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I know it splits opinion but the 2 sets of wheels I have had that have been powder coated (2 different sources) were both a disaster, within 4 or 5 years of all year round use it was all flaking off, ones I have had blasted then etch primed, painted and lacquered myself have lasted much better.
My elan has bare polished alloy on the rims and a regular polish keeps this shiny easily enough (it doesn't get used much when there is salt around though).
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I know it splits opinion but the 2 sets of wheels I have had that have been powder coated (2 different sources) were both a disaster, within 4 or 5 years of all year round use it was all flaking off, ones I have had blasted then etch primed, painted and lacquered myself have lasted much better. My elan has bare polished alloy on the rims and a regular polish keeps this shiny easily enough (it doesn't get used much when there is salt around though). I was thinking, do I make the effort and sat down, one wheel at a time, used a DA and also hand power, polished back all the clear from the wheels, till I have clean ally. Then either re-seal it, or keep polishing at irregular intervals. |
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mk2cossie
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,058 
Club RR Member Number: 77
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Something for grizz to consider/mull over... My wheels were refurbished about 15 years ago by Spit and Polish. Anthracite powder coating and diamond cut faces. They get an occasional polish session maybe once a year, and often got left due to lack of enthusiasm over winter as my daily driven car. However, a session with 1500 or 2000 wet and dry, metal polish and a coat of exterior polish will bring them back to nice and shiny again. And this is how they look today (pic taken last weekend, last polished in September!)  |
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Cool, I am still all over the place with what to do. At an advertised £75.00 per wheel, i get tempted to DIY, mate martin always uses them. I will see what other companies come up in the next few days. Surprised what lasted so long?? The rear bed, in position ? Black chrome as seen on counting cars is one of my fav colours. I like the look of it, but will have to approach with caution, the trucks colour is quite restrictive. I'd definitely get them professionally refurbed and then powder coated for the best, long-term outcome. There are a number of potential issues with diamond cutting: 1. It's expensive 2. Diamond cut finish isn't durable as lacquer protection is minimal 3. No lacquer over the cut finish leaves it exposed to corrosion /or/ 4. Applied lacquer lifts, leaving a 'milky' appearance 5. You can only diamond cut wheels once or twice as they remove material from the wheel to achieve the finish Choose your refurber carefully and don't base your decision on price alone - some are cheap for a reason. Great response and reply plus info. Thank you for posting up. Much appreciated. I'd definitely get them professionally refurbed and then powder coated for the best, long-term outcome. There are a number of potential issues with diamond cutting: 1. It's expensive 2. Diamond cut finish isn't durable as lacquer protection is minimal 3. No lacquer over the cut finish leaves it exposed to corrosion /or/ 4. Applied lacquer lifts, leaving a 'milky' appearance 5. You can only diamond cut wheels once or twice as they remove material from the wheel to achieve the finish Choose your refurber carefully and don't base your decision on price alone - some are cheap for a reason. This ^ Also, whilst powder coating is much better for longevity, I've found that it doesn't always have that same depth and shine as the 2K paints achieve. Maybe it's just the black ones I've seen done lately and locally, I dunno. Powder coating is also a real pain to work with once it does get chipped or kerbed again. Those are a really nice wheel design (I actually think they suit the truck much better then the Cragars and I love Cragars!) and 2 or 3 tone colours would work well on them and would be fairly easy to do due to the simple design. I do mobile wheel refurbs and smart repairs for local dealerships, mainly standard stuff, so not actually done any shadow chrome but a buddy in the trade has done a few at his unit. The way he does them is to spray the wheels black first and then dusts really thinned out silver coats over the black until the desired effect is achieved, then lacquered. It's a long laborious process and once done, there's no real way of matching them if damaged. That's just the way he does them although there may well be other methods/processes that enable future matching, it's not something I've looked into. This is why I know it needs to be done with caution. Just up the road from me, my mate had his ZTT wheels done there a few years back, think he paid £80 a wheel for a full refurb. Not cheap, but sometimes worth doing. We will see. How is the little rocket doing btw? Thom Check its thread 😉 |
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Something for grizz to consider/mull over... My wheels were refurbished about 15 years ago by Spit and Polish. Anthracite powder coating and diamond cut faces. They get an occasional polish session maybe once a year, and often got left due to lack of enthusiasm over winter as my daily driven car. However, a session with 1500 or 2000 wet and dry, metal polish and a coat of exterior polish will bring them back to nice and shiny again. And this is how they look today (pic taken last weekend, last polished in September!) That looks good. I will polish once a year, unlike fr€$h&m1nt¥ I am really lazy. |
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,325
Club RR Member Number: 160
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My Mazda wheels were powder coated in bright silver. I find the finish looked lovely, not quite paint, kind of shadow chrome without the shadow, hard to put your finger on. My place came as a recommendation from someone who is quite particular about having stuff done so I thought they would be fine doing it, when I got there they had wheels out done for collection and I noted they knew to mask the mounting faces and wheel nut holes so we’re no strangers to doing wheels correctly. I’m very pleased with mine so definitely shop around for recommendations on who to use locally.  |
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Last Edit: Feb 4, 2021 21:43:28 GMT by Rich
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So this morning I went out to see what my £200.00 or $260.00 had bought me. Tyres, still have some life left in them. (Subject to getting changed at a whim) .HEIC) These wheels will be needing a refurbishment, without doubt. .jpg) Lacquer peel and also oxidation on the diamond cut surfaces, in order to get them up to the standard the truck is presenting. .jpg) During my lunch hour I used a whole large bottle of Cif/ammonia based scrubbing agent along with two large, hard brushes to clean them one at a time. The two on the left are cleaned. Dirty on the right. .jpg) Also done today, at 07.00 when I got up, I cleaned the front and rears of these caps, 20 years worth of brake dust, muck etc took an hour to clean, but result was decent. Unfortunately I only got 11 wheel nut caps when I got the wheels, so will need to find or buy some more. .jpg) .jpg) And unless I find a trade for some Chevrolet items in the UK, I may fill these debossed GMC logos with a resin based filler and sand them flat, followed by paint. .HEIC) What I would like to fit...... .JPG) Hope to have it all done sooner than later. |
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Last Edit: Feb 4, 2021 22:09:15 GMT by grizz
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My Mazda wheels were powder coated in bright silver. I find the finish looked lovely, not quite paint, kind of shadow chrome without the shadow, hard to put your finger on. My place came as a recommendation from someone who is quite particular about having stuff done so I thought they would be fine doing it, when I got there they had wheels out done for collection and I noted they knew to mask the mounting faces and wheel nut holes so we’re no strangers to doing wheels correctly. I’m very pleased with mine so definitely shop around for recommendations on who to use locally. Thats nice when you have someone on the job who knows the job. |
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Another quick job while on a Teams or was it Zoom meeting today, they get so tedious. Sat with a big knife and my breadboard below the camera angle (my colleagues would be horrified) and cut the existing knob away. Then hit hard times. .HEIC) In fact, so hard that I had to go to the garage quickly to grind back the secondary knob as it was not going to let me cut it away. .HEIC) Grabbed some magic in a tube, mixed on the back of a pizza box, dribbled into the new ally shift knob, Followed by the shift lever. .jpg) Then set it to dry in the vice, brought it into the house later and laid it on the hot water radiator, hopefully to make it react faster to the heat. .HEIC) You recall the swapping of rear light units. Well, looking closer, these need some attention, grinder, DA, Compound I guess. Not today though. .HEIC) .HEIC) Once flatted back, polished etc, they should look just fine. In another great Karma in action turn, I got a PM from peteh1969 to ask if I was interested in some free 3D design work that craigrk could print off, in order to create a more interesting cover for the holes in the bedsides of the truck. The print files would also be sent to Andy in Oklahoma to print and then create aluminium castings for the truck. So after sending me various designs and ideas, Pete finalised the one I had in mind. This should be fun, and a massive Thank You to Pete. Imagine these either in chrome paint, or the ally buffed to a nice shine. .JPG) Been a long day, I guess it is bedtime soon. |
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The shifter is the business! Very nice indeed.
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The shifter is the business! Very nice indeed. Thanks mate. I like it too. Having the original means it is fully reversible too. Looking forward to fitting it and seeing if it works visually for me. |
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So many of the things I have done so far were not needed. But they do make me feel good about the truck. Ordered a replacement for this manky piece too. .HEIC) This lot arrived too. Though current weather completely precludes fitting. .HEIC) These also landed. Push fit blugs for the side repeaters. Guess we will now be drilling bigger holes in the fenders. .HEIC) Though......... Looking at the weather forecast it may be a slow week ahead. .PNG) Still. Its Friday, 10 hours to the weekend. |
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Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,951
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There is a chap that I use down in Canvey Island (Fraggle Rock to those in Essex) that has done all of my wheels for the past 20 years. Let me know if you want his details. P.  |
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There is a chap that I use down in Canvey Island (Fraggle Rock to those in Essex) that has done all of my wheels for the past 20 years. Let me know if you want his details. P. Cool, thanks, will do. |
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Funny the stuff that catches ones eye on FB Marketplace I was genuinely looking for a random full size spare for the A10 .jpg) Busy work day, but made some time for myself, First job took about 5 minutes. .HEIC) .HEIC) Pleased with the result of that. Later some more stolen time between meetings, foregoing lunch. I wanted to black out the B-pillar as part of tinting the door glass to create a large expanse of black. .HEIC) So ordered a piece of Matt finish black car wrap vinyl @ 200mm x 500mm for £2.88 including postage from eBay, that is CHEAP. Rolled up for delivery, it did not look promising at all. .HEIC) Cutting the strip in half, then taping it up, I traced the profile by just rubbing it against the B-pillar and the took some scissors to trim it back (the offcuts are being used on Sallys Corsa rear door mini pillars. .HEIC) Once trimmed right back, a decent rub down to shape the vinyl on the curves. .HEIC) And finally all done, next was the passenger side, again done between meetings .HEIC) Tonight craigrk sent a message to show what he had done as a test sample. Thanks to peteh1969 for the work so far. .jpg) I am liking this as an alternative to the existing badges. .jpg) Weekend plans?? |
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Very Nice and that's the small badge.
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Very Nice and that's the small badge. I completely missed that Pete, thank you very much. This one is 190mm and will be for the front grille. Position still to be figured out. |
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What a difference the black wrap makes, as was said earlier it should have left the factory like that.
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what a difference ! well done !
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Last Edit: Feb 6, 2021 8:54:11 GMT by westbay
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Yeah I second what stensodog said.....it should of been done at the factory. It's one of those discreet modifications that makes a big difference. It's a thumbs up from me 👍 |
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