{"id":15,"date":"2010-02-07T11:38:21","date_gmt":"2010-02-07T11:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/?p=15"},"modified":"2023-02-21T16:56:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T16:56:27","slug":"how-to-repair-a-scuffed-alloy-wheel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/?p=15","title":{"rendered":"How To: Repair a scuffed alloy wheel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi All,<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a forum entry first posted in on Sep 11 2009 on the http:\/\/www.mx5.com forum. As is the nature of forum posts, it began to disappear into the depths of the forum. The search feature had been reasonable so posts could be found if need be. However, a poor ‘upgrade’ of the forum software left old postings almost unretrievable. So, here it is again in the hope it’ll save someone a few quid.<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s taken me a while to get this How To guide written but there is a good reason, which will become clear towards the end.<\/p>\n

So hopefully this will give you an idea of how to cheaply do repairs to your alloy wheels without having to resort to Chips Away, Halfords or even a full refurb. Using this method you can repair your first scuff for under half the cost. Subsequent repairs are then effectively free! \ud83d\ude42
\n
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

I started along this adventure because I managed to ‘personalise’ one of my rear wheels when out on a Scottish Fivers run. I didn’t realise I’d done it at the time but upon seeing the damage later I have a faint recollection of tapping a kerb with the tyre. Looks like the Advans don’t give a lot of protection.<\/p>\n

It was only a minor scrape so wasn’t at all worth getting it professionally fixed. Instead I researched online to find out how to do something about it myself. The biggest problem is finding a matching paint. A trip to Halfords will reveal a massive array of silvers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I have been reliably informed that ‘Ford – Stardust Silver’ is a reasonably good match. I had a can of ‘Audi – Platinum’ kicking about from a previous job so I decided to give that a go instead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You’ll need a few other things also: Knifing putty, 240 and 400 grit sandpaper, masking tape, filler spray, clear lacquer and thinners. I’d also recommend adding 800 (or higher) grit sandpaper to the shopping list so make life easier later. It costs almost nothing so why not?<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nFirst step is to wash the wheel. I recommend using washing up liquid. That’ll shift any wax protection you have on the wheel. If you don’t have a good, clean base to begin with then it’s really not worth starting at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now it’s time to get (slightly) destructive. You need to use the 250 grit paper to remove the worst of the rough surface and the barbs created by the kerb. You’re not looking for completely smooth but nothing should be sticking out proud of the natural curve of the wheel. You can move to the 400 paper if you want to be more careful or to finish off. The big hint is to thoroughly wet the sandpaper when using it. This softens it and make it less aggressive and less prone to getting clogged up. Rinse it regularly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You can see how my wheel looked after the sanding. Pretty good. I was even tempted to smooth it off with a higher grit sandpaper, lacquer it and be finished. However, the colour match wouldn’t have been great. What you need to do next is use the knifing putty<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The putty can be a little tricky to work with for small patches. Where the scuff is bigger you can and will need to slap a little more of this stuff on. It starts off quite soft but hardens up pretty quickly. Place it the best you can, wait a little and then mold it slightly with your fingers. If you’ve got your timing right you won’t end up with putty fingers and in a right old mess. \ud83d\ude42 It’s also worth bearing in mind that you are much better putting on a little more than you need. You can see how messy the filler looks on my wheel before I sanded it.<\/p>\n

The next step is to wait for the putty to set. Read the packaging for guidelines and don’t get all impatient! \ud83d\ude42 You’ll then want to sand it down to something nice and smooth. Be gentle with the sandpaper, use lots of water and start with the 250 before moving onto the 400.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Use your fingertips to check the level of the fill. You don’t want any lumps or steps from the line of the wheel. I find that closing my eyes whilst rubbing my fingers over the repair helps. Maybe that’s just weird. See what works for you. And don’t worry if it’s a little low (not a lot). You will be adding a little more depth with the next step.<\/p>\n

The filler spray I use is a combined filler and primer. It builds up the level a little, smooths out any minor imperfections and provides a great layer for the paint to stick to. The only two bad things about the one I have is that it’s yellow and it needs to be left overnight before sanding.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nSpraying can be messy so mask off the wheel well. You don’t want to have yellow tyres! get the masking tape in well behind the wheel where it joins the tyre.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another tip I picked up is to use some kitchen roll and thinners to remove any overspray immediately after spraying. Much tidier than trying to remove it after the event.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You can see that after 3 coats of filler I have covered a larger area than the original scuff or fill. That’s okay as I can use the sandpaper to get a nice smooth finish and get rid of any excess filler. But, in the end, if it’s only a very thin coat, and it’s smooth, it’ll be unnoticeable when sprayed with top coat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At this stage it’s worth using the 800 grit sandpaper to finish off.<\/p>\n

Clean off the area, mask things up again and let’s get started with the top coat. The biggest thing to avoid here is the temptation to put on too much paint in one go. Give a few sprays onto some newspaper (rather than a bus shelter) to get a feel for the can. And make sure you really do shake the can for a minute before using it. It’s important. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I recommend at least 3 coats of top coat paint. I think I needed 2 just to hide the primer. You only need to wait 15 minutes between coats so doing 4 light coats instead of 3 heavy-handed ones is not going to fill up your day.<\/p>\n

You can see what my wheel looked like after all that:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pretty good for a first attempt, don’t you think? The problem is that the brake dust and other nasties will eat away at the paint so what you need to do it protect it with the lacquer. Metallic paints don’t get their proper finish until you apply a lacquer coat anyway.<\/p>\n

Big thing to be aware of with the lacquer – it’s much thinner than the paint. You only need a light mist of it for 1 coat. As with the other spraying steps, you’ll want at least 3 coats. Also, it’s recommended to lightly sand the area to be lacquered first. I really would encourage you to use 800 or 1200 grit sandpaper for this. I was very gently with 400 and I wasn’t completely happy. However, after the first coat of lacquer it looked superb (if I do say so myself \ud83d\ude42 ).<\/p>\n

It looked great after lacquer coat 2 as well.<\/p>\n

But then, on coat 3 the nextdoor neighbour distracted my with some cheeky comments and I sprayed a little too much. Then the lacquer began to run! \ud83d\ude41 .<\/p>\n

There was nothing I could do. I tried using the kitchen roll and thinners technique but I ended up having to take off the lacquer, and a lot of the top coat too. Grrr!<\/p>\n

So I started again from the top coat stage and built it back up. Here is the result.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You can see the change in finish where the repair has been done. I’m not sure why. It looked great the first time round. Perhaps it’s just that the Audi Platinum has a finer metallic fleck than the original paint. I dunno. Any ideas?<\/p>\n

I was quite annoyed at the finish and have considered going back to the beginning and starting again but I’m not sure what I’d do differently. That said, here’s what the wheel looks like when you are not staring at the repair.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not that bad really. I can wash the car and not notice it when I’m cleaning that wheel. So perhaps I can live with it after all \ud83d\ude42 Also, I spent some time taking the other picture, getting the light just right to highlight the flaw. In the other photos it was much less noticeable.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, repairing your own scuffs isn’t too tricky. It’s much cheaper than a professional job which means you can do it whenever you’ve daft enough to kerb a wheel \ud83d\ude42 . And, perhaps the biggest advantage, it makes you feel much better after the pain of dinging your pride and joy with a bit of careless driving.<\/p>\n

Happy wheel repairing,<\/p>\n

Dave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi All, This is a forum entry first posted in on Sep 11 2009 on the http:\/\/www.mx5.com forum. As is the nature of forum posts, it began to disappear into the depths of the forum. The search feature had been reasonable so posts could be found if need be. However, a poor ‘upgrade’ of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,10],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mx5","tag-how-to","tag-mx5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113,"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.glasgowdave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}