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Alloy Split Rims Polishing

kfgas

kfgas

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Kevin
Elgrand
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I have bought a set of 2nd hand 2 piece welded split rims that although they are not damaged in any way could do with bit of a refurb as they have gone a bit dull

They have a nice deep dish and I would like to get these and on the face as close to a mirror finish as I can

When done I then want to have the the step front face and the inner barrel power coated in gloss black.

Although it is possible to cut through the weld between the barrel and the face and front lip and then reweld when done I would rather not do this if I can help it.

I have read that one way of cleaning them is by ceramic polishing but this is quite expensive and there is nobody in my area that does it, about the close's that I can find is in London or Birmingham both well over a hundred miles from me

Would it be possible to do by hand and has anybody got any advise for me or have had previous experience in hand polishing split rims.
 
Hello mate, I have not got the alloys yet and wont get until the end of June. but they don't need hardy any polishing from what I can tell, just gone a bit dull and a odd couple of light kerb marks that I am certain will polish out .

Yes I have seen your engine before, such pity after all the effort you put into. It truely is a work of art 👍👍

That kit on Amazon looks good and not too expensive either:)
 
kfgas said:
Hello mate, I have not got the alloys yet and wont get until the end of June. but they don't need hardy any polishing from what I can tell, just gone a bit dull and a odd couple of light kerb marks that I am certain will polish out .

Yes I have seen your engine before, such pity after all the effort you put into. It truely is a work of art 👍👍

That kit on Amazon looks good and not too expensive either:)
Click to expand...

Thanks buddy!
Every time I walk past it I feel guilty for not getting it fixed, such a massive amount of time wasted on top of the endless amounts of polishing I did! Sounds like the wheels will probably come up with a bit of autosol or something similar. Give us a shout when you get the wheels and I'll try and help! :)
 
Which wheels have you got, do you have any pictures and then we could best advise.
Sounds like your getting 3 piece splits that are welded into 2 piece which would mean the face/centre should have bolts etc.
If they are welded then I would suggest you forget having them cut and re welded as this is not easy to get right and expensive and to be fair you don’t need to do unless altering the size
 
Highway Dave said:
Which wheels have you got, do you have any pictures and then we could best advise.
Sounds like your getting 3 piece splits that are welded into 2 piece which would mean the face/centre should have bolts etc.
If they are welded then I would suggest you forget having them cut and re welded as this is not easy to get right and expensive and to be fair you don’t need to do unless altering the size
Click to expand...
I have bought Work Varianza VRF-SR staggered 20x 8.5 for the fronts and 20x 9.5 for the rears . Both have a ET of 35.

This is how they look at present.

wheels7.jpg
.
This is how I would like them to look when they re finished.

wheels new4.jpg

I intend polishing the face and the rims up to the step up and then the face of the step up and the inner barrel as well as the inner parts of the spokes powder coated in gloss black the same as the wheels above.

Debating on whether to change the bolts to gold and use the gold stud nuts that I have on my existing wheels but not sure whether this would be too much.
 
Last edited:
kfgas said:
If you look at colour 14.

One before last this is the one I like and it is black and gold :D
Click to expand...
Duh.....stupid is as stupid does (I just looked at the first layout pic). Yeah, they'll finish it off nicely.
 
Nice wheels and the black inlays and inners set them off well
Not too sure about gold bolts, once they are gold you will as you’ve already looked into, just have to go gold elsewhere etc whereas with stainless/chrome you can go almost any other colour nut and centre etc
Can you photoshop them etc
Anyway ,the wheels look good enough to do what you want without too much hassle, are you doing it or a refurb centre
 
Highway Dave said:
Nice wheels and the black inlays and inners set them off well
Not too sure about gold bolts, once they are gold you will as you’ve already looked into, just have to go gold elsewhere etc whereas with stainless/chrome you can go almost any other colour nut and centre etc
Can you photoshop them etc
Anyway ,the wheels look good enough to do what you want without too much hassle, are you doing it or a refurb centre
Click to expand...
I am thinking of using my local alloy wheel refurb centre as they have a good name locally and I have been pleased with wheels they have done for me previous.
Thinking of getting them to take the tyres off and do an intial clean up of the wheels and take the bolts out and then I will polish them and then get them to do the black gloss powder coat and lacquer them but open to suggestions as I have never done wheels before.
Think that you are most probably right about the gold bolts as I think this might be overdoing it and the wheels would look more classy with just the chrome bolts witch look to be in petty good nick so should be able to be reused and would also save me a few pounds.
As I already have the gold nuts from my current wheels could test fit with these and buy a set of the black and gold stickers on aliexpress as they are cheap as chips and try them and if it does not look right take them off again.
Have today painted the hats gloss black on new grooved and dimpled rear discs that i have had for the last few months in readiness which should match up a lot better with the s slot rebestosperformancediscs that I have on the front
Any suggestions are more than welcome.
 
Your local centre will more than likely want to quote you for a full job rather than split the wheels and rebuild? having only done half the job in between, if that makes sense
if they are going to split, powder coat , laquer and rebuild then polishing the rims is not going to be that much more (assuming they have their own lathe and buffer)
did you get any pics from the rear ?
 
That does makes sense.
Will pop in to the refurb centre in the next couple of days and have a chat with them and see what they come up with although I do fancy doing at least some of the work myself :)
a couple of pics from the rear.


wheels5.jpgwheels6.jpg f
 
kfgas said:
I have bought Work Varianza VRF-SR staggered 20x 8.5 for the fronts and 20x 9.5 for the rears . Both have a ET of 35.

This is how they look at present.

View attachment 101695
.
This is how I would like them to look when they re finished.

View attachment 101696

I intend polishing the face and the rims up to the step up and then the face of the step up and the inner barrel as well as the inner parts of the spokes powder coated in gloss black the same as the wheels above.

Debating on whether to change the bolts to gold and use the gold stud nuts that I have on my existing wheels but not sure whether this would be too much.
Click to expand...

Very nice buddy and I thought mine were wide at 9"! :yum
Were they originally fitted to an Elgrand, just wondering with 9.5" at the rear will it foul on the sliding door?
 
Richard Fox said:
Very nice buddy and I thought mine were wide at 9"! :yum
Were they originally fitted to an Elgrand, just wondering with 9.5" at the rear will it foul on the sliding door?
Click to expand...
I’m running 9.5 on the rears ET 41 and still have some room
35 will be closer but should be just about ok , also , any negative camber (if lowering) will take them in slightly more where it counts
 
No not off an Elgrand :D As Dave says I am pretty certain that they will be fine regarding the door. See this thread https://forum.elgrandoc.uk/threads/wheel-fitment.41218/#post-5831711 and my conversation with gonzo12 although It seems I might not be able to fit my preffered choice of tyre width at 275 and might have to drop down to 265, worse comes to the worse will get a small spacer on the door but II think it would only need to be a few mill but pretty certain they will be fine I think it will be tight but wlll just about work :D . If I could have got them with slightly higher ET it would have probally have been safer but hopefully they will look better better having a bit more poke.
 
Highway Dave said:
I’m running 9.5 on the rears ET 41 and still have some room
35 will be closer but should be just about ok , also , any negative camber (if lowering) will take them in slightly more where it counts
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Dave, pretty much confirms my thoughts. Will know more when I get them test fitted .
I have tried putting a 30mm spacer on my existing ET 40 8.5 wheels 8 as a bit of an experiment which if my calculations are correct gives more poke than the new ET 35 9.5 wheels and the doors clears the wheels quite easily but just prior to being fully open catches on the tyres and closes again although these tyres are are quite wide at 245 for 8.5 wheels and have a protection flange which protudes by quite a way and I think it is the protection flange which is causing them to catch.
I suspect that it might be down to tyre choice and maybe a bit of fettling of the coilovers.
 
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