@ popeye / bushwacker

[wiggy]

Hi, had a bit of a search and was directed towards you folks for a wee bit of advice on refurbing my wheels..... I know they are a bit battered but im just after doing a bit of tidy on them at home (not really worth sending away). to get me through till i can get a set of decent ones



Dark designs suggested 'easiest way to do it is either sand back with wet and dry,1200 grit/800 grit wet, till they look reasonable the clear lacquer or you could try ebay there are "refurb"kits on there'
Sounds pretty straight forward..... any hints or tips? or is there any other ways....

As always many thanks in advance.

Rob

[stormforce]

Rob would it be better to use something like nitromors(spelling) to strip the laquer then get a good alloy polish to shine them up.I would of thought any type of sanding would mark the alloy

[MattF]

*Do not* use any form of grit material, be that wet&dry, emery or sandpaper. The particles will bed in the alloy. Same with wire wool. It'll bed in and rust. Bicarbonate of soda and a Scotchbrite pad with lashings of elbow grease. If you want something with a bit more abrasion, a mix of bicarb, salt and vinegar. Stronger solution, washing soda. Make sure that you rinse it thoroughly after cleaning whenever you use a soda based cleaner though, otherwise it will eat away at the alloy.

[darkdezigns]

http://www.hiluxsurf.co.uk/forums/sh...t=wheel+refurb

[BUSHWHACKER]

As Stormfoce said.
I used Nitromors paint and varnish stripper (Yellow can, for intricate work)
Brush it all over the wheel, leave for 15-20 mins or until you see the laquer start to crinkle, then hose or jet-wash off.
I used steel wool for the really bad/corroded ares.
Dry off the wheel then use Autosol polish and plenty of elbow grease to the machined parts of the wheel only, leave the natural cast areas as is.

You can lightly spray some clear laquer on when finished, but it tends to dull the shine a bit, I just lightly Autosol mine when they start to look grubby.

[wiggy]

As always thanks again for everyone's help it looks straightforward ........................looking like i shall have shiney wheels again soon....

Rich: still interested if you come across any on your travels & the Rad is spot on thanks!, been busy with work do's this weekend but will look at the rest tuesday, but all looks in good nick as per usual..

[stormforce]

Cheers Rob and have a good weekend and a few beers for me aswell

[wiggy]

did do lol

Sorry Bushwhacker, saw the link posted earlier and wondered if you had a better pic of your wheel? as i really like the idea of that.

[tintin]

Just a suggestion but, if you paint the grained bits with matt black or body colour they look much better (in my opinion of course)








Alan

[BUSHWHACKER]

did do lol

Sorry Bushwhacker, saw the link posted earlier and wondered if you had a better pic of your wheel? as i really like the idea of that.

Only this other one really...

[POPEYE]

Aye! for the standard surf alloy i'd do what vince and tin tin done, you'll never get the bits in the sculptur polished smooth without a hell of a lot of work,
dunno about the surf alloys but no amount of nitromoors would shift the coating on my crags, in the end i used sandpaper but it was the "frecut" type,
paper, course then fine then a alloy polishing kit from ebay, flap wheels etc that go in a drill, it's a real PITA of a job but it got the alloy up to near chrome finish, and it lasts without relaqureing, did em about 2 years ago and still ok

[wiggy]

Thanks for the info and the pics guys! think i shall be going down the route tintin and bushwhacker have done as it will fit in with the rest of the truck pretty well when its done and thanks popeye will look on ebay for the kits if i cant get the marks off by hand. Presume the paint was just hammerite metal paint or that kind of thing?

[tintin]

Mine was two coats of Hammerite satin black (brushed on)

Alan

[wiggy]

Cheers tintin off to the shop this weekend then!