[astrojeff]

Has anyone had his/her wheels refinished? I have my original 17" Cup wheels which have mild curb damage on a couple of them. In addtion, the paint has come off where spokes meet the rim part. I see that there are a few places on the internet offering this service.



I noticed that there are replica wheels "sport edition" for about $ 210-230/each at Tire Rack. They are made in Italy. Are these the same wheels? Are the Porsche wheels made by Mille Milgia? They also have the same-looking wheels. It may be cheaper to just replace them if they are the same quality as the original.



Jeff

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

similar, but not the same - aesthetically close, but small differences - also, about 2lbs heavier each on the C2T wheels - quite a bit heavier on the Cup wheels



refinishing is generaly about $150 a wheel

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Darryl]

I almost started this thread a couple week ago....



I picked up a set of OEM 16" wheels that (ironically) were already in better shape than mine that I have begun refinishing. The center caps are coming along quite nicely and I've just begun to clean the 1st of the rims. The center caps had some nicks from people removing them with a screwdriver that I've already fixed and I'm almost ready to prime and paint them. I used this stuff called Fast Steel - a two part putty that worked great. They claim you can actually create screw heads and bolts out of this stuff.



I have lots of pics that I will post once I sort through them and can get them organized. I plan to get this set done, mount a new set of tires, and put them on the car...then start over again on my original set. I may opt for powder coating if I can find a good one in my area. I think they'd look slick in white to match the car but would obviously be dirty ALL the time.



More pics soon...stay tuned.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Mark]

Where are you located Jeff. There is a place in Maryland that does great refinishing called Ye olde Wheel shop and there is also now a mobile company that will od thme on site if they are not too bad and if they can't they take to their shop and bring them back when done. Refinishing can be way less than $150 a wheel depending on location and how bad the curbing is.



Ye Olde Wheel Shop probably has a million dollars worth of wheels in the place at any given time, it's amazing to see the floors of the work shop with all of these really expensive wheels everywhere.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Fox944]

i had my wheels refinished. the guy who runs the shop where i had them done is a friend so he did all 4 wheels for $400. he also matched the center caps. they are OEM 18" 993TT Hollow Spokes. a couple of them had a very small amount of curb rash.



they were refinished in paint code VOL932(same paint code used on 95-97 Volvo 850 R wheels, color is called Anthracite).





Before





After







here you can better see the difference. my wheels used to be the same color as the Carrera 5-Spoke's on the other blue 968 in this photo. (my car is pretty dirty in this pic).

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[astrojeff]

MARK,



I'm in South Florida. I didn't find anyone in the phone book, but I will have to look some more. I was thinking of just doing it myself, but I don't how to remove the clear coat well without blasting them.





FOX:



I actuallly like the brighter color on your wheels before they were refinished. Four hundred is a great price. I will have to look around.



Jeff

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Mark]

Jeff I would check on rennlist where you have a much wider audience and of course there is always google. Getting the clear off is not bad and refinishing isn't bad as a DIY if it wasn't for the curb rash. For that you need to grind 'em

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[astrojeff]

Mark, I found a nice article on repairing wheel rim scratches and scuffs on autopia-carecare.com. They describe and show how to do it using bondo to fill in the scratch. They just paint that area and clear coat it afterwards, rather than the whole wheel. However, I would like to paint the whole wheel. There are some articles describing this, but they talk about blasting the old paint off before painting again. I don't know if this is necessary, if the clear coat can be removed chemically.



Jeff

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Darryl]

[quote name='astrojeff' date='Jul 14 2006, 10:18 AM']Mark, I found a nice article on repairing wheel rim scratches and scuffs on autopia-carecare.com.  They describe and show how to do it using bondo to fill in the scratch.  They just paint that area and clear coat it afterwards, rather than the whole wheel.  However, I would like to paint the whole wheel.  There are some articles describing this, but they talk about blasting the old paint off before painting again.  I don't know if this is necessary, if the clear coat can be removed chemically.



Jeff

[right][post="24052"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]



The clearcoat can be removed chemically...so can the paint. I am using this stuff caller PEELER. It works great and takes off basically everything but the primer. Here's what a center cap looked like during the first application of PEELER.



- Darryl

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Mark]

Daryl is correct you can use a few different things to remove the clear.



Jeff I meant to point you at that article on Autopia (Dave the owner is a great guy and I buy a lot of stuff from him) but your curb rash is obviously better than the last batch I had which would have required grinding. The forums at autopia are a great detailing resource as well.



My wife actually refinshed a set of wheels on her old car using the paint and clear from Griots garage.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[astrojeff]

Thanks Mark. I've been looking at all the available wheels. The HRE 542s and the Kinesis K57 both look very nice. Of course they are expensive. So, I will have decide if I want to replace them. Also, I don't whether to stick to 17" or increase to 18". Apparently there are concerns over stress to the suspension with the larger wheels.



Jeff

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Mark]

There are a lot of happy 18" wheel owners, my personal feeling is that the 17" are perfect for this car and if you decide to buy new let me know how much for your stock 17" wheels. (I'm sure there are several people to turn it into a bidding war).

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Dirk]

I've just had my original 17" rims done at wheeltrim.nl

I'm not sure what the price was but it was more than the 75 Euros a piece I was originally quoted.

The total bill was 955 Euros including two new Toyo rear tires.



The rims were in a real bad state, big pieces of paint falling off on the inside, the curb side seriously damaged by age, tire changes and what more.

Also last year bolt holes got damaged when the lock nuts had to be drilled out.

Included in the price was a check if the rims were true and straightening when necessary.



The result is fantastic, absolutely like new.



When at the tire place a glass guy had a look at my windshield and decided my insurance should/would pay for a new one due to all the sand pitting.

Great idea, so I'm now driving around with a new experience; totally clear sight <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[astrojeff]

Well, I decided to keep my 17" wheels, as they are very nice looking. No need to spend extra money. I sent them off through my PM to a place in Miami (Turbax). They should be returned in two days, apparently like new. I think they charge $125 a piece to do them.



Jeff

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.