Well traveled O-Z wheels finally resurrected -- Fred - Wes look familiar???

[redmanfx]

I've started to get my O-Z racing wheels together to my liking and these are some well traveled rims being resurrected and staying right here at NICO.

Story goes like this: PalmerWMD, who has disapeared, had bought these wheels to go on his Q, which was originally owned by That Rex:







Now when Fred (PalmerWND) sold his car to Wes the Wheels went with it and were eventually taken off in lue of better condition, newer wheels. I eventually bought them and wanted Wes to have them stripped and powder coated becuase of more businesses who do that in his area (yes I pre paid for this), but Wes had gone to school and the wheels were at home. This would have caused Wes much trouble to run back and forth, so I backed off and just had them sent as is. The Wheels were made from forged aluminum and bought in 1996. They were in "used" shape as in the pictures.

Well I could not find a place to powder coat the rims here after trying for about 5 months and I didn't feel like shipping them out again. I figured fine, I'll chrome them...again that was a no go. So I decided to sand blast these O-Z racing wheels down to the raw aluminum, which was actually a very nice "etched" look, whick I like anyway. They came out awesome and Clean. After some more repair work on the rims they looked like this...







The raw aluminum wheels felt like shark skin and had "texture", which as I said earlier, I kinda like. Not smooth like every other fricken' rim out there. Well I decided what the heck? I'll paint them myself.. Now I didn't want to paint a crappy job on my nice wheels, so I studied how to do it right since these would be my first wheels I've painted. Plus I wanted them to last and not loose paint with the first ding. I wanted the paint to stick and not flake off and look sharp, so I decided I would first seal the raw aluminum with an epoxy primer. I got the best I could find and this is what they looked like after 3 coats.







Then came the really fun part, the part that seperates the great jobs from the good jobs, the men from the boys :





That is some tedious work and it takes the top layer of roughness off smooths out the surface. Well I don't want it too smooth, since I'm not a "smoothie", so I only did this once to maintain the textured look. The rims kept about 50% of the texture, so it was time to primer 1 more coat and do a quick steel wool pad agian. Man did they look good.

By this time I painted them with my color and little bit of flake and WOW! They look completely awesome to me.... I did 3 coats of a sliver type of paint and had to stop because I'd spent allot of time on them. I'll go back on Monday to clear coat them, yes clear coat them. I left them in some wrecked cars to bake in the hot sun!!

More pics to come of course.......

[jamesmost]

and this is from the man that burns seats. Good job, i myself do not have the patience. When i have painted rims , and they have come out great- not nearly as much time and effort- have had to wet sand and respray yearly for chips.I hope ure time and effort afford you the luxury of a long time finish

[elwesso]

i always loved those wheels.. I was actually torn if i wanted to get rid of them because they were just so nice looking on the Q, not to mention a great fit!

I cant wait to see them on the car with the painted center caps (which looked the worst IMO)

[maxnix]

Great restoration job.

[ddrumman]

Damn Red!

What's gotten into you? You've lost your mind. You're bidding on Q engines, Q45 cars on ebay, you are restoring wheels, started the "save the G50" foundation... what else are you doing that you're not telling us?

Kidding aside, nice job on the wheels. Can't wait to see them on the Q.

[redmanfx]

O.K, I'm done. Maybe just a tad bit more, but done for the most part. Here are my O-Z Wheels painted and clear coated and baked!Check um' out:









Now, I was going to do a two tone job, but I like them the way they are. I think I will paint the center cap writing black and then clear coat the caps. But that's really it and they are done. So tell me what you think about my first attempt at settling for painting my own rims instead of shipping them away to have them powder coated???

[gabossie]

Very nice job. I'm working on restoring a set of rims myself right now, but mine are two piece which adds a little complication. Could you list all the materials you used? By that I mean what primer, paint, and clear you used. Again, looks really good.

[jamesmost]

Masterful - how many hours in ??

[elwesso]

Man red those things look GREAT.....

Just so you know, Fred didnt buy the rims, he didnt buy anything on the car.

[AZhitman]

WOW!

Awesome work, Steve!

How about a complete writeup, with materials used?

Those look SO much better.

[elwesso]

had those wheels looked this good on my car, i probablywouldnt have gotten rid of them.

[Jesda]

WOW. Those look damn good. Nice handywork, my friend.

[redmanfx]

Thanks for the comments! I will get back with the primer brand and numbers as well as paint and clear coat and activators. The spraying of the wheels with the various coats didnt' take that long, but the baking and especially the steel wool wet sanding took a while and a toll on my fingers. I baked the wheels in some very hot wrecked cars at my friends house and in the hot sun with the windows up. No bugs, pollen or dust so all worked out great! Anyway I'll write something up. The all natural way:)

[redmanfx]

Just so you know, Fred didnt buy the rims, he didnt buy anything on the car.

So....... they came from the person who he got the car from? Was I correct in saying the car was bought from Rex B. Do tell. I love stuff with history. It just gives an object a storyline which kinda brings it to life and gives it a certain value it didn't have before. The wheels were stamped in 96 so I'll throw a 10 year birthday party for them when there mounted

[elwesso]

Rex bought them (one of the first things to go on my Q) from tire rack in like 97 or so... He bought my Q brand new.

Originally mounted 235-40-17F and 255-35-18R dunlops...

Fred didnt buy anything for the car, just did maintenance...

[ddrumman]

Wow man!!!

Absolutely stunning. Excellent job.

What size are they?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Those look great!

[redmanfx]

Wow man!!!What size are they?

Two 17 inch and two 18 inch. I don't think I would want anything bigger then 18's on the Q for performance reasons. If I didn't drive it so aggressively and used it as a once and a while driver I might go bigger, but since my right foot weighs about 150lbs when I'm in the car I'd rather be safe when I hit those potholes.

[elwesso]

17x8.5 F 18x8.5 R... ET37 all the way around

Personally if it were up to me id run a 245-45-17 up front and a 275-40-18 rear

[redmanfx]

Just ordered my tires. Pirelli PZero Nero's 245/45-17 M+S in the front and 245/40-18 M+S for the rear. 275's were too much money for the redhead who had a budget of $600 and went over by $78.00 with shipping. Had I got the 275's I would have gone over by $178.00......ouch!!

Bought from TireRack. They still call you up to make sure your not stupid after you place your order.

Well pics on Saturday maybe???

[ddrumman]

Just ordered my tires. Pirelli PZero Nero's 245/45-17 M+S in the front and 245/40-18 M+S for the rear. 275's were too much money for the redhead who had a budget of $600 and went over by $78.00 with shipping. Had I got the 275's I would have gone over by $178.00......ouch!!

Bought from TireRack. They still call you up to make sure your not stupid after you place your order.

Well pics on Saturday maybe???

Why not 255/40 for the rears? Better load rating + better max load lbs + correct diameter. 26"

[redmanfx]

Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S aren't made in that size(255/40-18). Only 255/35-18 or 255/45-18. I think I'll just go with what I got and the next set of tires will be the bigger rubber for me.
Modified by redmanfx at 7:13 PM 5/23/2006

[redmanfx]

Alrighty then,,,...It's 12:53am on the day my tires are to arrive and I can't sleep. I thought this only happened to the youngsters?? Actually that has nothing to do with why I can't sleep, but FedEx will be here aroung 11:30 am with my Pirelli's and it's right off to have them mounted on my wheels and car... Pics later tonight!!