Refinishing Wheels

JoshMcMadMac

JoshMcMadMac

Dedicated LVC Member
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Waynesboro, PA
I decided to take some time today and start refinishing a set of wheels for the LS. I got a set of OZ Ultraleggera's off of here, but they needed some freshening up. It is hard to see in the photos, but there were spots that were roughed up and quite a lot of dents/dings/scratches around the lip...look closely:

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So, I cleaned/degreased all of them thoroughly, scrubbing them clean with steel wool. Then they got sanded down with 400 grit, prepped with mineral spirits, and wiped down with a tack cloth:

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Then, into the basement for filler-primer:
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Another wipe-down, then white primer to give the wheel paint a consistent basecoat:
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Here is the finished color. It is a darker graphite color, where as originally it was silver. It came out darker than I anticipated, but the wife really likes them. I am hoping that with window tint they will blend nicely with the mid-blue metallic of the LS...I really do not want to redo all four wheels for a light silver color, which is not what I want anyway.

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I just did the one to check the color; I will finish the other three tomorrow. Then they will sit for about a week. Once they have cured sufficiently I will smooth them down with 800 grit wet, one more color coat, and a coat or two of clear. Think they will look good, or too dark?
 
I like the color and they should look really good with the Metalic Blue.
 
fastmark1993 said:
you must have the patience of a god, i am jealous
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It is not too tough, just a bit time consuming. As long as you can go through all of the steps, really the only patience needed is not throwing too much paint on at once.

DENNISJR60 said:
Real nice work looks like a new wheel.
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They look pretty good, and much better than before, but I do not think I could pawn them off as new. There is a little bit of trash hiding in there, and some of the dents around the lip cannot be covered up. I am hoping the additional sanding step will get me as close to perfect as possible.

Andrizzle said:
Nice work there!

Looks like anthracite.
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It is actually a bit darker than antharcite, which is more what I was aiming for using the white primer.

Thank you for all of the compliments; I hope everyone is right!
 
looks good. are you 100% sure none of them were bent? It's almost rare that set of alloy wheesl with more than 20k miles on them doesnt have one at least slightly bent. Then again, if you dont notice it...no harm, no foul.
 
NYC LS8 said:
Nice work, Josh. Looks killer!
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Thanks, Tommy. Your sig pic with the blue 300 and dark wheels builds a little more confidence for me that my wheels will look good! :D

lseguy said:
looks good. are you 100% sure none of them were bent? It's almost rare that set of alloy wheesl with more than 20k miles on them doesnt have one at least slightly bent. Then again, if you dont notice it...no harm, no foul.
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Why would they be bent? They all sit flat, although my basement floor is not a calibrated surface.
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
Thanks, Tommy. Your sig pic with the blue 300 and dark wheels builds a little more confidence for me that my wheels will look good! :D


Why would they be bent? They all sit flat, although my basement floor is not a calibrated surface.
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Alloy (vs forged) are relatively "soft" and all it takes is a decent pothole to get them out of a perfect round condition. I've had a few sets (over the years) refinished at shops or even during a tire change, only to have the tech let me know they discovered a slight bend. Sometimes they can mallet the bend out, other times it required more work from the shop. TO be honest, most times I never even knew there was a bend, other times the clue was a slight vibration at a certain speed where balancing could not cure.
 
So you're the prick that bought those :p

Lucky guy, those wheels are the sh*t. Would be especially awesome for track use, considering their weight.
 
Those are the wheels I have been drooling over for a long time. Nice job with the refinishing. take more pics once you have the clear coat on them.

I am very jealous. Don't ever come to northern, IN or your car might end up on blocks. Or with some beat up stock 17's on if I'm feeling nice.
 
So the next thing to think about is the center caps. I know the wheels do not look stock, but I do not want to have the logo making them stand out even more:

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I am planning on painting the center caps, putting a Lincoln logo decal on them, and clear coating them. I think a darker color cap is best, but cannot decide if I should use the wheel color or black. I am currently leaning towards the wheel color paint and silver logos...any other ideas?
 
I think a carbon fiber look in all black would look nice. On my stock wheels I had black vinyl circles cut to fit on my wheels to give it a bit of a different look. You could do the same just in a carbon fiber look.
 
I am not sure if Lincoln logo would look correct on those wheels since it has OZ written right on them. I think the OZ logos look good.
 
I wrapped up the painting today, as I was out of town last weekend.

800 grit wet sanding, one light coat of color, one heavy coat of color, and two heavy coats of clear got them to turn out alright:

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What is probably lost in the photos is that the clear really makes a difference. If I were to do it again I would probably skip the white primer, hit the first coat of color with 800 wet, the second coat of color with 1500 wet, then 2000 wet in between clear coats. The paint lays down pretty well, but the clear especially goes on too light if you are not careful. The can suggests the clear as an optional step, but the paint itself just cannot look that shiny or lay that smooth. :cool:

Regardless, they look much better than when I got them. They will sit to cure for another week, which will give me time to decide on center caps...I am still torn about leaving them stock or painting them and adding a Lincoln emblem. I should be able to get pictures of the wheels mounted on the car within two weeks.
 
I got the tires mounted up this week and put the wheels on the car this morning.

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The center caps were a bit of a pain to refinish, mostly because the black paint I used needed longer than I thought to fully cure. I am happy with the end result, though; it adds a nice little touch instead of the OZ logo.

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I saved ~2.5lbs per corner, or around 10lbs of total rotating mass. Not bad for going from the stock 17" to 18", while also getting an additional 20mm of width with the 255/40R18 tires.

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