Wheel finish

niner11 · 05-19-2005, 05:08 PM

I have searched and probably read most of the fuchs threads on the board and still I'm not sure how to finish my wheels.

I'm leaning towards something like this

but I may refinish my 7's and 8's to look stock

Here is the question: What grit is required to have the brushed aluminum look of fuchs from the 1980's. If I go this route I'll clear coat the whole wheel and then go back and paint the center wurths satin black.

Here is the car with twists, 993 mirrors and a turbo tail. A little bit of an identity crisis but it shows well. I still have the the flag mirrors and a no tail decklid if I put the fuchs back on it. Been trying to decide for a few weeks now and I'm not making much progress. Your opinions are welcome

cbeers · 05-19-2005, 05:22 PM

The Fuchs should already be the "finish" that you are looking for unless they have already been polished. I would guess that for a flat "brushed" look that maybe 600 grit would be about right. It would be tricky to get the grains to come accross clean though. I would think that you may end up with uneven "lines" from the sandpaper. I went to 600 before painting the centers of mine when I refinished them. For the polished outer lips, I went all the way to 1500 before polishing compounds.

Hope this helped more than hurt

-Chris

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Everything goes with basic black. I would polish the petals and lips to show contrast like in your first picture. That brushed or frosted look will be nice too. You can't go wrong when you have such a nice car to start with. Try one flavor and change later if you like. Nothing is forever.

niner11 · 05-19-2005, 06:29 PM

Chris, unfortunately this is what my 8's looked like before I started the Al Reed treatment.

I had to sand the lips pretty agressively to get rid of the curb rash so I'll probably go the polished route for now.

Terry, thanks for the input

Here is a pic that shows the turbo tail from the previous owner. Loved it when I bought the car but as it gets older I'm inclined to go back to stock. BTW, I'm going to put the rest of it back together, door handles and all.