How To: Wheel Restoration

[SEmy2K2go]

Sold my old wheels. Bought some rough 19" G35 wheels and commenced a major project in restoring the to perfect condition.

1) I used regular Bondo body filler to repair the curb damage and on the rock chips that were here and there on the wheel surfaces.
2) I used a variation of sand papers, starting with 60 to knock down the Bondo'd areas. I used 180, 220 & 400 to prep the wheel surface before primer. Used 1000 to quickly sand down the primer (sandable primer). Using 1000 & 1500 to wet sand the paint. I used 1500 & 2000 grit to wet sand the clear. All sanding was by hand other than the lug nut holes where I used a dremel sanding wheel to get in the holes.

As I got them:


New tires - 245/35/19 General Exclaim UHP


One before & after scuffing:

[SEmy2K2go]

All scuffed up:


Normal body Bondo used to fill in the imperfections:


Bondo applied to the damaged areas:


There was damage in the lug holes as well:


Dremel attachment used to clean up the Bondo applied areas:

[SEmy2K2go]

First coat of sandable primer added:


3-4 coats later:


The other wheels getting primer:




The first of the 3 guns I ended up using. This one worked really well, but was flimsy and broke after a short time:

[SEmy2K2go]

The gun that has worked the best for me during the whole process:


First coat of Dupli-Color Wheel Coating model# WP101


A few coats later:




Inside is getting a fresh coat as well:

[SEmy2K2go]

After many coats of paint:




After wet sanding:




A few more minor touch-up spots and it will be time for clear coat:

[ChrisMan287]

Looks good so far. Can't wait to see them installed.

[Ryaliu]

Nice post. I am in the market to buy the 19" G35 rays but there are too many out there with road rash and etc. Now after seeing this post i think im gonna follow your instructions. Props man

[tyler5619]

any more finished product pics? i'm using this as a write-up depending on how they look afterwards. you have done a really great job so far! i'm honestly surprised that the duplicolor paint you used turned out so well!

[Ultrastar]

very nice job so far, fav'ed

[Mike1718]

All this is very much correct but he missed a few things
1.when your sanding down the rim or the body of car make sure that u take off ALL the clear coat off it first before priming

2.When sanding make sure the plastic filler is leveled and DONT OVER USE THE HARDENER. For people that dont know hardener is an ezyme that makes the plastic filler become hard with out this the plastic wil not dry.

3.Going back to makeing the plastic leveled if you do not make the plastic filler leveled once you prime it you wont see a difference if the plasitc is either to high or to low. Now if you dont get out these high or low spots you will get waves in your paint. These are VERY noticable in darker color paint such as black. That is the easiest color to see waves on.

Other then that everything else was perfect in description. I just wanted to point out cetain details so that your paint job doesnt mess up.

Have Fun =D PM me for any details
Last if you put run marks in (these are marks from overpainting) you must sand them down before anything. Or these marks will pop up later. And people dont be afraid to keep adding plastic to make your paintjob look nice. Another thing if u have indents on the inside of your rim from hitting curbs THESE ARE NOT REPARABLE FOR SOMEONE WITH NO EXPERIENCE take it to a place where they Specialize in rims

[M1RAG3]

great write-up man