Need tips for BBS mahle paint

[MathieuD]

Hi,

I bought a set of black 15" 7 and 8 BBS mahle from a pelican fellow, and I will need your help for paint.
I had them sand blasted to remove the black paint, and now they are in a kind of shiny gray very raw paint. There were supposedly ready for paint, but the shop where I brought them is not entirely agreeing with me.
I want them gold in the center and either polished or anodized on the outside and on the lips.
Here are some pictures:
Let me know what I should do, and if I can do it by myself.
thanks
Mathieu

[sc_rufctr]

Are you sure that's grey paint on there?

It looks like raw aluminium to me.

[safe]

That's raw aluminum. Quite the job to get that lip polished....

[NY65912]

Lots of sanding and polishing, it can be done with much effort. Believe me....I know. Start sanding with 240 grit and keep moving on up to 1200-1500 grit. Get buffing wheels and polishing rouge and go at it. Figure a day a wheel. Your fingers will ache.

I found the Eastwood Yellow Cad spray paint to be an acceptable match to BBS gold with is almost impossible to find.

[RMR73]

Eastwood has a gold wheel paint that is very close to the color you want

[MathieuD]

Thanks a lot for the advices!
I will dig in these directions!

[safe]

There are several shades of BBS gold depending on year. Find a gold one that looks good, because finding the right color is really hard. You could find a nice wheel and have a paint shop match that.

[Clay.0]

I think the Eastwood gold has been discontinued. Just pick a gold you like and go with it. Once on the car you won't be able to tell.

I'd take them to a polishing shop and let them do the polishing of the lips. Yes, you can spend hours sanding but it'll never come out as clean and scratch free as a shop with the right tools. There is a shop in Houston that I use that would do it for about $50/wheel.

[NY65912]

You can order the gold only, not the whole kit. I must admit, I like to polish, OCD, probably.

Eastwood Golden Cad System

[Clay.0]

The Eastwood cad looks good.

I was referring to the Eastwood Vintage Gold - I think this has been discontinued. It's no longer on the site and a few months back they had it all 50% off. I bought 6 and they were all bad and didn't spray well. The color was really nice though.

[MathieuD]

Well, after a closer look to the rims. The sand blasting marked a lot the aluminium leaving it very rough. If I would have known that…
Anyway, at a shop here, the guy was asking $200 per wheel for diamond removing the marked surface which would remove a layer of material. I was not really in favor.
According to him a polishing process would be even more expensive...
So I took back the rims, and start to sand paper them…. Even with a high level of motivation, it's going to be tough. After several attempts, I am still seeing the marks in the aluminum…

I will give an other try. An other alternative would be powder coating...

[juanbenae]

I was wondering if the sand blasting was the way to go. you might consider just clear coating them now with that texture might be different cool. IMO the gold centers are very, very dated & not appealing. I have a set of the single piece like you and another set of the 3-piece bbs. I got the one piece a few years back after having been freshly finished in gray with a clear coat. they clear coat has been cooked off by race use, but still are a very appealing look from where I stand. the 3 piece set I bought this past summer off craigslist were really old. i did some painting and refinishing myself.

with a small angle grinder, a buffing pad and some polishing compound I did these lips in about 30 minutes each. look at the one remaing wheel with the milky pre shine finish.






here's a shot of the single piece that I may do the lips on this winter.




here is a finish shot of the gray centers I did instead of the gold after the lip shine was all done.



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