polishing the Fuch, how hard can it be?

[James Brown]

Decided that the dark holes at the corners needed a little perking up so I gathered some tools of destruction and dove in.

Started slow and soon the power tool were singing, had to grind through several layers of old paint and clear to get down to the metal. The anodizing is tuff stuff and it took me several hours just to do a half a$$ attempt at one peddle! There must be a better way so I searched for a post on re finishing wheels (search=friend). Found several good ones on just painting them, hummm, that sounds good right about now (3 hours into this so far).

Off to Lowe's for some supplies and found some satin nickle that matches fairly good. A quick scuff of the wheels and a good 2 coats did the trick.

Now for the masking, that took a few attempts with electrical tape but got the hang of it.

A shot of satin black and now wait to unmask my hard work. They turned out pretty good if I might say and a heck of a lot easer!


I will take some pics of them on the car in the daylight for a final look but for now, i'm happy. Thanks to all for keeping me sane (sort of). And yes, I cleaned out the lug nut holes prior to putting them back on the car!!

[snbush67]

They, look great !

[Emission]

Beautiful!

- Mike

[tcar]

You should NOT paint the lug bolt seats. You cannot properly torque the lugs (and have them stay torqued) with paint in there. Looks like you have 2 coats, silver and black.

I just put a wad of masking tape in the lug seats when I paint wheels.

Get out your dremmel and remove it.

They look GREAT! I like the satin finish on the petals.

[McLovin]

I wrap up 5 lug nuts with aluminum foil and set them in place before spraying the wheels. Works perfectly to keep the paint out of the lug seat area.

[Gunter]

+1

Do not paint the holes for the lug nuts.

I know one case where all nuts came loose after painting; not good.

[snbush67]

Originally Posted by James Brown

And yes, I cleaned out the lug nut holes prior to putting them back on the car!!

Guys, You must of been distracted by the pictures, read his post, he cleaned the lug nut holes.

[dshepp806]

Originally Posted by snbush67

Guys, You must of been distracted by the pictures, read his post, he cleaned the lug nut holes.

+1 on THAT!!!!!!


Doyle

[kolies]

Did you end up removing the existing paint and anodizing? Or painted over it?

If you did remove it all, was there an easier way?

[James Brown]

I just scuffed up the paint. If I could have removed the tires or had another set of wheels, than yes would have removed the anodizing.
Hears some pics of them in the daylight. I think they look ok but not 100%, might have it grow on me. But, only a can of paint away from changing it back.

[kolies]

Thanks. They look really good. Much better than before, and much better than mine look.

[Drisump]

I likey... wish I had the time to do that, as it is, the houses "to do " list is getting mighty long. My wheels, like most others, have the totally black center and aluminum outer ring, nice, but a little too understated. Nice work.

[al lkosmal]

James,
Those look like they turned out nicely. you are correct on removing the anodization. It is a PITA. I had mine media blasted 1st, which provided a nice surface, but did not remove all of the finish. The rest of it was done with the tools of destruction in my garage. I did, at one time during my resto project, try a different finish on each wheel...to see which was nicest. The painted version looked great.

PS: Lake Whatcom in the background?

Regards,
al

[James Brown]

Hey Al, thanks, no that's Toad lake (or Emerald lake as it's called now).