I decided to start a new thread on the 8 hole rims. My previous post on getting rims chromed didn't really get any feedback. It's been discussed to death already anyway.

I tried multiple searches on refinishing wheels, rims, etc. and had no luck.

If these 8 hole rims have some scratches on them (I'm told they do), can they be "repaired"? I'm assuming the rims are alloy. What does Alloy mean? Aluminum?

I read many of the posts about alloy rims, and there are mentions of polishing out scratches, clear coats, powder coating, even painting. There was a bit of contradicton in many of the entries.

Does anyone one know exactly what kind of finish these wheels have? Can they be restored?

Last, I try to initiate a search on any topic involving 8 hole rims, but the search function doesn't allow a word of less than 3 letters long, therefore I can't simply enter "8 hole rims". If I enter "eight hole rims" nothing comes back. Any ideas...

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Hi Paul:

You might try a search on "eight hole wheels " - about 3 pages of threads return that way. The wheels are painted, sometimes clearcoated as well. Or sometimes they are polished and clearcoated. There are several past discussions on repainting kits, color codes for the wheels, body shop repainting vs. DIY. The most unusual 8 holes I saw had been repainted to the stock color, and the 'scallops' around the 8 holes had been polished, then the whole thing clearcoated.

Care and feeding of the wheels is like the paint on your car, except that the wheels get a lot hotter (part of the function of the aluminum wheels is to act as a heat sink for the brake hubs, according to an automotive engineering magazine I read at my Tech's shop). Since they get very hot, crud bakes on the surface - just like the car hood, but worse.

A good body shop should be able to re-spray them if you don't want to DIY (surface prep is key, and a PITA .

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John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E

Thanks John. I struggle so much with the search feature, that I just starting reading all of the posts going backwards. I just found one about Wheel Offsets that you provided a link in from the tire rack site. Following is a pasage:
"Treat the finish of your wheels as you would the finish of your car. Most alloy wheels today feature a painted and/or a clearcoat finish. The best way to take care of wheels without damaging their protective finish is by frequently washing them with a mild soap and water solution. Using a tar and bug remover can prevent permanent tar staining. Periodic waxing will protect the wheel’s finish from the elements."

The site also explained what "alloy" means, etc.

I'll try the search, and if I have any questions, I'll post them. The 8 hole wheels on a 95 E420 therefore must be painted and cleacoated.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I found this post from back in May, 2001, "Tire Rack has an 8-hole you could use for comparison. Also, please don't get chrome. Get the high - sheen version of the 8-hole wheels as seen on the 95 W124s. 94 and earlier had painted. Close enough to chrome without the weakening aspects."

I take it this means that the 95 E420 rims in question are not painted, but just polished and clear-coated???

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Here's another post, "Chrome is very hard and resists scratching and corrosion better than paint. The polished wheels are clearcoated. If they chip, they will corrode under the clearcoat and will then need to be refinished to restore the look".

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

O.K. John, I did the search and 5 pages came back. I already posted the 2 or 3 entries that were relevant.

Since one of the posts indicated that 1995 only had a non-painted "high sheen" finish, they just must be highly polished alloy.

None of the posts discussed the actual task of refinishing, polishing, re-painting, clear-coating, etc.

I tried the search for refinishing wheels, and that didn't work either.

I'm sure the posts are in there, but the search function doesn't always work. I may just have to start reading backwards again.

Hmmmm...

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I found some posts about refinishing. Mainly talked about removing the clear coat and old paint, repainting with silver paint, then re-clear coating.
There were some posts about a peeling clear coat on polished rims that needed to be stripped and re-clear coated.

There were also a handful of posts about refinishing or repolishing alloy rims at rennsport.com, who also used to be a sponsor of this site. The webite doesn't work anymore. I did a search on yahoo and got a lot rennsport related sites, but nothing about wheels, and many were in Germany.

I wonder how I could do it myself. I have a dremmel motor, as well as a DeWalt professional rotary electronic variable speed polisher. If I bought the right attachment, I wonder if I would be able to realistically "polish-out" scratches, then buff-out to a high sheen, then either clear-coat myself, or send to the shop and get it baked on.

I really think this is a topic that's never been addressed.

Come on guys, any help??

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

suginami,

I'll try to help.

I had a set of 15-hole wheels refinished/repainted "professionally", but they peeled badly after a short time.

Can you post a picture of the wheels you have? If your wheels are factory polished/machine finished, they are much more difficult and expensive to make them like new again, compared to painting.

E.P.

p.s. Rennsport's phone number is disconnected and the shop sign has been taken down (I pass the location daily on the way to work).

When you say that you got yours "professionally refinished / repainted", did you go to a shop that only does wheels, or did you go to an autobody shop?

I wonder how much more (or less) it would be to have wheels repolished and clear-coated? Surely it would be less than stripping old paint, roughing up the metal to prepare for painting, repainting, and clear-coating.

I don't have the wheels yet and haven't seen them. I'm just told they are scratched. The person who is offering to sell them to me (a member on this site) has very high standards for quality (a good thing), so they may be in good condition to the average person. Once I see them I will be able to better describe the condition. They might be good enough to just live with the problems considering the price is so good.

I have chromed 15 inch 15 hole rims and I don't like them at all. The 8 hole look sooooo much better.

If for some strange reason repolishing is more expensive than painting, I supposed I could have them painted then clear-coated.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Good topic! I was wondering the same.

I too have some 8 holes that need work. One I have stripped and they are painted some type of silver that is not the color of the 15 holes but more polished looking (but it is paint as there is a gray type primer under the silver). I am going to check with a body shop today to see if they can redo it to match the other three rims.

I just did my 15 holes with Wurth and the look (Wurth color is metalic silver) is not like the 8 hole rims.

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1993 Mercedes Benz 300D 2.5 205K (ex wife's)
1984 Mercedes Benz 300SD 320K (SOLD)
2004 Mercedes Benz C240 75K
1995 GMC Sierra 2WD 5.7L 188K
1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD 239K (SOLD)
1987 BMW 325i 220K (SOLD FOR SALVAGE)

609 Certification

Suginami wrote:

"When you say that you got yours "professionally refinished / repainted", did you go to a shop that only does wheels, or did you go to an autobody shop?"

I paid to have them done at Rennsport.



"I wonder how much more (or less) it would be to have wheels repolished and clear-coated? Surely it would be less than stripping old paint, roughing up the metal to prepare for painting, repainting, and clear-coating."

Not according to Rennsport at the time (I had the wheels refinished in the late summer/early fall of 1999). I paid $75 per wheel to have them stripped, primed and painted. This price also included repair of "small curb damage" that was on the edge of two wheels when I purchased the car. Being curious, I inquired as to what the cost would be to have the 15-hole wheels "polished"...meaning physically rubbing all the paint/finish off and leaving the wheels looking somewhere between a painted finish and chrome. I believe I was quoted about $200 per wheel to have this done. Very labor intensive....but I really liked the idea of "the look".



"I don't have the wheels yet and haven't seen them. I'm just told they are scratched. The person who is offering to sell them to me (a member on this site) has very high standards for quality (a good thing), so they may be in good condition to the average person. Once I see them I will be able to better describe the condition. They might be good enough to just live with the problems considering the price is so good."

My business partner had an Acura Legend Coupe (1995) that had machine finsihed wheels. They were in great shape except for a few scratches right in the middle of the wheel. I think his estimate was around $250 ea. to have it repaired and clear coated! There really is no "cheap" way to do this, unless you DIY......but they could end up looking like @%$& if not done "right".



Good luck in whatever you decide!

I talked with some body shops just now. All of them said they could not match the exact polished look of the 1993 + 8 holes. Quotes:

$400 a set to do a metallic silver type like the 15 holes.

$550 a set to send off and have them bead blasted, epoxy primered, painted and clearcoated. But can not quarantee a perfet match!

I may just DIY with the Wurth metallic silver, wet sanding or rubbing compounding the hell out of them before applying the clear coats.

What to do!!!!?????

__________________
1993 Mercedes Benz 300D 2.5 205K (ex wife's)
1984 Mercedes Benz 300SD 320K (SOLD)
2004 Mercedes Benz C240 75K
1995 GMC Sierra 2WD 5.7L 188K
1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD 239K (SOLD)
1987 BMW 325i 220K (SOLD FOR SALVAGE)

609 Certification

mmmm.....

It seems the prices have gone up!

I gave up last year and just bought new factory 8-hole wheels. I knew a sportline suspension was in my future, so when I opted for new wheels I got the 15X7's from the 1992 300CE sportline.

They are much easier to clean than the 15-holes!

I've had three different wheels refurbished, with mixed results.

The best result was with a pair of badly curbed Porsche Sport Design 2 wheels. These have a highly polished rim (simply polished alloy with a laquer coat) and a painted centre. The result was like-new. These were done by my Porsche-approved body shop.

The worst result was when I purchased my car. The dealer agreed to refurb a curbed AMG monobloc rim. On this wheel the rim is highly polished and the centre painted. Unfortunately he evidently lacked the equipment to properly restore the rim. Moreover he did not re-lacquer it. The result is worsening corrosion.

Mixed result was on another AMG rim done by my tyre fitters after they damaged it. Rim was done perfectly, the centre was badly sprayed.

Lesson: take the wheel to the right place and pay the money and you will get a like-new finish.

Cost on the Porsche was £80 a wheel as against £700 to replace.

There was an article about this in the first or second issue of Mercedes Enthusiast.

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JJ Rodger
2013 G350 Bluetec
1999 SL 500
1993 E300 diesel T
1990 190

hey jjrodger, what was the brand and color of that laquer coat mon the Porsche rim? was it just a clear coat? or a color like silver, silver metallic or aluminum?

how far down do you strip thre rim before polishing? So far after the clear coat is removed, I see a gray color underneath a non-metallic silver. Have I gone too far or is this gray just the primer?

__________________
1993 Mercedes Benz 300D 2.5 205K (ex wife's)
1984 Mercedes Benz 300SD 320K (SOLD)
2004 Mercedes Benz C240 75K
1995 GMC Sierra 2WD 5.7L 188K
1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD 239K (SOLD)
1987 BMW 325i 220K (SOLD FOR SALVAGE)

609 Certification