Anyone Here "Refresh" or Restore Their Rims?

[hotdogjohnny]

BJ Penn one of my favorite athletes. Just thought it was a mistake for the prodigy to come out of retirement for MacDonald, should just enjoy his life!

lotta people would agree with you on that.

 

[hotdogjohnny]

Here's an update. It was in the 50s today, so I pulled these rims out of the shed and went to work. I had decided to do the worst one first, so it was already ground down and the rash filled. Today I sanded, filled little nicks with this:

 

[hotdogjohnny]

Meant to do this all as one post, but anyway, this is what the worst rim looked like before:



After adding filler:



After primer:



After one coat of spray Blade Silver metallic:



One other wheel was fairly bad and needed filler. The other two I just filled with touchup paint then sanded down. I steel-wooled the entire wheels and tack-ragged, now they all have coat one of finish color. What do you think so far?

Here's a bigger pic:

 

[webby]

in for more

 

[PainSoFamiliar]

they look brand new, outstanding

 

[hotdogjohnny]

webby and PainSoFamiliar - Thanks. I'm ahead of where I thought I'd be with about 8hrs invested.

 

[hotdogjohnny]

Had to touch up one:







I really like the way this Sherwin Williams automotive spray works. Now I have to clearcoat them. Clearcoat adds a lot of depth to the flake. There's a ton of flake in this color.

 

[webby]

looks like they turned out great!

 

[hotdogjohnny]

looks like they turned out great!

Thanks Webby. Funny thing is that the closer I get to putting them on, the more the oems grow on me .

 

[hotdogjohnny]

webby or anyone else who may know:

I tried to find simple 2 3/4 inch "H" centercaps, but my dealership only had '06 Si caps for $41 each. There must be a slew of Hondas with a 2 3/4 cap. I know the '12 Si does, but the caps are metal and shiny. Any ideas?

 

[webby]

Hope this works
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=121088351021

There are a bunch of other sellers with rsx type s caps as well

 

[hotdogjohnny]

^^^Thanks. I forgot to say that these came with the S type center caps. I don't want to use them. While checking your link to ebay I found a bunch of used Honda caps that should fit. Example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/01-11-HONDA...ies&vxp=mtr&hash=item3cd02aad09#ht_494wt_1136. I may have to do this. Problem is they are slightly darker than the rim color.

 

[CivicCanuck]

They look pretty decent! Now to get the tires on without messing up the finish... all the ones I have done in the past I have cleaned the beads and used armor-all or WD40 as lube and managed to stretch them on by hand. Obviously it's going to be pretty near impossible with low profile tires.

 

[hotdogjohnny]

They look pretty decent! Now to get the tires on without messing up the finish... all the ones I have done in the past I have cleaned the beads and used armor-all or WD40 as lube and managed to stretch them on by hand. Obviously it's going to be pretty near impossible with low profile tires.

Thanks. I'm going to have a shop transfer the tires and tpms sensors, mount, balance. Dealer wants $99 to do all 4 wheels. I haven't investigated that price yet. Here's something interesting. I have road hazard on the oem wheels and tires. I took the car to the dealer to fix rash on one wheel and told them that I wanted to do it before I switched out the rims so there'd be no questions about it if I brought the oem rim in by itself. They said that my warranty will cover the 5 stars too, once I have them on. If I ding them or something, they fix it. Not bad.

 

[webby]

Just do a spray job on the centers. You can pickup a set of "h" stickers for like 6 dollars or so. Grafixpressions should have them, or endless ebay shops. If you have the sizing on them, I could probably cut you a set as well.

 

[hotdogjohnny]

^^^ Good thought. I just ordered a set: http://www.ebay.com/itm/13084381265...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_300wt_1136 . If it turns out that the color is off, I'll sand down, do decal, and then clear. I used to make golf clubs (woods) that required lots of coats of clear on decals. Do you have access to a commerrcial printer or something?

 

[webby]

yes, I have a cutter... I'd just have to know the size of the "H" needed and it could be cut.

 

[FB2Chris]

Outstanding work hotdogjohnny ! Just a little warmer temperatures and I can continue my HFP wheels since no one wanted them unpainted.

 

[hotdogjohnny]

Outstanding work hotdogjohnny ! Just a little warmer temperatures and I can continue my HFP wheels since no one wanted them unpainted.

You've got a good headstart with no paint. You don't have to worry about feathering things etc.

 

[FB2Chris]

You've got a good headstart with no paint. You don't have to worry about feathering things etc.

Exactly!