When contemplating which wheels to use on my car I decided that I liked the look of the Style 5 on the coupe but also read several people stating that the 17" size was a little too big for a suspension which was designed for 14 inchers.
So I picked up a set of 16" BMW style 5's which are one piece instead of two on the 17". But I liked the look of the polished lip so I decided to try and replicate that. One way to do it is to lift the back end of the car up and use your motor as a lathe. At first I did that and, after taping the inside basket weave, started sanding the outer rim. Much to my disappointment, it took FOVERER to sand down to the aluminium. It turns out that those wheels have a hihgly resistant coat of paint on them and trying to sand that down is nearly impossible. Plan B was to use some aircraft paint remover. It did that but it took 4 or 5 applications and serious scrubbing to get most of that out.
Then it was back on the car/lathe to do the final polishing.
I am pleased with the end result. But it certainly took A LOT of work to get to that point. I believe I read that to get this done professionally runs about $100 per corner. So, it's a $400+ savings. But no easy ride.
Here are the Before, During and After pics.
So I picked up a set of 16" BMW style 5's which are one piece instead of two on the 17". But I liked the look of the polished lip so I decided to try and replicate that. One way to do it is to lift the back end of the car up and use your motor as a lathe. At first I did that and, after taping the inside basket weave, started sanding the outer rim. Much to my disappointment, it took FOVERER to sand down to the aluminium. It turns out that those wheels have a hihgly resistant coat of paint on them and trying to sand that down is nearly impossible. Plan B was to use some aircraft paint remover. It did that but it took 4 or 5 applications and serious scrubbing to get most of that out.
Then it was back on the car/lathe to do the final polishing.
I am pleased with the end result. But it certainly took A LOT of work to get to that point. I believe I read that to get this done professionally runs about $100 per corner. So, it's a $400+ savings. But no easy ride.
Here are the Before, During and After pics.
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