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[gatster]

This is my first post here, so hello 

I got a 2004 2.7 CRD Grand Cherokee a couple of months ago that needed a bit of mechanical work and a general tidy, but I thought it was a good bet so dived in. Now I've got the mechanicals hopefully sorted I can move on to the cosmetics, which started with a polish, and I'm now on the wheels. I was quoted €300 for this which would be a 100% pro-job, however as i got the Jeep cheap I decided to keep the cash for possible upgrades and do it myself. I didn't expect to get near the 'pro' finish but aimed to get as close as possible. I did this one wheel at a time, replacing the wheel I was working on with the spare, materials cost me about €40-€50 but that was all paint and Nitromors as I had the other bits already. Initially I wanted a 'gunmetal' finish and tried this out on a wheel but I didn't think it looked good when on the car so repainted it).

I must stress that being careful not to wreck the lovely soft alloys and being patient is paramount:

What I used/What you'll need:

Minimum Kit
Bucket of soapy water/sponge/abrasive kitchen sponge/old towel or rags
Electrical tape
Packing tape
Old newspapers/large mdf sheet
Craft knife/Stanley blade
Flat bladed screwdriver or pallet/filling knife (shelf support in the photo, but does the job)
Nitromors (I used the 'All Purpose' one) & old paint brush and gloves
Coarse wire wool
Coarse Sandpaper (I used 3m Aluminum Oxide)/Wet & Dry
Cordless Drill & Sanding Wheel
Grey spray primer (1x 500ml large can)
Silver spray paint (2x 300ml cans should do 4 wheels, I used Mercedes Brilliant Silver as I had a bit left from my old Merc and used this as a test)
Clear lacquer (1x 500ml large can)

Optional
Spray filler primer
Metal filler
Detail Sander
Sheet/Orbital Sander




Cleaning

This is one of my wheels at the start of the process. I had already given it a quick wash and scrub and then applied the electrical tape around the edge. Using the flat bladed screwdriver/shelf support, I pressed the tape on as I went as well as I could.



In some areas, the corrosion/peel was pretty bad:



I then used packing tape to mask a larger area of the tyre.



On the first wheel I then used old newspapers to completely cover the rest of the tyre, however I remembered I had a large piece of 3.2mm MDF from an old project and used this as base on which to spray and a quick way to mask of the rest of the tyre when it came to painting (more on this later).

Removing the lacquer & sanding

Once I was happy the tyre was protected, I donned the gloves and dabbed the Nitromors (NM) on. The tin says to leave it for 15 mins, then apply another coat and leave that for 40 mins, however I found that far too long as the NM would dry out (which it says on the tin to not let happen)...when it's dry it's an absolute bugger to get off.



I started leaving the second coat 15 minutes before attacking the lacquer with the stanley blade. This may be easier with a paint scraper, but as I didn't have one I made do by being careful to try to not to mark the alloy with the blade:



The lacquer should come away quite easily for the most part but it's a nasty job. Any areas where the lacquer didn't come away I reapplied NM, waited for about 10 mins and repeated the process. I found doing this over and over a waste of time so would only apply 3 coats of NM in this manner. Once I was happy, I brushed of any bits of removed lacquer using the paintbrush I'd applied the NM with and then washed the wheels twice with hot soapy water. This enabled me to see where areas of lacquer/NM were left (usually around the rim lip). To get rid of these I'd use the wire wool dipped in NM, and then the 3M sandpaper to remove the remnants, then washed the wheels again.

I then studied the wheel for knocks or chips. One of my wheels had been curbed so I used a small amount of metal filler and then reshaped the contour by sanding with a detail sander and by hand.

For the other wheels, this was simply a matter of finding dents/chips, then gently sanding them out. For this I mostly used the sanding wheel and the drill, and corrected any imperfections that show up after applying the filler primer. I'd been told (or read somewhere) that running the index finger of the hand you don't generally use over the surface is a good way to feel imperfections as it's more sensitive...I think it works so I did this and sanded accordingly until I was happy.





Once I'd completed this process I washed the wheel again, dried it off and then let it dry completely in the sun (when it occasionally came out).



Painting

As I mentioned earlier I had previously been taping up the whole wheel with newspaper but found this to be a pain in the arse. I remembered I had some MDF so I cut it in half, and then cut a wheel rim sized hole in one of the halves. I used one half as base so as not to end up painting my gravel (see above pic) and the other half as a quick way to mask the rest of the tyre:



I firstly used filler primer as I find it easier to highlight any areas that need a bit of attention once it's applied, but this is entirely optional. I let this first coat dry for 30 mins:



I leveled out this problem area using wet & dry:



I then sprayed a very thin layer of filler primer again on this area and let it dry and again checked for imperfections. If needed, I repeated this process until I was happy. I must apologies as I don't have a pic of the next step, but once this was complete I used standard grey metal primer (one coat), let it dry for 30 mins, and then applied the first coat of silver, and let that dry for 30 mins. It's imperative to apply the spray paint in thin layers, as tempting as it is to load it on, you can (and do) get runs of paint...

...so I sanded off with wet & dry



I applied 3 coats of silver spray paint, allowing 30 mins between them. On the first three wheels I left this overnight to cure in my shed but on the last one, as I was under strict instructions not to let my 'messing about' interfere with the weekend, I went ahead and applied the 3 coats of lacquer, in 30 minute intervals, the same day.



On all the wheels I let the lacquer cure for 48 hours before refitting to the car.

Results

So this is the finished result of the last wheel. I should mention I did the center caps in the same manner but non of these needed sanding so they were just washed, primed, painted and lacquered (same amount of coats).



So all in all around 3-4 hours per wheel. It seems a lot but it's actually broken up so there's time to do other stuff whilst you're waiting or do a bit at a time over a while.

Unless you're about 10cm away so can see the odd imperfection they look great IMO, so that's enough for me! Hope this was useful, any questions please ask.

[Bulldog67]

Salutations mate 

Way too time consuming for someone as impatient as me but good job nonetheless (would be much quicker to roller them black tho )

[Dutch]

Nice write up  Gatster

Although I'm a shiny I'm with BD on this one  

[JamesH]

Good work and write-up. Something I'd do if I had a weekend free with the sun shining but netiher of those things are around at the moment!

[bgbazz]

I've not long finished doing my wheels and have to say I used almost exactly the same method as you did. Main difference was I used a Dremel with the little wire wheel to get the nicks and deeper scratches out, then finished off by hand with ali oxide fine paper, followed by 2400 grade wet and dry. They now look brand new [well, almost].

Great write up mate.