Alloy refurbing/paint stripping advice...

[VAG-Slag]

Hi guys, not sure if this is the right place for this but here goes anyway!

I got some alloys the other week on the cheap, they're in really good condition however the pain job is terrible! . . The plan was to strip them back, prime and spray them. I set to them yesterday with the stripper yet after 3 generous coats (1 and a half tins!) of nitromors and a lot of scraping they now look like this:




thinking about it now I wish I had just sanded them back, perhaps a little naive of me but I thought this would be quicker and easier. . .

Has anyone got any ideas of where to go from here? Was just gonna nitromors them one more time, scrape back what I can then maybe go at them with wire-wool and some sort of abrasive cleaner and then possibly sand them as well. . . Either way what seemed like a nice little weekend job is turning into a right head ache!

Any input would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[desertstorm]

I would have taken them somewhere to get them sorted.
I bought 4 17 inch wheels for my car off Ebay and 2 were Ok,The other 2 had quite a bit of kerb rash. Took them to prestige wheel centre in Birmingham. £35 a wheel and this is what I got back.





It would have probably cost me £20-£30 in paint and stuff to try and do these myself and It would have taken me hours and I never would have got them this good. Have a look around your area. These were chemically stripped, sand blasted and then powder coated.

Karl.

 

[s33nyboy12]

To the O.P if they are genuine audi ronals off an 8l s3 then they are the worse alloys I've ever blasted! I'm surprised the nitro mors even touched them. They are coated like 4 times with primer and paint then 7 coats of lacquer all 2 pac, and oven baked originally . I firstly tried bi- carb blasting them, then plastic bead blasting them, then glass blasting them and the only thing that would strip them back was j-blast grit really harsh abrasive.

then I did the process in reverse to fetch all the pitting out....... Was a nightmare ! Worse I've ever done , the paint was like rolling off almost like syrup not how my blasting normally goes. So don't feel too bad mate.

To desert storm.... Sand blasting is illegal and banned since 1995 iirc due to silica content and the harm it causes.
so I assume they media blasted your alloys with something else mate, they look brill though and a good price at that!
its because of the low prices wheel refurb companies offer now I don't blast wheels anymore just industrial stuff.

Sean

 

[coxy8329]

You could try the company mentioned in the thread, they are in Slough.

www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-sportback-8p-chassis/203843-wheel-refurbishment.html

 

[VAG-Slag]

Hey Karl, they look really good! And for £35 quid you really cant grumble. Somehow I don't think I'll get anywhere near that sort of rate round this way... I phoned the mentioned company in Slough and they wanted 65 quid a wheel!? That didn't include any curbage repair or tyre/weight removal. Just to simply strip and spray, no chance I'm paying that! I only really want them as a winter wheel that I'll use on track next summer so they don't have to be mint.

Luckily I work in the trade so can get paint/materials at trade prices. And my boss trained as a sprayer so can spray them for me, just need to get the surface in a suitable state to spray on! I think I'm just going to go at them with what ever sanding equipment we may have in the workshop. I'll let you guys know how I get on... Wish me luck!

And sean, yes they are genuine ronals but from a TT... The wheels were painted black when I got them, with (from what I can tell) a serious layer of some sort of primer under it. All of that on top of all the layers you described... No wonder they're such a pain!

 

[A3_130]

I'm in the process of refurbing some 8l S3 Ronals at the moment. I've refurbed a couple of sets of wheels before and it's easy (and cheap) to do just takes a while to do a good job.

Found this guide online the other day by Detailing World that sums up the process well - all the kit will cost you less than £50 if you shop around:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=41033

Good luck if you do refurb them yourself - you've bagged a bargain and they'll look great with a tidy paint job

 

[VAG-Slag]

just a little update, I took an orbital sander with 240 paper to them over the weekend and they now look a little like this:


A lot more manageable I think you'll agree... Now they've been stripped back it's obvious a couple of them have had a refurb at some point but no major filling. If they were all original/mint I think I would be looking at getting them ball bearing polished (or similar) and lacquered, the raw metal finish looks great I think!

So the mission for next weekend is to give them the once over with some finer paper and hopefully prime them while still managing to get drunk at least once somewhere in-between...