Refinished fuchs--WAY more work then I planned

[JonT]

It seems the guys that bead blasted my wheels used too aggressive of media which made it very difficult to get the mirror polished finish I wanted. This is just the first wheel I'm hoping the next 3 don't take nearly as long. I do like how it turned out it was just a very tedious learning process.

[Gianni at Pelican Parts]

Nice color choice. Polishing by hand or using some rotary machine?

[JonT]

I did the bulk of the sanding with a dewalt 5" polisher with sanding pads down to 80 grit. I found that I couldnt avoid hand sanding as much as I wanted to. I took the dewalt pads up to a 1500 grit then went back and hand sanded from 320 on up to 1500 again. The circular motion of the pads was leaving marks that had to be hand sanded out. It's definitely not as easy as I was expecting to get a mirror finish.

[proporsche]

looks very nice;-)

Ivan

[proporsche]

..

[JonT]

Finally on the car now with some Yokohama A052's. Nice sticky tire with a very stiff sidewall so it tightened up the steering response. Very happy with the new look.

[bahman]

Another technique to speed up the polishing process and reduce manual sanding labor is to make the rear of the car act as a lathe:

1. Raise and stabilize the rear of car (jack stands on both sides and floor jack under engine.)
2. Start the car and run it in 4th or 5th gear to rotate the wheels.
3. Wrap proper-grit sandpaper around a flex-pad sanding pad and hold it against the surface to be sanded. Keep a trickling supply of water on the sanding pad.
4. Run it until desire surface finish is achieved.
5. Use metal polish (I use Turtle Wax Professional Metal Polish) and a micro fiber rag to achieve the desired high luster.
6. Apply ceramic coating to prevent tarnishing.

Needless to say, extreme caution must be exercised while the engine is running and wheels rotating. I would not recommend going beyond Step 2 if the car begins to vibrate; may consider lowering the rotation speed.

[proporsche]

looks nice and original ,i like that ..i`d just make the targa bar sign in blue as well so it is balanced

Ivan

[Tea Tray]

When I saw just the wheels I was… like….well…
Then when I saw the stripes, wheels and car I am WOW!
Looks like a barbell, planted, strong, a very powerful statement.
Well done!

[911pcars]

6. Apply ceramic coating to prevent tarnishing.

That would be a "car wax" polish containing "ceramic elements", in popular use today as opposed to a high temp ceramic coating (e.g. Cerakote). BTW, Cerakote offers a chrome-like ceramic coating. However, have yet to see it applied to a Fuchs wheel.

As long as you're able to maintain that polished, but unprotected surface (e.g. anodizing), should be fine.

Sherwood

[TeeJayHoward]

*sees first photo* Well, to each their own.
*sees final product* Damn, I was wrong.

Looks great, man!

[canamfan]

They look the part of being well worth the effort, great job on tying in the colour with graphic, very sweet over all

[88911coupe]

These wheels are stunning. Can I ask what type of paint you used? I used some wheel paint many years ago on my wheels and it's held up pretty well but thinking of doing it again.

[Reiver]

Nice work...your garage is the heat btw....sweet

[cabmandone]

A LOAD of work... but soooooooooo worth it when done. Great job!

[Frog76S]

We’ll Done! Great blue color choice and you tied it together nicely with the Carrera stripe without over doing it. One of if not the best none Fuchs original wheel colors I’ve seen executed.

Nice garage space too！

[JonT]

Originally Posted by 88911coupe

These wheels are stunning. Can I ask what type of paint you used? I used some wheel paint many years ago on my wheels and it's held up pretty well but thinking of doing it again.

I bought the stripes from a Pelicanite and took them to a local paint shop to match. As it turned out the color was Mexico Blue which worked out perfectly. I used 2 coats of primer, two coats of paint and two coats of clear with sanding in between on the primer coats and paint coats as necessary using a 1200 grit paper. I've never really gotten the perfect results using a rattle can before but the key was the sanding in between coats and patience carefully wiping everything clean with lint free towels after sanding. The finish turned out really nice. There definitely is an art to laying down the right 'heavyness' of coat to get a good finish.

Thanks for the kudos I love how it turned out--looks much better in person I will say.

[88911coupe]

Mexico Blue, and some other blue (Albert) are some of my favorite Porsche colors...as well as some oranges like Signal. Both my 911 have been Guards red...not very adventurous.

[BK911]

Originally Posted by TeeJayHoward

*sees first photo* Well, to each their own.
*sees final product* Damn, I was wrong.

Looks great, man!

Yup.
Maybe a polished center cap???

[BK911]

Great looking car!
Love the polished targa bar.
Thinking about polished window trim????
Next level!
And a 3.6?
I think "it" moved!!