Wheels/Tyres: Zaurak Refurb (pics)

[FlabbyPanda]

So I've got the following alloys and I'm trying to do a budget refurb.



Ideally I would like to do a 2 tone finish or "diamond cut" similar to below



I've already prepared the wheels and sanded the scratches etc but can I now just spray them black, sand with a fine grit before polishing them, then clear coat so they end up looking something like this?



Or would I need to tape the dark parts and respray the silver bits?

[Dastardly Diesel]

It won't work well. Lacquer needs a primer or a paint coat beneath to adhere effectively. No matter how careful you are water will soon penetrate the 'diamond cut' sections and cause corrosion and worming visible under the lacquer.

Powder coat is tougher, bit has a similar problem in that it requires a phorescent base coat on aluminium alloy, which you cant do under a clear lacquer, hence factory diamond cut alloys inevitably looking shabby relatively quickly.

In the finish you're planning I'd suck it up and get it powder coated. As poor as clear powder coat is it's still much better than clear lacquer on alloy.

If you decide to do it yourself I'd stick to an all painted finish with an etch primer over a y bits of surface that aren't already covered with paint, and finished with a two pack lacquer such as Spraymax 2K.

Good luck.

[Thekilt]

On my old Suzuki I rubbed both wheels down, masked the outside rim then painted the three spoke inner, and lacquered the black portion. Then after that had cured, I masked the sprayed section and polished the rim. Whenever I have the bike a clean I would also polish with some alloy paste and would come up a treat.

However doing that with 4 wheels every time rather than two might be a bit tedious, plus that was before me I had a family and had an abundance of time!

[FlabbyPanda]

thanks guys. My plan is to change them eventually so paying for a powder coat is out, I'll start by spray the dark bits and then seeing how they turn out.

[FlabbyPanda]

So as I posted here I decided to try and refurb my alloys today.

I was trying to get something like this....


This is what I was starting with, Bandit thinks they look a little ruff..


step 1 was cleaning and decontamination, you can clearly see one has already been refurbished before.


sanded and ready for primer, the worse one is on the left


2 coats of primer later and they look much better


but I couldn't get the top coat to spray properly. The can has no rattle no matter how much I shook it and I was getting impatient.


I didn't apply the clear coat and will wet sand these back before getting another can of silver or black to finish them off and then apply the clear coat.

sorry for crappy pic but I was frozen & wet at this stage.


please only approach the car from the drivers side....


Over all it was pretty easy and with more time I think the finish would have been better, I started it too late in the day. As I mentioned I'm tempted to use black instead as the silver isn't really the shade I wanted.