How to fix rashed wheels yourself?

[Promise Land]

I bought a set of used wheels that have some rash. Does anyone have a procedure to fix rash with or without painting the wheel? If you paint the wheels, what to use? What to use to get the surface ready?

[poshatch]

well the only real way to fix that would be to take the scoring down to a smooth level and try to taper it into the unaffected part of the wheel or if the whole part of the wheel is rashed then take it all down to about the same level

i started with a file to get it close, then sandpaper about 220 grit i think, then finally 800 grit to make it look smooth and nice again, then if its painted just paint it the color

thats the only way that i know of to fi the rash

[Promise Land]

is there an epoxy or a filler that can help level out some of the scratches?

[poshatch]

is there an epoxy or a filler that can help level out some of the scratches?

eek yours might be bad then if your thinking about that. yeah i think that is possible as well to use "bondo" or something similar for it, maybe somebody else to chime in on the exact product thtey used

got a pic yet? they got to be pretty turfed if you need to build it back up again

[elwesso]

its still gonna be a different color, so its gonna look gay..

You'd be better off getting your paint matched to the other wheels and just finish the wheel. I think thats the only way you're gonna truly be satisfied.

[Promise Land]

I plan to paint them a flat black anyway, so I'm OK with refinishing them if I can just build the surface back up.

[elwesso]

After doing some reading, i think most places that do this just sand them down and blend it in..

[poshatch]

make it have a huge lip sticking out past where the tire stops

that would be super intense

[Promise Land]

This is one of the wheels:


A close-up of the rash:


As I received them, nice and dirty:


After a good cleaning:


The same wheel with the Bondo work:


After two rounds of Bondo, sanding with 400 & 1000 grit, 2 coats of primer, another sanding with 1000 grit, and the first coat of "satin" black paint:

[Warped161]

i am very curious to see how this holds up, the rim will flex some during normal driving so i wonder if the bondo will just crack. keep us posted.

[Promise Land]

it's not a lot of Bondo, so I hope it doesn't crack.

[darens13]

im curious to see if they would even hold up to getting tires mounted on them. i know you can braze aluminum, that might be an option if this doesnt work out. good luck.

[nifares240]

I wonder if it throws off the wheel balance.

[Promise Land]

I've entered the project in the Dupli-Color Restoration Challenge for 2010. Keep your fingers crossed and vote for it when voting opens up in early August.

[Promise Land]

I entered the Spec-V wheels I redid in the Duplicolor Restoration Challenge. I am currently listed in the top-5 projects and I need your vote as #1 to win the contest. My project is listed as the 2009 Nissan Versa. Please help me out to win this sucka and show the world that NICO rocks...

Here's the contest...

http://restorationchallenge.com/projects/category/1

[jem003]

great question. Last weekend I used the Dremel tool with a new Silicone Carbide bit for non ferrous metals and smoothed the edge on a few small areas of rash. I then brushed on a thin coat of Duplicolor Primer ,then used the Duplicolor GM435 which is supposed to be the color match, but it's not. It's a shade darker.

but there is hope. The repairs look pretty good for a first pass which is really all I was intending to do.

My plan for the next 70 degree day is to 600 and 1000 grit sand the wheel edge, mask the tire and the wheel edge and AIRBRUSH the entire outer wheel edge with either the GM435 or the WAPB-9789 which is available from http://www.paintscratch.com/. My only concern would be that the $20 paint from paint scratch will be the exact same color as the $5 paint from Auto Zone. I don't mind that the entire outer wheel edge may be a slight shade darker, the issue now is that spots are a tad darker and I notice it, someone else may not but I do and there are slight brush marks, but I can fix that. I'll use my previous years of model car building and painting and the wheel edges will come out nice and smooth.

The sanding,masking and prep will take approx. 45 minutes per wheel, the Airbrushing will take about 1 minute.

This paint is Lacquer based so be prepared to deal with Lacquer based paints when working.

I believe you can facilitate a reasonable repair which looks tons better than the rash , remember though, this is a not to be compared with taking the wheels off and having them resurfaced. This method cannot really get any excessively deep gouges out but can fix up those pesky small rash marks.