I want to paint my Fuchs, need advice

[Hulley]

So, I figured I'd save a few bucks and paint my Fuchs instead of paying the $400 for powder coating, the finish is terrible and the tires are flat spotted so I thought, Why not?

I recall forum members saying the anodizing would need to be removed and not sure how to do this and I'm sure the painted portion would just be sanded as normal.

The tires will be removed first and I plan on painting the whole wheel one color, so there will not be a silver/polished/anodized ring.

Any advice on removing the anodizing and then what primer to use? I'll probably use Duplicolor or some other wheel specific paint.

Thanks,

[Showdown]

I went through giving my folks and RSR refinishing and here were the steps that I took;

Glass bead blasting of the wheels, this removes all of the anodizing and prepares the aluminum with a really gorgeous velvety texture for paint. It’s absolutely critical to keep it clean however so make sure you have a good degreasers and wear gloves when handling the wheels and mask off the raw aluminum when polishing. It cost me $80 for four wheels to be blasted

Next I polished the lips of the rims to a mirror finish… there are many ways to do this and you’ll have to choose which equipment and materials best suit you but I used a 5 inch polishing wheel with a bunch of different sanding discs. I used WD-40 up until the final polishing and it gave a lovely finish.

After that I masked off the polished areas with tape and primed the entire wheel with a high temp etching primer. Not totally necessary as the bead blasted surface was already receptive to paint. You can use a basic primer or possibly even skip this step.

For the paint I chose to use VHT wheel paint in satin black. It’s held up fine but if I were to do it again I might consider using 2K satin black in a rattle can for added durability.

For the silver are used a Krylon if I recall correctly that almost perfectly matches the color of the raw aluminum. If I were to do it again I would probably just spray to 2K clear on the raw aluminum to protect it

All told it probably cost $200 for all 4 wheels and they look fantastic. Total time was probably 2 hours per wheel, maybe a bit more.

[theiceman]

i just taped off the anodized area and hit it with a rattle can.. as a feasibility study/ temp measure until i could save enough to have them redone by a pro. .. 10 years later still looks great .

[theiceman]

couple pics





did the wurth Satin Black.

of course the rim is scratched up a little on this one , but was still way better than the before pic and its no a concourse car ( 100K) in the last 15 years .

[PFNog]

There’s a nice PCA tech segment on YouTube about wheel refinishing for Fuchs and other wheels. Lots of info there, might not answer your specific questions, but good info nonetheless. They just posted it recently.

[Hulley]

Originally Posted by Showdown

I went through giving my folks and RSR refinishing and here were the steps that I took;

Glass bead blasting of the wheels, this removes all of the anodizing and prepares the aluminum with a really gorgeous velvety texture for paint. It’s absolutely critical to keep it clean however so make sure you have a good degreasers and wear gloves when handling the wheels and mask off the raw aluminum when polishing. It cost me $80 for four wheels to be blasted

Next I polished the lips of the rims to a mirror finish… there are many ways to do this and you’ll have to choose which equipment and materials best suit you but I used a 5 inch polishing wheel with a bunch of different sanding discs. I used WD-40 up until the final polishing and it gave a lovely finish.

After that I masked off the polished areas with tape and primed the entire wheel with a high temp etching primer. Not totally necessary as the bead blasted surface was already receptive to paint. You can use a basic primer or possibly even skip this step.

For the paint I chose to use VHT wheel paint in satin black. It’s held up fine but if I were to do it again I might consider using 2K satin black in a rattle can for added durability.

For the silver are used a Krylon if I recall correctly that almost perfectly matches the color of the raw aluminum. If I were to do it again I would probably just spray to 2K clear on the raw aluminum to protect it

All told it probably cost $200 for all 4 wheels and they look fantastic. Total time was probably 2 hours per wheel, maybe a bit more.

Thank Julian, I was thinking of painting the entire wheel but maybe I'll give the lip polishing a go and see how that turns out, I'm wanting to go with a bronze finish and that might look pretty good with the silver lip.

[Showdown]

I say go for it- worst case you can scuff and paint the wheel

Here are some photos of mine in various stages:

[Mike8819]

Refinishing Fuchs for Dummies

[Hulley]

Ok, dumb question.

The square piece with a hook, are only on my rear wheels, is there a specific reason for that? Do I need it on there?

[Hulley]

Originally Posted by Mike8819

Refinishing Fuchs for Dummies

Thank you, I saved the thread as a reference.

[Showdown]

Valve stem support. I think they're needed for 7" and wider as my 6" don't have them.

[Hulley]

Originally Posted by Showdown

Valve stem support. I think they're needed for 7" and wider as my 6" don't have them.

Thanks, that's kinda what I was thinking but threw me off as my fronts (6") don't have them either.

[Uwon]

See mypost#91 in
Evolution of a Carrera RST

Rims still look great after many years and lots of miles…



Cheers,
Johan

[Flat6pac]

Using electrical tape to tape off the anodizing works extremely well because it’s flexible.
Bruce

[Hulley]

Originally Posted by Uwon

See mypost#91 in
Evolution of a Carrera RST

Rims still look great after many years and lots of miles…



Cheers,
Johan

Now that was cool, they look amazing!

[Hulley]

Got them painted over the weekend, not even close to perfect but I think they came out pretty good. Went with Duplicolor Bronze and glossy clear coat.
Thanks for the help, everyone!

[fallingat120mph]

Originally Posted by Showdown

I say go for it- worst case you can scuff and paint the wheel

Here are some photos of mine in various stages:

Did you just cut a piece of material in the shape of a circle for the 5 holes?

I've seen folks just paint them, but was informed to try and keep them clean/unpainted.



Thanks!
Erik

[fallingat120mph]

Originally Posted by JFairman

Easiest way to keep paint out of the lug holes is smear a thin layer of vasaline in them before spraying paint.
The paint won't dry/stick in them and can be wiped out with a rag afterward.

Found this from another thread. May just go this route...Taping just seems like a killer in time consumption.


Any advice is welcome...

Erik

[Showdown]

I cut a piece of thin board (cardstock) for each hole. A quarter is almost perfect. If you don't like cutting things, I thin that a soda bottle cap is also the same size. Really, it's not massively important to keep all the paint out as the first time you tighten the nuts, the paint is removed.

[fallingat120mph]

Originally Posted by Showdown

I cut a piece of thin board (cardstock) for each hole. A quarter is almost perfect. If you don't like cutting things, I thin that a soda bottle cap is also the same size. Really, it's not massively important to keep all the paint out as the first time you tighten the nuts, the paint is removed.

Many thanks!

I have been snooping around the garage the last hour for caps, etc, as you have stated.

Might try the Vaseline trick for the primer just to test...

I guess with light enough layering a thin cardboard, etc shouldn't blow out of the hole. That was my concern.

Anyway, thanks again for verifying and have a great Holiday season.


Erik