Just re finished my fuchs wheels RSR style
 

Please tell me what do you think. This is the first time that I do this and it was only after Magnus Walker posted how he painted his deep sevens that I was inspired to do my 6x15.

EDITED Pictures did not load the first time, sorry. I have done it right below.

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Hard to tell without pictures.... :)

To be perfectly honest, they don't look like much at all

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I'm sorry my pics did not load the first time


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1379648829.jpg
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I like them a lot. Very nice.

Yes very inspiring. So which thread did you use to get finishing details?

Funny thing, I'm getting used to looking at pictures of guys shoes, never thought that I would.

Make certain you clean all the paint out of the lug seats. Don't want lug nuts coming loose first time they get hot.

+1 on that.

As far as the paint goes, this is the best idea I've seen but I'd like some tips on getting the RSR finish on the petals.

Restore Fuchs Wheels DIY | Featured Cars | The Motoring Journal

Those look sweet. I'm waiting on my 7"s to come back from TrueDesign as 11"s :D
They'll have the RSR finish as well but I'll be doing my 9"s myself. I'm also curious about which technique you used. Do tell.
By the way, great advise about removing the paint behind the lug nuts.
Never would have thought of that. Gotta love PP

In the tutorial it looks like he is only using black paint. Hard to tell from your pics, but are you using white and black paint?

Yay Magnus

Method
 

I saw a post in Magnus Walker's blog telling that he prefers to paint his wheels instead to having them re-anodized so I set out to do the same. I contacted a friend who has a some experience in auto paint and we discussed the possible ideas to copy the effect of white anodizing. We decided to mix the smallest-flake white pearl base we could find with a tiny bit of black to give it the grey/silver sub tone. Once we got the color right, we tested this base coat using a matte clear coat on top in different percentages of matte until the finish was indistinguishable from a white-anodized aluminum ashtray we had on hand and which we used for deciding the necessary reflection and texture. Since 6jX15 fuchs are not that deep, we decided not to polish the lip but to use two different percentages of matte in the clear coat, a satin-matte finish in the rim lip(40%) and an almost full matte on the center and petals(85%). After that we just masked them and painted the satin black single stage.
I have to say that before we started, we sand-blasted the wheels lightly first for best adhesion, and maybe this also contributed in the finish.
Cheers.
MD

Interesting idea he had about pouring a quart of paint in each wheel. You'd sure want them to be level.

What grit and type of sandblast media did you use?

Thanks
 

Arne2 Thank you for the tip regarding the lug seats.

And thanks to all for the comments, I will do some 7jX15 and 9jX15 that I have for a future project this weekend, and this time I will do them with the polished lip like the ones that Magnus does.
MD

I want to send my wheels to your painting friend!

Do you have a link to the Magnus blog post?

url
 

Here is the link to Magnus Walker"s blog where he talks about the process, it does not go into a lot of details here but I know he uses paint on the petals as well. The end result of the his grayish petals is a result of his own mix. Harvey Weidman's true anodizing ends up whiter so I decided to follow an object that I had on hand and that had white anodizing on it to determine my mix. I believe there are many hues to the anodizing since every picture you find in the web of the RSR fuchs seems a little different to the next, so I thought that the hue did not matter as much as the texture and the reflectiveness of the surface to imitate as well as I could an anodized piece.

MagnusWalker911: DIY RIM REFINISHINGl

Nice work on the silver. Did you immerse the wheels in paint or tape/mask/spray?

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I tried to immerse the first wheel (I had them all prep'd for it) and I ran into all sorts of trouble I did not expect. The paint bubbled in the pouring distorting the edges, the taped underside collapsed because the catalyzer in the paint ate away the tape's adhesive and the paint reacted differently along the top edge as it rose up, making the top line distorted. I decided it was a technique I needed much more experimenting with, so I compromised by tape-masking the remaining three wheels as well as re-doing the first one from scratch to paint it conventionally.

When masking off the petals and rim how do you get the tape formed on the petals like magnus did? It looks like you almost have to mask with tape and then shape with a blade. The rim looks workable but the petal curves and radials looks very hard to do.

Use some fine line masking tape - it's narrow and flexible - and then use a good painter's grade masking tape to cover the petals just over the fine line tape. You need a flexible vinyl tape near the edge to give you that sharp transition, so that it won't allow feathering and bleeding like many traditional masking tapes will.

I think those wheels came out beyond beautiful!

The problem with this finish is keeping them clean!!!GLWT!!!Great looking wheels!, cheers.

^ really?? I would think the automotive paint (with hardener) would be easy to clean? Just like washing a car.

Those look great. Someday maybe......

Sorry, I thought it was RSR type finish to the last detail, not RSR "style", the original RSR finish was a pain (and is) to clean.,cheers, Stef.

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Yes mamut I stated from the first post that it was RSR style since I am only imitating with several paint processes, as close as I can, the original anodized finish of the RSR wheels. An anodized piece of aluminum is cleaner than "natural" or non-anodized aluminum, which is very porous, but since the surface of a painted piece is nonporous it certainly stays cleaner and needs just a light wash to keep spotless. One other reason for one to have this done very close to home is the fact that in the real world, wheels scrape. There is no way to avoid all road obstacles and wheels receive a daily abuse just in "normal" driving situations. How would you feel to see your $$$$ Harvey Weidman-anodized RSR gems, which took 5 months to return from his heavily demanded shop, scraped by a pothole. I'd rather know that I can re-do my RSR finish with little $, little work, and have them back on the road in three days, to me it is a no-brainier. I have all the respect for the great wheel shops, but I recommend you either do it yourself if you have the tools and knowledge, or find the nearest shop who is willing to experiment with your ideas. You'll find that if you take the plunge it will be a huge money-saving, time-efficient and satisfying project that will make you self-sufficient in the "my wheels are always perfect" department.

Do you have a picture for an example of fine line masking tape. My wheels are polished throughout and I want to put the black back on them. Doing them myself makes me f***ing paranoid of messing something up. The popular wheel restoration guys (Harvey and Al) just have too long of a turnaround. I was thinking I could mask them off and spray paint them. Has anyone done that or know if that's an option

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/...psb5865f9e.jpg?
http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7f5ecfea.jpg
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The fine line tape is just a narrow tape, and thus more flexible for making curves. It's typically made of vinyl or a similar type plastic that will leave a sharp edge to the paint. You won't get any feathering or bleed like many types of "masking tape" will allow. I believe fine line is actually a brand name, but it refers to any narrow tape that is flexible for precise masking. The vinyl tape, as opposed to the paperish kinda stuff, will give you the best, sharpest edge. Some people have used electrical tape with success, but I prefer to use the proper tool for the job.

Just mask the edges with the fine tape (I would probably use 3/16 or 1/4 inch wide stuff) and then cover the rest of the wheel you don't want painted. Just make sure it's onto the edge tape, with some good, regular old masking tape. Just be sure it is stuck down really good.

You can find this kind of fine masking tape at any automotive paint shop, and probably many other places like Napa, your FLAPS, or maybe even Home Depot or Lowes. There's nothing really special about it other than its flexibility and the edge it will leave.

The fine line tape is just a narrow tape, and thus more flexible for making curves. It's typically made of vinyl or a similar type plastic that will leave a sharp edge to the paint. You won't get any feathering or bleed like many types of "masking tape" will allow. I believe fine line is actually a brand name, but it refers to any narrow tape that is flexible for precise masking. The vinyl tape, as opposed to the paperish kinda stuff, will give you the best, sharpest edge. Some people have used electrical tape with success, but I prefer to use the proper tool for the job.

Just mask the edges with the fine tape (I would probably use 3/16 or 1/4 inch wide stuff) and then cover the rest of the wheel you don't want painted. Just make sure it's onto the edge tape, with some good, regular old masking tape. Just be sure it is stuck down really good.

You can find this kind of fine masking tape at any automotive paint shop, and probably many other places like Napa, your FLAPS, or maybe even Home Depot or Lowes. There's nothing really special about it other than its flexibility and the edge it will leave.

Here's an example:

I used eighth inch vinyl pin striping tape, from pep boys, to outline the border areas. I followed that with black vinyl electrical tape, and, finally, blue masking tape to fill in the open spaces. Sanded the area to be painted with 800 grit, primed with black self etching primer and top coated with wurth satin black.

You also need to protect the lug nut recesses. You don't want paint on the mating surfaces. I masked the exposed areas of the nuts with electrical tape and set them in place before spraying.

There are many variations on this theme - especially on paint choices.

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Thanks Joe. You guys really got balls taking things like that on. The photos have given me a world of confidence to try. One more photo though please. The finished product.

Bob

After looking at a few threads on here I got mine done.
Not that happy with how they turned out but there ok.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps8b5a44cf.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf7ccc157.jpg
Definitely look good on darker colored cars.

Finished set
 

Here is the end result of the set.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1380080683.jpg

Sweet...

I did a set of 7/9x16 years ago. The original black paint on the wheels was excellent, so I masked off the area I did NOT want to have the anodized look, then media blasted the paint off the spokes, etc. The end result looked a LOT like anodized aluminum alloy. Sorry I don't have any pics.

I used electrical tape for the masking and it worked perfectly. It stretches around all of the curves. -- Matt

Fuch wheel - tape
 

After trying a few different types of tape, I found the 3M fine detailing tape worked best. Taping off the pedals requires the tape to be flexible yet seal. Especially in the tight space near the lug nut area. Absolutely no bleed. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1381679838.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1381679906.jpg

I should clarify that the 3M fine line tape under the masking tape is 1/4 width. Again, worked great.

I'm impressed, looks great. I just wished I had the skills to do that. I hope one of you live nearby so I can bring my rims and have it done.

Thanks for your contribution. Your wheels look great.
I've been watching these RSR finishing threads for some time. What did you choose for your paints?