Fuchs refinish the scotch-brite way

[kilodawg]

I always wanted to try this approach and now that I added a '73 to the stable which happens to need it's wheels refinished I figured I'd give it a try.

I picked up a spare wheel to start with that required some serious cosmetic attention. I started with this one first. That way I can do them one at a time and take the time to do them right. Also since this one was in the roughest shape of them all I know the others will come out at least this good.

Before:





After:

[Peterfrans]

wow

[Scooter]

Originally posted by Peterfrans
wow

+1

[Facey]

Originally posted by Peterfrans
wow

x2
+1

[BlueSideUp]

Wow for sure! Any details on your technique and masking? That looks really good.

[TroyGT]

They look fantastic, I especially like the trick photography in picture #4 with Oprah looking through the center hub. Too funny.

Rims looks great though... are the petals polished or painted? How did you mask like that? Very hard tape lines make for great looks. Nice job.

-Troy

[call911]

Beautiful!!! Like an RSR finish. Details please! Hopefully, Bob Tilton (AKA "Mr. Scotchbrite") can chime in with some thoughts.

Scotch Brite on polished fuchs results...

[JonT]

nice project--looks fantastic--now for some pics on the car

[Paulporsche]

Excellent!

Have you Scotchbrited the clear anodizing, leaving it intact? Or have you removed the anodizing, and buffed the aluminum itself?

[2002M3Drew]

Super sweet!

[zithlord]

Nice, nice, nice !

I am just in the process of refurbishing 4 deep six rims I bought at this board. My god a lot of work removing deep scratches with air tool with 3M ro-lock disc's and wet sanding(200, 400, 600, 800, 1000) with wd40.

What grade scothsbright did you use for the final finish?

How the h... did you manage to mask the perfect lines? I have some problems with getting the correct original line because the old paint has been sanded off!


John

[bob tilton]

NICE job! The question I get asked most is how do you preserve them? I have found mineral spirits to be the best cleaner after a wash to clean up brake dust and water stains. Otherwise they are less maintenance than polished wheels.
BTW, Harvey really likes the Scotch Brite finish.
More here:
Scotch Brite on polished fuchs results...

[kilodawg]

Thanks everybody!

I just used the techniques that I read on Bob Tilton's thread and plenty of patience.

Nothing was difficult just time consuming. Since I've refinished Fuchs before I have experience stripping paint, anodizing and polishing but I was always on a time table. This time I didn't have one so I decided I would remove every defect from the areas that would be brushed aluminum.

That took a lot of time and I mean A LOT of time.

I started the worst spots with 80 grit then 100, 180 and 220. The good part was that since I wasn't going for a high polish I could skip that complication. As soon as I completed the 220 I switched over to the 3M pads (from the local body shop) first red-medium and finally gray-fine.

Paint was the Rustoleum Satin Black and the taping was done with Scotch electrical tape (the best IMHO) around the petals where you need that tapes ability to hold a curve and blue painters tape around the rim where you need something that holds a line better.

That's about it. Without this great board I would not have been able to do it!

[austin552]

Kilo what is your address? I have four more for you.
It looks F'nA!!

[JV911SYDNEY]

dude!

awesome!!!

[kilodawg]

Here's the car. Still a work in progress (the correct '73 bumper guards are on their way) but very presentable...

It will look a lot better with the wheels refinished.





Again without this forum the car would not be in my garage now!

[kilodawg]

Zithlord,

About the lines let me tell you what I did to see if there is a better way. I read here somewhere where one of the guys made a template to guarantee even spacing. I wasn't that innovative. I figured I'd probably screw that up and get frustrated with the whole process.

Since I've got 4 more to do I have plenty of opportunity to modify my process.

Even though I sanded away all vestiges of previous paint lines, The key points I used each have reference lines in relation to key features on the wheel.

Also, I continually kept in mind that these things were dipped so the paint line would all be consistent all around.

Here's what I used, the area around the lug by the hub is set first because when that is level and the right height you can go all the way down two adjacent paddles.

For the base of the paddle, I sighted over the edge of the rim and that provided a good reference line to see that I was running straight and true.

Finally, at the corners of the paddle it's pretty easy to judge the width between the taped curve and the cutouts in the wheel. Be sure they are of a consistent width across all paddles.

That's it.

[bob tilton]

The scotch brite finish will look great on that car! The other benefit of having raw wheels is that you can fix scratches/cat urine in less than one half hour!

[Zef]

Cool and hyper clean job...

[Eric-325I]

Thanks a lot Kilowdawg!!! Another project to add the list!

Looks great!!! :-)

Eric