DIY Wheel Refurbishment – The Citton Cars Guide
May 2015
As a true car lover, you must refurbish your car’s wheels and repair minor damages without someone’s help. If you are not a pro at this, then you better seek a mechanic’s help or use our DIY guide on wheel refurbishment. The things you need include:
A Neat cloth
Paint thinner
Masking tape
250 grit sandpaper
400 to 600 grit sandpaper
Spot putty
Eraser or sanding block
Scratch filler primer
Spray paint
1. Clean the Wheel
Apply paint thinner on a clean cloth and rub it thoroughly on the alloy. Rub it intensely on the damaged part and remove silicon and wax traces. Cleaning is the most important part of wheel refurbishment as it prepares the wheel for covers. If you don’t clean the wheel properly, no matter if you do it ten times, the rest of your refurbishment efforts will be wasted.
2. Masking
The next step is to mask and paint the wheel. Take a masking tape and stick it well behind the rim. Take 250 grit sandpaper and with feather-light strokes, rub it on the damaged area. Put spot putty and add body filler to cover up all the damages and scratches. Let it dry for a while. Now use an eraser to gently rub off the extra coat. You may also use a dry sanding block. The surface will become smoother and ready for primer after sanding.
3. Painting
This step is definitely not for procrastinators. Painting the wheel needs extra effort as you need to cover the fender leaving only damaged part visible. Apply the scratch filler primer on the damaged area and immediately clean the extra primer from spokes of the wheel and interior of the rim. Now reapply a thin coat of spot putty in visible pores. If you want to paint to whole wheel, then spray primer all over the wheel. But if you want to fix the repair only, then let the primer dry and gently rub it with 400 or 600 grit sandpaper.
Shake the paint can for at least 1 minute. Spray a very fine coat and let it dry overnight. When the first coat dries, spray another coat for a neat finish. If you want to spray other parts as well, then wait till the damaged area’s paint dries off. Use a final coat for a perfect gloss.
