple of trips to Southampton and back and i live in Essex, so a fair old trot.

I have bought a new fresh set of Falken tyres, but i dont want to put nice new boots on a tired set of worn out alloys where the paint is flaking off!
But since im a tight bastard (aka poor, theres a difference :P) i decided to have a go at refurbishing them myself.

Kinda awkward as my Capri is the only car i own and its my life line, so a bit tough to refurb' wheels that need to stay on a car thats constantly in use. Luckily I had two spare 4 spoke alloys laying around that weren't doing anything, so plan is to refurb' these, put fresh rubber on them, take two off the car and put these on in their place and refurb' the ones i take off and then fit the new tyres to those once they're done.

Awkward, but dooable, all on zero budget since i just blew my last haypnee on new rubber and a door window runner! lol

I'm using left over primer, sand paper and lacquer from my mild resto/repairs from when my car was in an accident a few months back, and some old sand my dad had sitting about his workshop to blast them with.

The silver isnt "Stratos" silver like they are supposed to be, but it is a Ford "Moondust" silver so close enough. Again, using old left over paint i found sitting around my dad's workshop, which incidentally he's being kicked out of in a week or so, so i need to get these done in a rush as well, all while i get my old engine swapped out for a refurbished one but thats for a different thread....man, no wonder im brassic! (to be fair, i got that engine for free)

Anyway, let me know what you think.

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andyd
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by andyd »

Looks great :applaud: And nice without the black inserts.

You cant beat refurbed wheels with new tyres :D
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Arya2.0S »

andyd wrote:Looks great :applaud: And nice without the black inserts.

You cant beat refurbed wheels with new tyres :D
I cant wait to see what they look like with he tyres on them!

I might still do the black inserts as thats just the style i like most, but they will have to wait until another time as im really up against the clock and they will take ages to mask up and i just dont have the time right now. No big deal, that can be done while they're on the car anyhow, either with an airbrush or a rattle can.

Then again i might warm up to this style once they're on the car and forget about it lol.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Paul G »

Spot on, absolutely perfect, leave them exactly like that without painting any black bits in. They look excellent and are correct for the car.

Paul.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by D366Y »

andyd wrote:Looks great :applaud: And nice without the black inserts.

You cant beat refurbed wheels with new tyres :D
Looks the nuts! Definitely need to get me a sand blaster, I've got two full sets that need doing and have been doing it all by hand so far! :lol:

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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by andyd »

D366Y wrote:
andyd wrote:Looks great :applaud: And nice without the black inserts.

You cant beat refurbed wheels with new tyres :D
Looks the nuts! Definitely need to get me a sand blaster, I've got two full sets that need doing and have been doing it all by hand so far! :lol:

Danny
I did a set by hand and drill attatchments....Got there in the end, but why struggle when you can blast them :D
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by D366Y »

andyd wrote:
D366Y wrote:
andyd wrote:Looks great :applaud: And nice without the black inserts.

You cant beat refurbed wheels with new tyres :D
Looks the nuts! Definitely need to get me a sand blaster, I've got two full sets that need doing and have been doing it all by hand so far! :lol:

Danny
I did a set by hand and drill attatchments....Got there in the end, but why struggle when you can blast them :D
I'm basically coming to the same realisation :lol: taken me around 4months so far to get one wheel more or less half done simply because I can't get motivated to sit out in the cold with sandpaper and a drill for hours on end haha,

Compressor + sand blasting kit here I come!!

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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by andyd »

No more blisters either Danny :lol:
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by D366Y »

andyd wrote:No more blisters either Danny :lol:
It will be 'bliss'!! :lol:
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Hi,
The wheels look great, that's a job well done.

Andrew.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Arya2.0S »

Thanks for the kind responses everyone.

The sand blaster is handy, but messy AF. I dont have a box you see, so its messy and wasteful too. I put on some old painting overalls and sealed myself up in them so i didnt get sand all over me.
So unless you have a blasting box, or a nice big open yard without any neighbours nearby where mess isnt and issue i dont recommend it.
If you have the cash take them to get acid dipped somewhere and save yourself a TON of work and effort and crucially (in my case at least) time, it'll work out cheaper in the long run.
I'm only doing it this way cos im skint, have the resources at hand to use, and can only do one wheel at a time now as two are still on the car and i need to still use the car daily! (will be taking one off the car at a time now and using the spare and refurbing the wheel while the old tyre is still on the rim)
If the situation were different however where i didnt have a yard to work in, or old left over materials to use basically for free it wouldn't be at all cost effective and would be cheaper to get them acid dipped in the long run i reckon.
Depends on you and your situation really.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Not_Anumber »

Im in the middle of stripping and prepping 5 tired looking pepperpot at present by hand so i can appreciate the amount of hard work you must have put in to get a finish that good.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Bertie »

That's a really good job you've done there looks great..... Wheels make a real difference done well :applaud:
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Arya2.0S »

Not_Anumber wrote:Im in the middle of stripping and prepping 5 tired looking pepperpot at present by hand so i can appreciate the amount of hard work you must have put in to get a finish that good.
I have some Pepper-pots that I started stripping by hand also because I originally was going to refurbish them and put them on the car instead but changed my mind, so i know what a pain they are because of all the holes, so i feel you.
Though ive found these 4-spokes are even more time consuming because you cant get the wire wheel in all the nooks and crannies between the "spokes" unlike the pepper-pots where the wire wheel likes to fit in all 12 holes easily, then its just a case of using a DA on the face and rim, cant really do that with 4 spokes, so you have to do more by hand which takes even more time, its a bloody nightmare! :doh:
Though the inside of the wheel is a different story on the pepper-pots as they're full of little nooks and crannies arent they so i can imagine thats even more time consuming?
The insides of these 4-spokes are flat and a pile of piss to clean up compared to the outside.
Bertie wrote:That's a really good job you've done there looks great..... Wheels make a real difference done well :applaud:
Thanks, they're not perfect but good enough for a zero-budget rush job. I plan on getting rid of these boring no-muscle 4-spokes one day for either some Minilights or some 7.5" x 13" 4-spokes or some 2.8I 7 spokes one day anyway.
I like something with bit more meat on the tyre or a bigger offset you see, these just dont look aggressive enough for my tastes.
Again, they'll do for now. :)
Plus they'll be worth more when i come to sell them if they look decent lol.
Got some fresh Falken tyres to put on them once they're all done...speaking of which:

Here's what this wheel looked like before i started:

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Proof I'm painting these particular ones with the tyres still attached (just in case you didn't believe me :P)

Image

Inside:

Image

Didnt take any pictures of it lacquered as i did that last and forgot to take more pictures before i left the workshop tonight :doh:

Gonna put this one back on the car tomorrow and take the other side off and put the spare on so i can get cracking on getting it done too.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Caprifan Rob »

Paul G wrote:Spot on, absolutely perfect, leave them exactly like that without painting any black bits in. They look excellent and are correct for the car.

Paul.
Have to agree, an excellent job on a great looking wheel, :applaud: love the RS 4 spokes.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by capri38 »

I'm just on with doing my 7" rs 4 spokes, was gonna do the black inserts but after seeing yours I'm gonna do em all silver, looks well smart, on a different note, how do I post pics on here? I'm on with a full rebuild and would like to share pics and progress with you guys,
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Arya2.0S »

capri38 wrote:I'm just on with doing my 7" rs 4 spokes, was gonna do the black inserts but after seeing yours I'm gonna do em all silver, looks well smart, on a different note, how do I post pics on here? I'm on with a full rebuild and would like to share pics and progress with you guys,
I'm a big fan of the black inserts on these wheels, but im coming around to the all silver look.
Main reason i haven't done them that way is mostly due to time as masking up the spokes will take ages and i simply dont have any time left since my dad's being kicked out of his workshop and thats the only place i have that i can do anything like this so im rushing them as it is.
I might do the black inserts at a later date with some masking tape and a rattle can as the wheels dont technically have to come off the car for that and if theres one thing im good at (which isnt a lot lol) its masking up, and doing small little details like that is a bit of a speciality as i come from a hobbyist/airbrushing background.

Also, here's a guide on how to post pictures:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=33174

Look forward to seeing your pics!
Freelanderfan wrote: Have to agree, an excellent job on a great looking wheel, :applaud: love the RS 4 spokes.
Thanks.
I do like like them but i just wish they had a bigger offset, i love the deep dish look makes any car look so much more stylish and aggressive, thats why i'd LOVE a set of these one day:
Image
One can dream.

Here's what the wheel i forgot to take pictures of after i lacquered it looks like all finished and back on the car:

Image

I'm pretty happy with the result. Again they're not perfect and in person you can definitely see some imperfections but they're a million times better than they used to look, at least they will once all four are on the car with new fresh tyres (finally).

Started on the other side today, here's what it looked like before, and after i stripped it down with the wire wheel and put it in primer (stripping alone took at least 3 hours):

Image

Image

This one had a small chunk missing from the rim on the outer side, nothing major or structural, must have been old kerb damage so i took care of that. It'll be sprayed and lacquered tomorrow so i'm ahead of schedule for once in my life! :lmao: Might even have time to do the spare....should I bother?
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by D366Y »

Arya2.0S wrote:
This one had a small chunk missing from the rim on the outer side, nothing major or structural, must have been old kerb damage so i took care of that. It'll be sprayed and lacquered tomorrow so i'm ahead of schedule for once in my life! :lmao: Might even have time to do the spare....should I bother?
How often do you use your spare wheel?? When I had all of my wheels re-done I had the spare done and since then (3/4 ish years ago) it's never once left my boot!

Personally I wouldn't do it just to save time/money on something that probably won't see the light of day too often let alone the tarmac :lol:

Danny
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by Arya2.0S »

D366Y wrote:
Arya2.0S wrote:
This one had a small chunk missing from the rim on the outer side, nothing major or structural, must have been old kerb damage so i took care of that. It'll be sprayed and lacquered tomorrow so i'm ahead of schedule for once in my life! :lmao: Might even have time to do the spare....should I bother?
How often do you use your spare wheel?? When I had all of my wheels re-done I had the spare done and since then (3/4 ish years ago) it's never once left my boot!

Personally I wouldn't do it just to save time/money on something that probably won't see the light of day too often let alone the tarmac :lol:

Danny
Thats what i was thinking. Cant do it now anyway as just used up the last bit of lacquer and primer so that answers that question lol.
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Re: My first attempt at restoring a set of 4 spoke alloys.

Post by D366Y »

Arya2.0S wrote:
D366Y wrote:
Arya2.0S wrote:
This one had a small chunk missing from the rim on the outer side, nothing major or structural, must have been old kerb damage so i took care of that. It'll be sprayed and lacquered tomorrow so i'm ahead of schedule for once in my life! :lmao: Might even have time to do the spare....should I bother?
How often do you use your spare wheel?? When I had all of my wheels re-done I had the spare done and since then (3/4 ish years ago) it's never once left my boot!

Personally I wouldn't do it just to save time/money on something that probably won't see the light of day too often let alone the tarmac :lol:

Danny
Thats what i was thinking. Cant do it now anyway as just used up the last bit of lacquer and primer so that answers that question lol.
Problem solved...?? :lol:
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