How should I prep wheels for repaint?

I wasn't going to get involved in this but if you look at the face of an original wheel you will see very fine circular machine marks where they have been diamond cut on a cnc machine before being lacquered.

The machining gives a slight texture for the lacquer to adhere to, although it is not very effective and generally won't last long before water gets under the lacquer and white worming of the Aluminium begins.

Lacquer will not adhere to a polished wheel and raw polished wheels are a labour of love and require a lot of work.

Diamond cutting is also a very expensive specialised process, costing around £100 per wheel for full refurbishment.

I personally would not recommend going for the chrome powder coat alternative for a 'similar' look as it tends to look cheap. Better to go for a nice bright lacquered silver finish in my opinion.

Diy will never be perfect or last as long as a professionally factory refinished wheel but tbh you can pick 15" wheels up for less than the price of a decent refurb so Diy in this case might not be a bad idea.

Good to know the options and be in a better position to make an informed decision.

Good luck with whatever you decide on ?
 
I’m going to go the home diy route, as I can’t justify £350 for a refurb! I’ve done some before and they weren’t too bad tbh, these wheels look to be in generally good order so should turn well. A plus point is that I can buy a spare set of wheels with the money saved
Thanks for everyone’s input much appreciated.


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I’m going to go the home diy route, as I can’t justify £350 for a refurb! I’ve done some before and they weren’t too bad tbh, these wheels look to be in generally good order so should turn well. A plus point is that I can buy a spare set of wheels with the money saved
Thanks for everyone’s input much appreciated.


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Well done mate ?
Love a bit of a money save!
You can’t really mess up, cos if you do, flat them back and go the pro route!
 
Done mine recently bit of a sand bit of filler and Hammerite smooth silver dont look too bad actually.
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I have the same don’t really want to go to the cost of a professional referb but feel they maybe past a DIY job
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No I’ve seen worse, it’s just your prep will need to be better, really sand well, and undercoat properly
 
I have the same don’t really want to go to the cost of a professional referb but feel they maybe past a DIY job
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worth a go cost wise my 4 wheels took just over 3 tins and i put a good few coats on
 
No I’ve seen worse, it’s just your prep will need to be better, really sand well, and undercoat properly

I’ll have a go then cheers it’s hammerite you used? What undercoat?


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I’ll have a go then cheers it’s hammerite you used? What undercoat?


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Redant used hammerite, see his post above. I have used it before though it’s a good recommendation by him ? cracking paint
 
worth a go cost wise my 4 wheels took just over 3 tins and i put a good few coats on

Can you recall which hammerite paint you used? Used hammerite brush on, on old trailer years ago and it looked like new despite being about 15years old!

Good job btw.


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Can you recall which hammerite paint you used? Used hammerite brush on, on old trailer years ago and it looked like new despite being about 15years old!

Good job btw.


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doesn't need a primer just dont go mad on each coat i ended up giving them about 5 to 6 thin coats each
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I bought an alloy wheel paint kit on eBay for about £20. Upol I think.

It came with an etch primer which promoted adhesion to aluminium or existing lacquer. The paint was quick dry and the lacquer was super fast setting too.

I can check the make if you don’t already have all the paint.


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