Brakes Wheels 2nd Gen Tires Work VS-XX 17x7.5 et41 4x100 Refurbish

Discussion in '2nd Generation: 2007+ R55 through R61' started by Metalman, Jul 19, 2012.

  1. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    #1 Metalman, Jul 19, 2012
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2012
    I picked up (4) Work VS-XX wheels a couple of weeks ago with the intent of refinishing them.
    [​IMG]
    Pulled all 36 x 4 = 144 assembly bolts from the wheels and have ordered from Germany, new 7mm x 1.0 flange nuts. The bolts seem to be fine. Removed the centers and used a sharp box knife to score the silicone barrel sealant. The barrels came apart without any heat needing to be applied.
    [​IMG][/IMG]

    I put together a quick assembly to make it a little easier to polish the wheel lips. A 1" shaft , shaft flange and flange bearing screwed to a 18" x 1/4 aluminum disc that attached to the bed of my mill.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The first lip I polished to a mirror finish but ended up with a satin finish that I like better.
    [​IMG]

    Satin finish.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Fitted with the old centers. I'll be sending the centers out to the powder coaters sometime next week.
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Nathan

    Nathan Founder

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    Can't wait to see the end result. Those sure are some fine looking wheels.
     
  3. old81

    old81 Club Coordinator
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    For some reason the images are not coming up on my iMac or my Windows 7 HP using Firefox, latest version.

    Hummmm.

    Would like to view the WIP progress. :)
     
  4. goaljnky

    goaljnky New Member

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    I wanna see.. no images.
     
  5. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    Images fixed.... Hopefully....:D
     
  6. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    Not only do you fix wheels you fix images. :Thumbsup: Thanks Chuck! :D
     
  7. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIHbtPWV3ZA]George Thorogood & The Destroyers - The Fixer (30th Anniversary Tour - 2005) - YouTube[/ame]
     
  8. iwashmycar

    iwashmycar Active Member

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    Hecks yes. Those are going to look killer. Subscribed!

    Who is PowderCoating them? Sounds like a lot of places are many weeks out on it, except maybe Wheel Medic. I think they are like a week out. Performance PC is like 4 weeks out.
     
  9. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    #9 Metalman, Jul 20, 2012
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2012
    Streetwerkz on Clara next to the fairgrounds is doing it.

    The bottleneck is me, not the powder coater. It's been just too dang hot and humid out in the shop. If I'm out there more than and hour working on these babies, I'm drenched.....

    I dropped the faces off yesterday after work. So, the old paint is going to be stripped off and prepping for the P/C.
     
  10. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    Looking forward to the final result. I know they are going to be sweet....
     
  11. iwashmycar

    iwashmycar Active Member

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    So is the color a surprise?? :ihih:
     
  12. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    Faces will be Argento with a gloss clear.
    Lips will be my satin aluminum with a gloss clear.
    Barrels with be a semi gloss black for brake dust....:D
     
  13. grodenglaive

    grodenglaive New Member

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    so, how does one make it satin, or is that a trade secret?:)
     
  14. iwashmycar

    iwashmycar Active Member

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    Sounds good. Had to search "Argento color" Go ahead and just search "Argento".... no colors come up lol. Wasnt a bad search though!
     
  15. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    #15 Metalman, Jul 20, 2012
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2012
    No secret.... It's all about how perfect the surface needs to be. Obviously the smoother the surface, the more the surface reflects light. A mirror finish would naturally reflect more light than a surface that is broken up with lots of small peaks and valleys. The peaks and valleys are created by dragging the sand paper across the aluminum surface if seen with a magnifying lens..... This causes the reflected light to be scattered. The good thing with the scattered light is it tends to minimize surface defects.

    In my case, these wheels have been on the receiving end of rocks and grit just from being used. The sandpaper is just being used to dress up the surface.

    Using my rigged up "potters wheel", I start out with 100 grit sandpaper for 10 minutes, then 180 grit sandpaper for 10 minutes, followed by a 3M medium grit surface conditioning pad for.... you guessed it, 10 minutes. So in about 30 minutes, the lips are finished with a satin finish. If I didn't have my rig and I was to do this by hand the look would be completely different because short back and forth sanding strokes on a circular rim would give an inconsistent finish. The trick is the spinning wheel on the mill. I'm running it at 1,200 rpm's and it's putting a very consistent and even pattern on the aluminum, much like the circular grooves on a LP record..... only much finer. The effect is fine satin finish that sort of reflects light like a very fine Fresnel lens so to speak.

    The first lip I did had a high gloss finish.... Didn't like it very much... Some of the old Fuchs wheels that were used on the 1980's Porsche had a similar satin look.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  16. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    #16 Metalman, Jul 20, 2012
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2012
    Ummmmm.... Well.... Ahhhhh.....
    Here is Argento on some vehicle out of Yurop.... Heh Heh Heh:eek:

    It' somewhat similar to Dark Silver, you might say....

    [​IMG]
     
  17. Crashton

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    ^ Nice car Chuck! Is that a JCWBARTH? :)
     
  18. grodenglaive

    grodenglaive New Member

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    thanks I learned 3 things here today:cool:
     
  19. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    The barrels just got finished in a semi-gloss black powder coat to kind of hide the brake dust.....
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    #20 Metalman, Aug 1, 2012
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2012
    Argento faces going into the oven a few minutes ago...
    The camera flash is bringing out the metalic in the coating on the one on the right....
    [​IMG]
     

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