DIY: Customized Wheels *Pics RE-hosted*

[LAFENGAS]

Rehosting all my dead linked pictures. Mods, feel free to merge the threads.
original thread: http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12469

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I performed a similar project last spring, but wasn’t very happy with the results. Instead of giving the lips a brushed look like i did last year, i decided to polish them. Also last year, I painted the rims the color i wanted… this time i sucked it up and powder coated them a color i bit darker then i originally wanted to. My main reason was for more contrast between the centers and the lips.

Anyway, without getting too much into detail.

1.) Sandblasting took about 6 hrs.
2.) Sanding/Buffing took about 4 hrs.
3.) Polishing took about 10 hrs.

4.) Masking took about 2 hrs.
5.) All powder coating took about 4 hrs.

Here are pics of all of the steps:

Wheel polishing. I used a drill, the air grinder was freezing my hand.

after wheel polishing:

starting masking off the polished lip to protect it from powdercoating.

I thought this was a cool idea. I went to the local BMW dealership and took all of the used wheelweights they had thrown away at the time. Removed the two sided tape from the backside and sandblasted them. This way I could powdercoat them to match my wheels, and they won’t stick out.

Here the lip is completely masked and hung, awaiting the powder.

Freshly applied “Gunmetal” powder:

Started to melt the powder and took them out of the oven to remove the masking. By doing this, i remove the masking while the powder is soft (like tacky paint). If i removed this when the powder was fully cured, it would peel the powdercoat and i wouldn’t get a nice clean edge.

Outermost masking removed:

and the inner masking removed…fully exposing my polished lips:

Still not done, i want to protect the aluminum from any kind of corrosion and from road debris… so i clearcoat the entire rim. I goes on white, but will cure absolutely clear.

Spraying the clear:

and fresh out of the oven in their completed stage:

for pimp factor, matching wheel weights. Here it’s just placed on to show matching color. The weights were PC’d seperately:

VOILA!

Installed:

[2TurboZ]

Hansel…he is so hot right now.

[Mrs_Karus]

very nice work!

[JDMSIR]

Looks good, where did you go to get them done and how much was it?

[TrueBlue]

We expect nothing less from you :tup:

[2TurboZ]

[quote=“JDMSIR,post:4,topic:25490"”]

Looks good, where did you go to get them done and how much was it?

[/quote]

:lol: x 11 T Billion

[King]

[quote=“JDMSIR,post:4,topic:25490"”]

Looks good, where did you go to get them done and how much was it?

[/quote]

are you serious?

[Schema]

Did the coating not want to get in those corners? Did the paint “push” itself from tight corners from being charged?

[camarojoe]

Looks like you got them coated at Carl’s shop. He’s the only one with that much crap in the shop.

Look good though. You showing it at WOW?

[Anonymity]

[quote=“camarojoe,post:9,topic:25490"”]

Looks like you got them coated at Carl’s shop. He’s the only one with that much crap in the shop.

Look good though. You showing it at WOW?

[/quote]

that is was what i was thinking…

[LAFENGAS]

[quote=“Schema,post:8,topic:25490"”]

Did the coating not want to get in those corners? Did the paint “push” itself from tight corners from being charged?

[/quote]

I took the picture before the powder was completely sprayed. When PCing, charge densities build up, usually on corners, and the powder refuses to stick. You need to move the ground around to allow the PC to stick everywhere.

[quote=“camarojoe,post:9,topic:25490"”]

Looks like you got them coated at Carl’s shop. He’s the only one with that much crap in the shop.

Look good though. You showing it at WOW?

[/quote]

yeah, i did that at Carl’s place. He had the color i wanted and I didn’t want to puchase a 20+lb box of powder, when i only needed about 2-3lbs

I don’t know if WOW is going to happen at this point.

[jay_g]

[quote=“LAFENGAS”"]

1.) Sandblasting took about 6 hrs.

[/quote]

Why did it take 6 hours to blast them? Should have flown threw that.

[LAFENGAS]

[quote=“num482,post:12,topic:25490"”]

Why did it take 6 hours to blast them? Should have flown threw that.

[/quote]

the original primer coat was epoxy based and a hell of a time to blast off using aluminum oxide. I didn’t want to go crazy with a too aggressive blasting medium either.

I originally took 1 wheel to a sandblaster to see if they had a good method of removing it… charged me $150 for one wheel, so i decided to do it myself.

I even tried using paint stripper before blasting:

the light grey spots are the epoxy primer.

[newman]

ask suzukiriderman about removing the epoxy on my wheels…

and, god, lafengas = ricer.

[jay_g]

ok, makes since them. Nice work.

[LAFENGAS]

[quote=“newman,post:14,topic:25490"”]

and, god, lafengas = ricer.

[/quote]

werd.

[ryanmcell]

This car other than being labeled LAFENGAS everywhere is insanely custom. Do you have any full photos of the car? All I keep seeing is bits and pieces of custom rim, custom seats, custom bumper, custom ROOF. I wanna see the car damnit!

[Justin]

How did you balance a wheel with no tire? And why would you put weights on they will eventually have to be removed to be rebalanced anyway?
And :tup: they look awesome.

[Clean_Baldy]

Pics of the whole car?

Looking good as usual!

[boardjnky4]

[quote=“01AudiS4,post:18,topic:25490"”]

How did you balance a wheel with no tire? And why would you put weights on they will eventually have to be removed to be rebalanced anyway?
And :tup: they look awesome.

[/quote]

@lafengas

for pimp factor, matching wheel weights. Here it’s just placed on to show matching color. The weights were PC’d seperately:

read it