I'm attempting to fix 3 or 4 wheels that were curb rashed when I picked up my car and I decided to give this guys technique a tryout.

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/realwhda.html

Well I'm not finding this to be as easy as the article would suggest.
He's saying that you only paint the damaged portion with the silver and then a bit more with the clear. I've repaired plenty of wheels before but I've always repainted the entire wheel.

These rattle cans are very hard to control and I found the idea of wiping off the paint from the unwanted areas a total mess. I think an air brush system might do a much better job here if you're trying to only paint a limited area.

The way the wheels are formed along the edge on an 05 STR leaves no clean edge for masking as it just smoothly flows into the rest of the wheel. So you have to blend.

If you lay down any masking tape you invariably end up getting a line that shows quite badly but if you can suspend the tape over the wheel you get a decent looking blending of the paint edge. That's hard to do everywhere though.

Maybe a purposely shaped piece of cardboard used as a masking shield?

Enough carping.

I got the silver part done sort of OK but not as good as I'd like and then moved on to the clear. His description seems vague to me but I have the impression he didn't scuff sand the clear where he blended it in. He definitely talks about not painting the entire wheel. At this point I think it might have been easier to do just that. He's talking about getting it smooth at the end of this repair with 2000 paper but that seems to just scuff the paint up.

So I have a couple slight runs of the clear that I need to fix and I'm wondering if I can effectively sand those smooth and polish everything out at this point? I've never done this with paint so if this can be done how should I proceed?

Comments?

 

Staatsof, you can always go this route, might be (ahem) a wee bit more pricey!

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=39727

 

That certainly is a bit pricey! I can take the car to a powdercoater have them put the car on 4 jack stands, remove the wheels, remove the tires, bead blast & powdercoat the rims, remount and balance the tires for $165 a wheel. That sounds like a lot better job than a "touch-up" @ $150 per wheel.

But I though I'd try this repair method as it's about $50 of materials so far.

The article I referenced was done on-the-car but I don't bend down that far so well anymore so mine came off and that also let's you clean up the wheels properly.

Bob S.

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=2622

Bob, Moderator Jim has this thread about his take on your project.
He refers to the same attachment and site you mention.
It sounds like he has done the project before. Maybe a few pm's with him will help.
If you have gone down this route already please disregard. Just trying to help.
Good luck.

 

At this point I'm mostly looking for information on how to sand off the excess clear in the two sags I have and polish it up. I think that's possible just need some tips on that part.

I think I'll try making a cardboard masking shield when I do the the next wheel. Those wheels have damage only on the very edge whereas the one I just did also had a rather bad scratch around the center medallion portion so it was a more challenging job.

Bob S.

 

If you are open to spend $120/Wheel then this might be a better option:

http://www.autopartsfair.com/jaguar-...y59774u20.html

Thanks,
Rizwan

 

I use a razor to take off sags and drips. There are specialty razor "nibs" for this job, or if you are deft with a razor you can free-hand. A little wet-sanding after you take off the glob should get you blended nicely. This way you don't over-sand surrounding areas where you don't want to remove more material. After you remove the globs, do another wet-sand and re-clear (final).

An airbrush would be the choice for effective blending. I dunno, I've always just done the whole wheel.

I find that article to be well intentioned but full of things I would not do. First, why is he doing it with the wheel on the car?

Second, a sanding block is good for flat surfaces, but my wheels don't have many of those. Waiting 5 to 10 minutes between putty coats is not near long enough. There can be areas below the surface that are still not cured, even though a film of dried putty overlays the area and appears dry. These will later crack.

You would want more than 1 coat of color.

I would also color sand before laying down the clear.

The first coat of clear is fine, but you have to wait longer for the flash time after each successive coat of clear.

I'm no professional paint guy or anything, but I've done enough wheels and a few cars to be a little pessimistic of these results with the methods described in the article.

 

Thanks. I should probably check with my local auto paint supply house.

Yes, I've done plenty of wheels by painting them entirely but I thought I'd try this approach and see how easy it was and if worked. Not so great so far ...

Having repaired a dozen wheels or so before I didn't take everything in the article literally. I also agree with you about the part about doing it with the wheels on the car.

Maybe I'll just take them to the powdercoater after all.

Bob S.

 

Bob,

I think either of the nibs on this page would probably do you well for the runs: http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/paint...nib-files.html

You can get a "run razor" from this place, as well as all kinds of similar products. http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/runnib.aspx

I think either would do the trick for you.

If your remaining wheels only have damage around the edge, I personally wouldn't go the full monty with powdercoating, unless you wanted to change color or something. I'd probably even consider purchasing a reconditioned wheel like that in the link before i went the powdercoating route.

Hope this helps. Maybe put up a pic or two of your handywork when you get it done. I have a few nicks I'll be tackling this winter.

I'm actually debating about painting my Zeus wheels black. Either matte black or get some "midnight" mixed up to match the car. Not sure though, might be too much.

Good luck Bob....

 

Thanks Chris. Well after masking the areas off to limit my sanding I used 600, 800, 1500 and 2000 paper on the half a dozen spots that needed it. Then I hand polished it with 3M Perfect-It II rubbing compound and it looks very good now. It's not perfect but you can't see the two lousey blend lines that are only about 1/2" long when you're standing beside the car so f*ck it.

I think I'll try using my idea of a half moon suspended spray shield on the last two wheels to really limit how much of the wheel gets painted. I'm hoping that will produce more of graduated blend line.

I'll take before and after pictures on those but that may be sometime after the holidays. I kind of need the car back as it's been on jack stands for 10 days now while I did brakes, coolant, oil and the two front wheels.

Bob S.

 

Good luck Bob. I don't know, the half moon deal might work, or you just might have a half moon shaped line to blend later.

Airbrush really would be the ticket for a delicate little job like this. Maybe Santa can score you one for X-Mas?

 

The blending worked pretty well on the first wheel in the places where I was able to suspend the masking tape above the paint surface so I'm hoping that the silver painted with the half moon in the larger diameter followed by the clear using a smaller diameter half moon mask will allow me to buff things smooth and nearly invisible. I should also only end up with 1/2" - 1" of new paint along the repaired edge this way too. We'll see.

I already have the paint in the spray cans and getting that into an air brush setup might be a bit of a challenge. But yes, that's what I'd like to be using. Santa (me) may send one anyways!

Bob S.