Refinishing an Old Alloy Wheel or New Wheels

[Yuko]

My 10 years old alloy wheels have taken a beating. Curb rashes, rock chips, deep grooves on the spokes, ect. There are hundreds of DIY on wheel painting and I just wait to show my results.

It’s hard to show the damages with a camera but this wheel was terrible. Grooves (red) Curb rash repair (green) Failed curb repair (yellow)


I stopped by my old high school auto tech to remove the tire and valve stem. Later cleaned, sanded, and filled with spot putty.


Sanded, primed, spot putty, and repeat.


Painted and Clear with Dupilcolor wheel paint. Later, a bug decided to die on my wet clear coat and I was forced to redo part of the wheel.


Here it is all mounted; I screwed up part of the lip while mounting because the paint was still soft. I later respray the area. You can see it’s a bit darker and duller than the OEM finish on the center cap.


Overall, not too bad for $30. What do you think? But still, all my wheels look awful.

I’m planning to replace them all with the cheap 15x6.5 Sport Edition CD from Tirerack.
Why not upgrade to 17” or 18”? Here are a few reasons:
-15” wheels are cheaper
-15” tires are cheaper
-15” are less likely to be damage from pot holes and curb damage
-Larger wheels are usually heavier unless you get something like RP-F1 (but that go against my first three reasons)
-And I already have new 15” Falken tires…

I like the style because it has a bit of a lip. What’s your opinion on these?

[SilverSoarer]

jb weld is better than spot putty for this...

[Yuko]

Originally Posted by SilverSoarer

jb weld is better than spot putty for this...

That's what a friend told me to used too but I never have luck with J.B. Weld and didn't want to go buy any. I have two tubes of spot putty laying around so why not used it.

[Zembonez]

Nice results! I like your wheel choice but check the weight. A lot of those Sport Edition wheels are heavy.

I like the stockers!

[LynchburgCSI]

KEEP THE STOCK WHEEEEEEEEEEEELSSSSS. Or sell them to me for cheap. But not really. I have no money.

Good job on the repairs.

[Yuko]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

Nice results! I like your wheel choice but check the weight. A lot of those Sport Edition wheels are heavy.

I like the stockers!

I checked and the Sport Edition are 15 lbs, about the same as my stockers. My Toyota current wheels are made in South Africa by "Tiger Co." which I find strange. I don't mind that the Sport Edition are made in China since I believe that Tirerack don't sale crap. I might get some Toyota center caps for it.

[Tom 2000]

How about these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/15-BB...item335ea705d8

[reluctantmechanic]

that's some very nice work, Yuko - thanks for posting!

[Yuko]

Originally Posted by Tom 2000

How about these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/15-BBS-Wheels-Toyota-Camry-Avalon-Lexus-ES300-NEW-/220631336408?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Wheels&hash=item3 35ea705d8

4 Camry BBS! I would grab those instantly! Saddly, I don't trust ebay or have an e-bay account.

[carsrus]

Honestly, I would just keep the stock wheels.

Aftermarket wheels have a tendency to be junk if there not uber expensive. Cracks/bends etc are a lot more common in them.

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by carsrus

Honestly, I would just keep the stock wheels.

Aftermarket wheels have a tendency to be junk if there not uber expensive. Cracks/bends etc are a lot more common in them.

Not completely true. Our company has installed over 18,750 sets of custom wheels since 1986. Very few have ever been a problem. In fact, many OEM wheels are made by the same aftermarket manufacturers. There isn;t some OEM magic wand. Any wheel can be bent if used incorrectly.

Edit: My sales figure was wrong.

[Yuko]

I had to take the wheel off again because I didn't install the valve stem correctly and it leaked over night. The paint chipped around the lugs holes as I removed it. I might not have prepped it properly between the primer and base coat so the finish isn't going to last long

As for aftermarket wheels, I believe it also about how you drive and care for the wheels. I install a set of cheap Chrome 15"on my mother gen 5 Camry and after three years, they still look as good have the day I bought them. Clean with only car wash soap and water. I only had to replace the screws that hold the center caps since it began to rust. Unless I run into a curb, foot-deep pothole, or autocross; I think these cheap wheels will work fine.

[Yuko]

Just curbed front left wheel from a 5 inch center divider after dodging a Dodge Neon. At this point I can only laugh; I thought my tall sidewall would protect the wheels.

And strangely my repainted wheel is getting duller...

[islandboy57]

The finish on the factory alloys on the gen 3.5 is starting to dull too and the center cap's paint is peeling off. I'm debating on buying new Toyota OEM alloys (the same ones I have on my gen 5.5 are $60 each at my dealer's annual parts sale, and they should still have some stock for next year) or just putting steelies back on. I think I still have the OEM wheel covers somewhere. I'm just debating how much $ I want to invest in it, cause the car is going to be 16 years old in January..

[LynchburgCSI]

Just paint them. I did that to mine and theyre STILL holding up.... been almost a year now.