I'm not sure if this should go in another area, if so, please feel free to move it.

So, being the lazy-*** I am, I left my wife's DD winter rims outside all summer stored beside the house. Needless to say, they were in terrible shape when I went to put them back on this fall.

These are just the plain steel rims for her '08 Golf.

So, being a bit bored, I thought I would have a crack at refinishing them. (Yea, I know how much easier it would have been to put them in the shop over the summer...

So here goes, this was the worst of them:



It was the one sitting on top of the stack of tires. They got in progressively better condition towards the bottom of the pile.

After some love with the sandblaster:



After this they got some hand sanding, starting with 120 grit, up to 400 grit, just to take off the rough edges from the green grit I was using to sand blast. It's angular cut glass, so it's pretty agressive. If I had used steel shot or walnut shells, it probably would have been a lot smoother, but I didn't have any and Princess Auto is 45 mins away.

They then got a couple or 3 coats of self-etch primer:



Then a few coats of Rustoleum Graphite Wheel Paint, followed by a couple of coats of clear the next morning:




I'm going to give them a few days to cure completely before putting them back on the car. Weather is supposed to be ok until Tuesday here anyway, so her summers will be fine until then.

I have to say I am pleased with the outcome, considering I have about $20 total invested! I'm looking around the yard today for other stuff to do!


They are certainly going to look a LOT better than the plain flat black.

 

Looks nice, the wife is prolly gonna love you more for it. Oh, who am I kidding! Still, they look good.

 

Where did you find the Rustoleum Graphite paint? You cant find that stuff around here other then that stuff in lowes.

 

I bought it at TSC (Tractor Supply Co) here in Canada.

Not too sure where you'd find it in Kentucky.

 

Never thought to look and see of tractor supply as it here. The one here is overpriced, so i hardly ever use that place, but I'll stop in next time I'm out that way and see if they have any.