Restoring Diamond Spoke BBS wheels

[gr8ful]

My 90 Q has a set of these honeycomb mesh wheels with the interior areas painted gold. Car is dark maroon (black cherry) with gold pinstriping. They are in rough shape --- scratches, scrapes, etc. Has anyone ever restored these wheels? Also, I'm missing the center caps...where can I get replacements?

I thought about getting new rims, but the more I look at them the more they are growing on me.

[CrimsonQ]

Theres various places you could take them to be refinished.

I got my stock piepans done for around $90 a piece.

Looked brand new

[maxnix]

Are those the Fittipaldi 7x15 rims? Don't look like the BBS.

[Jesda]

I'm thinking about sandblasting, priming, and painting. The cost of the compressor, sandblaster, and abrasives is cheaper than paying someone to do them... and you end up with cool tools!

I have the same wheels, but mine are O.Z. Fittipaldi.

Look for a thread by RedmanFX on wheel restoration.

[redmanfx]

Sandblasting can be done, but you will get an etched surface, so you'll have to wet sand it down to smooth it out. Restoring them will take more time since they are wirery or "spoked" in nature. I would try to find someone to glass blast these instead of sand blasting them so you get a less etched surface. Heck that might just do it for you anyway.

If you don't have any equipment at all, it'd cost you the same to get all your stuff together that you would need to restore them as it would if you bought replacement ones(this type of BBS rim). If you know someone that has the compressor and paint gun then You'd only have to buy the paint, activater and clear coat (primer as well if you want to do it right). Plus paying to have them either sand or glass blasted. Fun project, but time consuming to do it right.

Having them powder coated is another option. They chemicaly strip them, the powder them. Set of 4 could be around $300 or a little less at the cheapest and up to $400 depending on who would even do it.

[Jesda]

Sounds like I might be better off with some chrome piepans (blast! why did I let mine go!). I don't feel the need yet for bigger wheels, since tire selection for 15" is still sufficient.

[qsiguy]

Harbor Freight has a couple of cool little sand/media blaster guns. Here is a link to one. You could load it with various types of blasting media from mild to abrasive. I'm sure you could get decent results. You will need a pretty decent air compressor or it will take quite a while to keep letting your compressor refill with air.

http://www.harborfreightusa.co...45998

How do people get their pie pans chromed? Are they actually chromed or just polished?

[Q_SHIP]

Blast them, paint them gray, and call it a day.

[gr8ful]

Are those the Fittipaldi 7x15 rims? Don't look like the BBS.

I'm sorry, you are correct they are Fittipaldi's. I don't have the center caps for them.

[gr8ful]

Blast them, paint them gray, and call it a day.

Blasting them sounds as though it is the best way to remove the blemishes and prepare them for restoration. I'm wondering how the gray would look since the car is Black Cherry with gold pinstriping.

[redmanfx]

Blast them with the mildest media you can get. You'll see such a huge difference! Then paint them. These can be your practice rims to get you ready to restore rims in the future!! If your going to buy a blaster you might as well get some good use out of it. Might as well get a bigger compressor as well.

Be sure to take before and after photos.