Repainting The Wheels

[sir john]

Im about to start reburbing a few things on the LS. Its a 1993 in silver. While im replacing the Fr upper ball joints and the 2 rear lower ball joints I am planning on refurbishing the wheels too. Over the years they have become very scabby and really let the car down. I will be using cans of airosol paint to keep the cost down but I was wondering if anyone has found a good match to the original silver on the wheels.

Also, Im having winter tyres fitted. Im planning of refurbing the wheels after the new tyres are on so that the new paint will not get damaged. Would you agree?

[The-Acre]

Im about to start reburbing a few things on the LS. Its a 1993 in silver. While im replacing the Fr upper ball joints and the 2 rear lower ball joints I am planning on refurbishing the wheels too. Over the years they have become very scabby and really let the car down. I will be using cans of airosol paint to keep the cost down but I was wondering if anyone has found a good match to the original silver on the wheels.

Also, Im having winter tyres fitted. Im planning of refurbing the wheels after the new tyres are on so that the new paint will not get damaged. Would you agree?

I did mine using Carplan cans which looked fine (you may remember I did the grille at the same time) I'll check the number tomorrow if you like.

The guy at work who refurbs wheels always does them with the tyres on. Don't know if that's right but he's been doing it for years.

[sir john]

Thanks for that Acre, or is it The?

It will be really useful to know the number.

[Chris Skelton]

Be brave! Do them same colour as the car!!

I did this with my Citroen CX ... on the spoiler, bumpers and external louvres, only though.

Not sure how the wheels would look; some clever Photoshopping might show? (As if I'd know!)

[beavisrules]

I'd love to have the original machined look on my mk4 wheels , is it possible to have them polished (or machined?) instead of painted?

recently did my motorbike engine with poundland wheel paint , It's held up perfect against 2-stroke oil , burning hot temperatures and being exposed to the elements 24/7.

It is a bit more matte/grey than normal wheel paint , but if you do all 4 it shouldn't matter.

[whysub]

The owner of the company that refurbished my wheels (in Essex) told me that Toyota/Lexus use a different grade of alloy for their wheels than every other manafacturer. Now I don't know if that is true (but bearing in mind he has refurbed thousands of wheels I expect his experiences make this true)but looking at every Lexus and Toyota I see all seem to have issues with the finish on their wheels. I beleive that many IS200's have had wheels replaced under warranty for poor finish.

Can't help with a colour, but mine have been finished in a light shade of silver which look good against the dark green paintwork. I had my wheels fully refurbed and two weeks later had new tyres fitted without any worries.

Be aware that from my research there is a big difference between what "reburbishing services" offer-is it a refurbishment or just a repaint?

I have previously rubbed down and hand polished a set of Pug 205 GTi wheels-took ages for my fingerprints to come back.

[Mybikesacx500]

I refurbed mine by hand over a year ago, with the tyres on, but I have recently had to take them off, get the tyres removed and clean and repaint the inner rims, as corosion where the tyre seals gave me 4 slow leaks, also round the valves, So if I was doing it again, I would get the tyres and valves removed. The inner surface where the valve seats is critical.

[The-Acre]

Thanks for that Acre, or is it The?

It will be really useful to know the number.

Didn't get to work today to get the number, but I'll do it Tuesday. The acre is a pathetic name really, it's all I could think of at the time! The site where I work is called The Acre....The colour is very close to the body which I think looks good. In fact I did the bit below the front bumper with it and it looks fine.

Phil

[The-Acre]

Thanks for that Acre, or is it The?

It will be really useful to know the number.

The paint is CarPlan and the colour on the lid is Silver-25

Phil

[AdeV]

Thanks for that Acre, or is it The?

It will be really useful to know the number.

The paint is CarPlan and the colour on the lid is Silver-25

Phil

Cool, ta for that. My wheels are also dead scabby. I've been considering sending them to that crowd in Blackpool who do full refurbs, but if I can tart them back up with a bit of paint, that'll do for now :)

[GEN]

The owner of the company that refurbished my wheels (in Essex) told me that Toyota/Lexus use a different grade of alloy for their wheels than every other manafacturer. Now I don't know if that is true (but bearing in mind he has refurbed thousands of wheels I expect his experiences make this true)but looking at every Lexus and Toyota I see all seem to have issues with the finish on their wheels. I beleive that many IS200's have had wheels replaced under warranty for poor finish.

Can't help with a colour, but mine have been finished in a light shade of silver which look good against the dark green paintwork. I had my wheels fully refurbed and two weeks later had new tyres fitted without any worries.

Be aware that from my research there is a big difference between what "reburbishing services" offer-is it a refurbishment or just a repaint?

I have previously rubbed down and hand polished a set of Pug 205 GTi wheels-took ages for my fingerprints to come back.

My wheels need doing too and I can't manage it - would you recommend the company in Essex? and if yes, could you let me know their name or phone number?

Thank you.

[itarumaa]

I have spray painted my LS400 wheels with Halfords silver,

the problem is that when you paint the wheels in place and after re balance the wheels you can see right away that wheels have been painted before,

Second problem is that if you do not mask the wheels completely, you will get silver tires as well:)

[steve2006]

When I bought my car it had nice chrome alloys fitted but after 2 years of UK salt and weather they had a lot less chrome and looked really bad.No one wanted to sort them and they couldn't be rechromed apparently so after a few mistakes on purchases I finally bought a new set of Mitsubishi Evo 9 wheels which at £160.00 for 4 cost the same as a good refurb.

[whysub]

My wheels need doing too and I can't manage it - would you recommend the company in Essex? and if yes, could you let me know their name or phone number?

Thank you.

I (and a few others on this forum) will recommend them highly. You need to speak to John at J P Polishing on 01268 680245 (he is in Canvey Island), A video of the process is on his website: http://jppolishing.co.uk/

Also note he doues a "bright" silver which looks like a polished wheel-would have been too much on my wheels, so went for a standard silver, Very, very pleased with the quality and the customer care John offers.

Please note that I am just a happy customer and have no other links with J P Polishing.

[benfur]

I have spray painted my LS400 wheels with Halfords silver,

the problem is that when you paint the wheels in place and after re balance the wheels you can see right away that wheels have been painted before,

Second problem is that if you do not mask the wheels completely, you will get silver tires as well:)

Hi All

I have painted a few wheels over the years to an adequate standard

The cans of " silver wheel spray " in your local motor factors are too dark and grey

you have to find a really bright silver or try a local auto paint specialist who will knock up some cans to your spec - I did this a few years ago and told the guy to make sure the silver was "Bright and speckly " and I duly sprayed a set of DHP wheels and they stood out a mile - nearly needed glasses they were so dazzling

Anyhow after a bit of research I tracked down a motor factors near me in Beckenham who do tins of german paint in silver [ will dig a can out for its name ] the paint match to the original lexus silver is pretty good and is nice and bright about £6 a can, although I would recommend you do the whole wheel rather than just blow it in.

He also said he sells boxes of these to the refurb guys who come round your house with the heat lamps and they do all manufacturers wheels.

Best thing to do is start with your spare wheel and then do one at a time.

Anyhow I will find the name and post it on here.

Just a quick one on the subject of paint - have used Auto Paint St Helens www.auto-paint.co.uk/carpaint £6.99 + vat for 400ml mixed aerosol

give them your paint code or for bumpers lower cladding code and they mix it up to manufactures spec, very nice guys to deal with.

Maurice

[The-Acre]

I have spray painted my LS400 wheels with Halfords silver,

the problem is that when you paint the wheels in place and after re balance the wheels you can see right away that wheels have been painted before,

Second problem is that if you do not mask the wheels completely, you will get silver tires as well:)

Hi All

I have painted a few wheels over the years to an adequate standard

The cans of " silver wheel spray " in your local motor factors are too dark and grey

you have to find a really bright silver or try a local auto paint specialist who will knock up some cans to your spec - I did this a few years ago and told the guy to make sure the silver was "Bright and speckly " and I duly sprayed a set of DHP wheels and they stood out a mile - nearly needed glasses they were so dazzling

Anyhow after a bit of research I tracked down a motor factors near me in Beckenham who do tins of german paint in silver [ will dig a can out for its name ] the paint match to the original lexus silver is pretty good and is nice and bright about £6 a can, although I would recommend you do the whole wheel rather than just blow it in.

He also said he sells boxes of these to the refurb guys who come round your house with the heat lamps and they do all manufacturers wheels.

Best thing to do is start with your spare wheel and then do one at a time.

Anyhow I will find the name and post it on here.

Just a quick one on the subject of paint - have used Auto Paint St Helens www.auto-paint.co.uk/carpaint £6.99 + vat for 400ml mixed aerosol

give them your paint code or for bumpers lower cladding code and they mix it up to manufactures spec, very nice guys to deal with.

Maurice

I agree with the need for a "bright" silver, the CarPlan I used was nice and bright with a decent sparkle but it was enhanced by a good quality lacquer.

[ambermarine]

I have spray painted my LS400 wheels with Halfords silver,

the problem is that when you paint the wheels in place and after re balance the wheels you can see right away that wheels have been painted before,

Second problem is that if you do not mask the wheels completely, you will get silver tires as well:)

Hi All

I have painted a few wheels over the years to an adequate standard

The cans of " silver wheel spray " in your local motor factors are too dark and grey

you have to find a really bright silver or try a local auto paint specialist who will knock up some cans to your spec - I did this a few years ago and told the guy to make sure the silver was "Bright and speckly " and I duly sprayed a set of DHP wheels and they stood out a mile - nearly needed glasses they were so dazzling

Anyhow after a bit of research I tracked down a motor factors near me in Beckenham who do tins of german paint in silver [ will dig a can out for its name ] the paint match to the original lexus silver is pretty good and is nice and bright about £6 a can, although I would recommend you do the whole wheel rather than just blow it in.

He also said he sells boxes of these to the refurb guys who come round your house with the heat lamps and they do all manufacturers wheels.

Best thing to do is start with your spare wheel and then do one at a time.

Anyhow I will find the name and post it on here.

Just a quick one on the subject of paint - have used Auto Paint St Helens www.auto-paint.co.uk/carpaint £6.99 + vat for 400ml mixed aerosol

give them your paint code or for bumpers lower cladding code and they mix it up to manufactures spec, very nice guys to deal with.

Maurice

I agree with the need for a "bright" silver, the CarPlan I used was nice and bright with a decent sparkle but it was enhanced by a good quality lacquer.

The wheels on my Ls 400 have been done three times twice with just blast and spray but this time they were baked can only judge this baking method over two years and it seems to be holding up considering the amount of salt that was thrown on the roads last year.

The previous spray job lasted about ten years before the wheels looked too bad to be on the car .

The other problem is that if the wheels corrode badly the refurb guys will complain about the time it takes to rebuild the surface.The joke in this scenario was ;the refurbisher would'nt do the centres as he deduced that if he baked them they would melt and his set up could'nt spray the discs as a one off.I had to source a nissan silver spray can to match his colour and refurb the centres myself be careful not to apply to much laquer when doing this as too much causes the surface to craze as it drys.

I had given him a brand new Lexus wheel that had never been on the car to match up the Lexus colour but he would not do that and said they used a universal silver on all the wheels he did and that although it was'nt the Lexus colour was passable.

I can understand that but the centre disc issue I find bizzare,anyway I got it sorted eventually and it means I can redo the centres every time they get a bit scabby, every cloud as a silver lining so to speak.

[AdeV]

I can understand that but the centre disc issue I find bizzare,anyway I got it sorted eventually and it means I can redo the centres every time they get a bit scabby, every cloud as a silver lining so to speak.

It's worth watching eBay for the centre discs - I managed to get a set of 4 brand new ones for about a fiver + a few quid delivery. I haven't fitted them to the car yet because the wheels look so bad, having perfect centres would just accentuate the badness...

Anyway, I've bought a can of carplan primer & silver-25 paint, so I'm going to have a crack at the spare this weekend (ironically, the spare is the best looking of the lot!). If it works out well, then I'll do the others.

Question - can I bake them with a gas-fired space heater, or do I need to use dry heat, e.g. an electric unit? Can the wheel be baked with a tyre on it, or does it need to come off first? (if so, I'll forego the baking this time).

[Chris Skelton]

Dali-style (melting) wheels are all the rage?

Just bake at 700 C?

NOO!!! It's a joke!

[benfur]

I have spray painted my LS400 wheels with Halfords silver,

the problem is that when you paint the wheels in place and after re balance the wheels you can see right away that wheels have been painted before,

Second problem is that if you do not mask the wheels completely, you will get silver tires as well:)

Hi All

I have painted a few wheels over the years to an adequate standard

The cans of " silver wheel spray " in your local motor factors are too dark and grey

you have to find a really bright silver or try a local auto paint specialist who will knock up some cans to your spec - I did this a few years ago and told the guy to make sure the silver was "Bright and speckly " and I duly sprayed a set of DHP wheels and they stood out a mile - nearly needed glasses they were so dazzling

Anyhow after a bit of research I tracked down a motor factors near me in Beckenham who do tins of german paint in silver [ will dig a can out for its name ] the paint match to the original lexus silver is pretty good and is nice and bright about £6 a can, although I would recommend you do the whole wheel rather than just blow it in.

He also said he sells boxes of these to the refurb guys who come round your house with the heat lamps and they do all manufacturers wheels.

Best thing to do is start with your spare wheel and then do one at a time.

Anyhow I will find the name and post it on here.

Just a quick one on the subject of paint - have used Auto Paint St Helens www.auto-paint.co.uk/carpaint £6.99 + vat for 400ml mixed aerosol

give them your paint code or for bumpers lower cladding code and they mix it up to manufactures spec, very nice guys to deal with.

Maurice

Found a Tin

Its called MIPA Felgensilbe - Wheel Silver

its available on line just google it , the cans I have are 400ml aerosol

but you can buy it in Litre tins if you have your own spray gun

Maurice

[GEN]

My wheels need doing too and I can't manage it - would you recommend the company in Essex? and if yes, could you let me know their name or phone number?

Thank you.

I (and a few others on this forum) will recommend them highly. You need to speak to John at J P Polishing on 01268 680245 (he is in Canvey Island), A video of the process is on his website: http://jppolishing.co.uk/

Also note he doues a "bright" silver which looks like a polished wheel-would have been too much on my wheels, so went for a standard silver, Very, very pleased with the quality and the customer care John offers.

Please note that I am just a happy customer and have no other links with J P Polishing.

Thank you very much for the information.

[sir john]

Thanks for all the help. Ive been away from home for the last week seeing clients in the midlands and SE so apologises for the slow response. Ill be looking up the carplan 25 and the paint Benfur recommends ASAP tomorrow.

PS; 1,000 last week. All in the Rover 75 unfortunately

48 mpg aint bad though! :)

[AdeV]

Ill be looking up the carplan 25 and the paint Benfur recommends ASAP tomorrow.

Motorworld sell Carplan paint, if there's one near you.

[sir john]

Ill be looking up the carplan 25 and the paint Benfur recommends ASAP tomorrow.

Motorworld sell Carplan paint, if there's one near you.

Ade, there is nothing near me but sheep and seagulls mate..

Ill google motorworld tomorrow. Cheers mate.

Silver paint and sheep.....now that gives me an idea!! "something for the weekend sir?"

[AdeV]

Ill be looking up the carplan 25 and the paint Benfur recommends ASAP tomorrow.

Motorworld sell Carplan paint, if there's one near you.

Ade, there is nothing near me but sheep and seagulls mate..

Ill google motorworld tomorrow. Cheers mate.

Silver paint and sheep.....now that gives me an idea!! "something for the weekend sir?"

LOL!

Just drive East until you stumble across the M6, then head South until you reach civilisation - job done!