First class wheel refinishing - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

aswithin · #1 07-30-2006, 04:12 PM

Just had the bundt-cake wheels on my 82 300D refinished. The orginial finish on these wheels was one of the only esthetic flaws on these cars. I researched options and pricing for a few months on this one and found powder coating to be the best idea (both cost and enviromentally).

I highly recommend www.olympicpowdercoating.com who came in at $46.80 per wheel, including stripping plus basecoat, MB silver, & clear; a far cry from some body shops that wanted $175+ per wheel to shoot them with standard coatings.

Now all you need to do is figure out how to drive your car without wheels for a couple weeks. . . I bought a set of spare wheels from a junker in Arkansas that can be cleaned up after this is all over. I just had to see nice wheels on a car without any other flaws.

PatricdeBoer · #2 07-30-2006, 05:09 PM

Yeah, I gotta do something my sd's wheels, those are the biggest sore spot on the whole car.

rg2098 · #3 07-30-2006, 05:40 PM

Yup, my wheels as well. I have a lead on some guy out here that will dismount the tires, media blast, powdercoat, clearcoat?, and remount the tires all of an outrageous price of $12 per wheel. Just need to figure out how to drive for 2 days with out wheels.

deerefanatic · #4 07-30-2006, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rg2098

Yup, my wheels as well. I have a lead on some guy out here that will dismount the tires, media blast, powdercoat, clearcoat?, and remount the tires all of an outrageous price of $12 per wheel. Just need to figure out how to drive for 2 days with out wheels.

Please, please,,,, SHARE NAMES!!!!!

That's even in my price range!

Jeremy5848 · #5 07-30-2006, 09:25 PM

Rather than start another thread, I'll post here what I did at home for a few dollars. Two of the Bundt cake-pan wheels on my W123 were OK, two were pretty bad. I didn't want to pay a lot of money and have them gone and the car undriveable for who knows how long. I even thought of buying or borrowing a couple of wheels to use while mine were gone.

Finally, I decided to try painting them myself. What the heck -- I couldn't make the situation worse, right? First, I took the DuPont color number G8081 (from someone on this forum) to Hawley's Paint here in Santa Rosa. They mixed up a pint of DuPont "Centari" acrylic enamel and put some of it in a spray can for me. I also bought a spray can of enamel clearcoat.

At home, I removed the wheels and scrubbed them -- 409 cleaner, steel wool, light sandpaper, etc., and a nasty solvent called "water" (dissolves almost anything). After the wheels dried, I started masking. First, a layer of masking tape, which did not stick well to the rubber tire. Good thing I don't use Armour-All, the tape would not have stuck at all! Then I wrapped the tire and wheel in plastic and cut an opening, taping the plastic to the first layer of tape. Photo #1 shows the result.

Photo #2 shows a closeup of how bad the wheels were and also the plastic tube that I stuck over the valve stem. Once the masking was done, I put an old cardboard box (conveniently the right size, 24"x24") over the tire and wheel to act as a mini-spray booth (I was painting in the driveway). Then I sprayed on the paint (see photo #3).

The paint was allowed to dry overnight and I then applied the clearcoat. It crinkled the color in a couple of places; I probably should have waited another day (patience is not my thing). While the clearcoat was drying, I cleaned the (cadmium plated) lug bolts with 0000 steel wool and Mothers Aluminum and Mag Polish and clearcoated them.

The result, shown in photo #4, cost about $45 for two wheels and there was enough to do all four if I had needed to. The color match is somewhere between "very close" and "identical." Tonight the wheels go back on the car and tomorrow I drive it.

Jeremy

TWeatherford · #6 08-04-2006, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy5848

Rather than start another thread, I'll post here what I did at home for a few dollars. Two of the Bundt cake-pan wheels on my W123 were OK, two were pretty bad. I didn't want to pay a lot of money and have them gone and the car undriveable for who knows how long. I even thought of buying or borrowing a couple of wheels to use while mine were gone.

Finally, I decided to try painting them myself. What the heck -- I couldn't make the situation worse, right? First, I took the DuPont color number G8081 (from someone on this forum) to Hawley's Paint here in Santa Rosa. They mixed up a pint of DuPont "Centari" acrylic enamel and put some of it in a spray can for me. I also bought a spray can of enamel clearcoat.

At home, I removed the wheels and scrubbed them -- 409 cleaner, steel wool, light sandpaper, etc., and a nasty solvent called "water" (dissolves almost anything). After the wheels dried, I started masking. First, a layer of masking tape, which did not stick well to the rubber tire. Good thing I don't use Armour-All, the tape would not have stuck at all! Then I wrapped the tire and wheel in plastic and cut an opening, taping the plastic to the first layer of tape. Photo #1 shows the result.

Photo #2 shows a closeup of how bad the wheels were and also the plastic tube that I stuck over the valve stem. Once the masking was done, I put an old cardboard box (conveniently the right size, 24"x24") over the tire and wheel to act as a mini-spray booth (I was painting in the driveway). Then I sprayed on the paint (see photo #3).

The paint was allowed to dry overnight and I then applied the clearcoat. It crinkled the color in a couple of places; I probably should have waited another day (patience is not my thing). While the clearcoat was drying, I cleaned the (cadmium plated) lug bolts with 0000 steel wool and Mothers Aluminum and Mag Polish and clearcoated them.

The result, shown in photo #4, cost about $45 for two wheels and there was enough to do all four if I had needed to. The color match is somewhere between "very close" and "identical." Tonight the wheels go back on the car and tomorrow I drive it.

Jeremy

Thank you very much for posting! I don't have much money to dump in the car, but for $45 and nice looking wheels I think I can do it!

85chedeng300D · #7 07-30-2006, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rg2098

Yup, my wheels as well. I have a lead on some guy out here that will dismount the tires, media blast, powdercoat, clearcoat?, and remount the tires all of an outrageous price of $12 per wheel. Just need to figure out how to drive for 2 days with out wheels.

have you heard of a spare tire under the trunk? if you can be patient enough, you can do one wheel at a time, therefore, you can use your spare tire to drive your car for a day or two, then have the next wheel painted and so on...

rg2098 · #8 07-31-2006, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 85chedeng300D

have you heard of a spare tire under the trunk? if you can be patient enough, you can do one wheel at a time, therefore, you can use your spare tire to drive your car for a day or two, then have the next wheel painted and so on...

But my spare has never touched the ground.

I'm working on digging up the name of the guy. Hopefully he does good work but I don't know how he does it for that price.

85chedeng300D · #9 08-01-2006, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rg2098

But my spare has never touched the ground.

I'm working on digging up the name of the guy. Hopefully he does good work but I don't know how he does it for that price.

Perfect timing! It's about time then. What are you planning to do with it, bubble wrap it, put it in a jar and preserve it?

Warren C · #10 08-04-2006, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rg2098

I have a lead on some guy out here ......an outrageous price of $12 per wheel. .

Where is "out here" ??

Warren C.

Samuel M. Ross · #11 08-04-2006, 11:26 PM

that looks like an appropriate blast media for preparing these aluminum-alloy wheels for painting. Take a look at these two links from Harbor Freight:

http://da.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=blast+media

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92155

The first includes the 2nd where as the 2nd is what I think I need. Now the question as to whether
" 24 Grit walnut shell blast media " will work or just gum up my wet sandblasting accessory that fits onto my 1500 PSI consumer model high-pressure washer. Anyone out there know... how about you Tom over in Stuttgart... do you have a response from a factory source?

Sam

Samuel M. Ross · #12 08-05-2006, 12:09 AM

What would we do without the InterNet. This time I have found a great WebSite for blast media that is specifically for "wet blasting" at:

http://www.thomasnet.com/products/abrasives-wet-blasting-150409-1.html

Where there are 15 different manufacturers/suppliers and 9 of these have their own website to further research the subject.

I still think the 25 lbs of 24-grit walnut shells at Harbor Freight will be hard to beat.

Sam

pwogaman · #13 08-10-2006, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel M. Ross

that looks like an appropriate blast media for preparing these aluminum-alloy wheels for painting. Take a look at these two links from Harbor Freight:

http://da.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=blast+media

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92155

The first includes the 2nd where as the 2nd is what I think I need. Now the question as to whether
" 24 Grit walnut shell blast media " will work or just gum up my wet sandblasting accessory that fits onto my 1500 PSI consumer model high-pressure washer. Anyone out there know... how about you Tom over in Stuttgart... do you have a response from a factory source?

Sam

Walnut blast lead to a CH-47C helicopter crash in Germany in about 1983 - clogged coolant or oil lines during major maintenance. Whole bunch of paratroopers died. I refuse to use walnuts because of it.

Check the link (pretty revealing pictures):
http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/history/aircraft/C_Models/74-22292/74-22292.html

Hatterasguy · #14 07-30-2006, 07:49 PM

For $50 a wheel it might make sense. But I have heard of people spending $100 a wheel to refinish them. That doesn't make sense when you can buy brand new ones for $130.

Powdercoating is the way to go though.

#15 07-31-2006, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

For $50 a wheel it might make sense. But I have heard of people spending $100 a wheel to refinish them. That doesn't make sense when you can buy brand new ones for $130.

Powdercoating is the way to go though.

I spent about $100 each, I didn't want new painted wheels, I wanted powdwercoat, so I just went to the best place I could find and had them done. BTW, I just left the car on jackstands for a week.