DIY: Wheel Restoration
 

I don't have a G35, but I thought some would find the following information useful if anyone wanted to take on a project such as this.

Sold my old wheels. Bought some rough 19" G35 wheels and commenced a major project in restoring the to perfect condition.

1) I used regular Bondo body filler to repair the curb damage and on the rock chips that were here and there on the wheel surfaces.
2) I used a variation of sand papers, starting with 60 to knock down the Bondo'd areas. I used 180, 220 & 400 to prep the wheel surface before primer. Used 1000 to quickly sand down the primer (sandable primer). Using 1000 & 1500 to wet sand the paint. I used 1500 & 2000 grit to wet sand the clear. All sanding was by hand other than the lug nut holes where I used a dremel sanding wheel to get in the holes.

As I got them:
Attachment 237413

New tires - 245/35/19 General Exclaim UHP
Attachment 237414

One before & after scuffing:
Attachment 237415

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All scuffed up:
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Normal body Bondo used to fill in the imperfections:
Attachment 237419

Bondo applied to the damaged areas:
Attachment 237420

There was damage in the lug holes as well:
Attachment 237421

Dremel attachment used to clean up the Bondo applied areas:
Attachment 237422

After sanding:
Attachment 237423

First coat of sandable primer added:
Attachment 237424

3-4 coats later:
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The other wheels getting primer:
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The first of the 3 guns I ended up using. This one worked really well, but was flimsy and broke after a short time:
Attachment 237428

The gun that has worked the best for me during the whole process:
Attachment 237429

First coat of Dupli-Color Wheel Coating model# WP101
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/DSC00609.jpg

A few coats later:
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Inside is getting a fresh coat as well:
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After many coats of paint:
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After wet sanding:
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A few more minor touch-up spots and it will be time for clear coat:
Attachment 237437

awesome job man!

you really brought those back to life.

Nice job..
Seeing that you did this all in your garage, I have one question.....
How the hell did you get the tires off the rims? :confused2:

wow sick job my cousin just picked up a set of some rims in really bad condition gonna try your method first before we go to a rim repair shop.
major props once again on the sick job

Wow those look great. I have to ask though, do you have prior experience with this? Would you suggest this to somebody who's never done this before? I really want to do this to a set of wheels I picked up as well, but am kinda intimidated. Suggestions?

I'd like to try this as well

Thanks man.

I had a shop dismount the tires for $8/per

Saved me over $500 vs having a local wheel repair place doing them.

I had not attempted refinishing any wheels until this set. I read A LOT of write-ups on the web and just dove in.

wow if only mines werent as curbed as they are(previous owner).....my 2 front ones are curbed all around while my rears are semi curbed around. It will take too much time to sand them down and bondo and what now so im thinking of just taking them to get powder coated black or gunmetal metallic.

nice!!! I wonder where you got the spray gun. The rust oleum one

nice job, how many cans of wheel paint did u use....i plan on refinishing a set of G35 coupe 18s

Awsome job!! How long did it actually take? Did you wait a full day between primer and paint and clear coat? Thanks in advance!

hmmm
 

Just a question. When u did this project is ur car jacked up with 4 jacks or with 4 shoes?

Woohoo! Found it! I was looking for "spray adapter" or "aerosol adapter" and kept finding the crappy one he didn't like. But this one is called a Comfort Grip. There's another one they make called a Spray Grip, but the Comfort looks better (uhh, from a performance point of view, not appearance).

http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=38

$5 to $10 online, although you could probably find it locally.

nice job. they look great

So this job will take out curb rash?
If so where would i be able to pick up these products?