I need to refinish wheels

[banger2392t1]

I just bought an S4 and got a good deal because of some minor body imperfections and the rims are scuffed. My neighbour is a body man and will fix that for me for a case of beer but i need to refinish my rims. There are only surface scratches on the rims, so can i fill in the scuffs or do i have to refinish the whole rim? How easy it it to do and for me to do or should i just pay someone to do it right? If i need to pay someone where can i go to get mine refinished? THANKS FOR ANYONE WHO HELPS ME

[Stone825]

I like the result with the way I did it. It is by no means professional but I think it looks fine. If you don't' like the results you can always have it painted professionally later.

By the way I used to be a complete noob when it came to cars (I still am but know a few more things) so I pretty much had NO idea what I was getting myself into when I started this project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5eK5...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bh8hzwC2TA

^ Two guides I used

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLT1d...e=channel_page
My friends and I painting

http://audiforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78203
Used parts of that guide

Quick Steps:
Clean and sand your wheels down
Etching primer
Filler Primer
Duplicolor (insert color here) wheel paint
Clear coat

How my rims came out (I didn't use clearcoat but I HIGHLY recommend it).

[Stone825]

Oh btw if you make enough money you're taking time off from work to do this, you could probably work to make the money and have a professional do it.

[NogaroWonda00]

its a easy afternoon/ 2 day project, i did mine a few months ago for the same reason, go to an auto zone or some auto store look by the rattle cans and you should be able to find a color of duplicolor wheel paint. as for the scuffs i wet sanded the wheels with 1000 grit w/d paper then shot em with a dulpicolor primer filler, seamed to do the job well

here is how it turned out

[ingolstadt]

Are we talking stock Avus' here?

[banger2392t1]

Ya stock wheels...my car is silver and i'am also debating whether they should be black or stay silver

[Stone825]

I'm a big fan of the gunmetal grey. I beleive duplicolor has 4 colors.

Silver
Gunmetal Grey (Graphite)
Black Gloss
Black Matte

[banger2392t1]

Nogarowonda what colour did you use? i dont mind that gunmetal colour, if that what's yours is. what type of duplicolour do you need high heat, autobody paint...etc??

[NogaroWonda00]

it was the only gunmetal grey duplicolor wheel paint at my autozone, here is a link
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...art=shw-hwp101
its the darker grey one looks just like the color of my wheels

[CONTROL ONE]

Here's mine. DupliColour Matte Black with Clear Coat. Still holding up fine through the winter.

[banger2392t1]

I went to canadian tire and was looking at the paint and not wanting to refinish all the wheels in the winter decided to wait it out untill the spring. BUT is there something i can do to repaint the scuffs on my rims untill i do refinish them. If i can what company and paint colour matches the S4 rim colour???

BTW i like the black alot control one

[Stone825]

I used the graphite can for my wheels. Anyways when you paint your wheels make sure its kind of warm out (not below I guess 50 degrees because the properties of metal and the spraypaint at that temp aren't as good so it may not finish as well).

[banger2392t1]

Good to know...thanks

[TRANS4M]

Here's mine. DupliColour Matte Black with Clear Coat. Still holding up fine through the winter.

How did you keep the rings silver? Does it pop off the center cap or did you mask it off?

[banger2392t1]

How did you keep the rings silver? Does it pop off the center cap or did you mask it off?

x2

[CONTROL ONE]

How did you keep the rings silver? Does it pop off the center cap or did you mask it off?

They pop out. That was my favourite touch

[cocom4zzy]

control one, your rims look super clean. what kind of clear coat are you using?

[Dimcorner]

Graphite Duplicolor with 2 layers of clear on them.




It's about 7 bucks per can.
you need 2 cans of primer
2 cans of color
2 ans of clear
800 girt and 1000 grit sand paper

so I wet sanded with 800 first.
2 coats of filler primer (10 min dry between them).
wet sand with 800 again lightly, a little more on the areas that were scratched. (at this point there was a deeper scratch so i sprayed a bit more filler primer on that area, dry, and sand down again).
1 light coat of graphite, 1 coat to make sure all nooks are covered, and one final light over coat to make sure all is even (10 mins between coats).
I then waited 20 min to have the paint dry well, then did a VERY VERY light sanding of the graphite coat with the 1000 girt. Seems that the graphite has a lot of flake in it so i smoothed it out a little. Get a rag and dust off all excess.
2 light coats of clear (10 mins between, didn't want them glossy so light coats).
Let dry overnight.

I then got some rubbing compound and did a light buff on make them look even.

Biggest tip:
Don't over spray! Multiple light coats is WAY better than one wet spot. I had a wet spot and I just had to wait about 15 mins to dry it then just do the light sanding, clean off, and do a light over coat. The texture of the graphite will cover it up.