Do Not Sell My Personal Information Jump to content


GS450H Wheels cleaned and calipers painted


 Share

Recommended Posts

Took the wheels off my 2008 GS450H and gave them a thorough clean, polish, and wax. Also cleaned up the the calipers and painted them silver and cleaned under the arches.

 

All that described in a very short paragraph but Jesus H I’m feeling it now. My legs are tired, my arms ache, my knees hurt, I’m a wreck!

 

Anyway, unhealthy middle aged bloke grumblings aside, here’s the evidence of what turned out to be about 12 hours work.

 

This is the car pre-clean. Note the dull grey calipers and dirty wheels.

 

8ab2c732165262b579cb29a025f16582.jpg

 

This picture shows in better detail the caliper behind one of the front wheels, the dull locking wheel nut, and the grime under the wheel arch (but hey at least the body work is pretty clean).

 

3ad7bf66dbe103595d9e6e73e74c33c8.jpg

 

Here’s a rear wheel shot. The rear calipers are tiny in comparison to the meaty bad boys on the front, and on my car at least the rear discs while still ok in terms of thickness look rusty and naff around the hub. Apparently since it’s a hybrid the rear discs don’t have to work very hard as there’s a braking with regen. Either way, looks could be improved.

 

c5d354e2b1dded010f043603c29cbd9b.jpg

 

6b1dfa0beb0daf78dd21b41827039e9c.jpg

 

Once jacked up and wheels off I could get to the arches with the pressure washer and scrubber. I wasn’t going for pristine here, just improved. I blasted several times with the Karcher, sprayed G101 and agitated it around, blasted it all off again, and once dry sprayed and wiped with Aerospace 303.

 

0c1874932c8e72284c170e2be8128a61.jpg

 

The wheels of my era GS450H have chromed plastic ‘spokes’ which might look nice but are a right pain to clean around. Since this was going to be a proper clean I decided to remove them. A spray with WD40 around the 10mm nuts helped and my electric screwdriver paired with an adapter from my socket set saw them all come off easily enough. This is definitely something worth doing every year or so as I could easily imagine them seizing solid if they went ignored. Wheels are a pretty hostile place for a happy union of plastic and metal like this.

 

62f4c8a839eea0193200b1a4c152b8d7.jpg

 

I cleaned them up with some Autosol, which is brilliant stuff.

 

Once the plastic bits are removed the wheels look like this. This is pictured towards to the of the (back breaking) process of cleaning them.

 

7f2e2bfef69ae0160a681711e872176d.jpg

 

I cleaned the wheels with Bilberry wheel cleaner, Dragon’s Breath iron remover, G101, then tar remover. I used some old Meiguars polish then waxed with Collinite.

 

With the wheels sorted it was time to tackle the calipers and rear discs. I was undecided between going for black, which is possibly more original, or silver, which to my eyes looks cleaner and fresher. I went with silver. I used Hammerite smooth coat which came well recommended and a brush I stole from my 5 year olds art box (now replaced with a new one).

 

Beefy front caliper done.

 

13e2dca9ddb03128a9db8a5c46093c2d.jpg

 

Weedy rear caliper and drake disc done. I could have done a slightly neater job but figured any small excess would be hidden by the wheel or removed the first time I braked, so didn’t worry too much.

 

f7608b5bd29167043723341bd4c40dc9.jpg

 

Car jacked up waiting for wheels to be reattached.

 

d72f9e003d3475f0872b9cdd58143017.jpg

 

Weirdly one of the bits I’m most proud of is the locking wheel nuts. I cleaned them up as best I could and then dipped the nut face down onto the open lid of the paint tin. The residual pain on the lid was enough to provide a small coat to the surface of the nut but no more. Looks pretty neat I think and doesn’t interfere with how they work at all.

 

7688bdce49fa1b36e0a21e2167cbd2e0.jpg

 

Front wheel done and back on (yes I know a nut is missing, I was letting the locking ones completely dry before reattaching).

 

21f2f3328082e25b4cbe9320ac357377.jpg

 

Rear wheel done.

 

8a0dd93c97618f3ddfaf2261a0924564.jpg

 

It was a hard slog but now I’ve done it once I know what’s involved I’d happily paint calipers again in the future. I’m pleased with how it’s turned out.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

f7cd903372cc85594f17f2b53dffb75b.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Thanks Lee, I did start cleaning without taking off the spokes but quickly realised it would make my job easier and faster in the long run to whip them off. I put some grease on the thread when I put them back on so hopefully that will help get them off easily next time I do this job.

A few more pictures showing the silver calipers behind the clean wheels and the newly painted locking wheel nuts.

5157769b6668681a01c6792e00e4f688.jpg

a7ca6328502e7bf93cd14739a97f29b1.jpg

a3f46d6f380e8d777131d445eb68489c.jpg

c36c8006848696e8fc8f68c30c84cb42.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those rear calipers are amusingly small vs the front big guns up front...but as you say, the rear don't work much with the regen braking taking much of the work.

Painting the calipers is well worth doing tho as the OEM finish is :sleeping:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lovely job and well worth doing. I did mine about 2 years ago and they’re just needing doing again now.

I’ll probably do them this month as the old girl is going in for a 2 Stage paint correction and wheel refurb this week.

Have you thought about some caliper stickers to finish it off?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F270871152574

BB698513-D925-4F12-B633-E6FF0CB3DA63.jpeg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share



×
×
  • Create New...