HRE wheels, question about taking apart (and before/after cleaning pix)

Got these second hand and they really need help...... I spent only about 20min per wheel today and after taking metal polish with Maquire's drill driven power ball and wheel cleaner to them they look much better but.... the faces have some scuffs on them and I thought they might look better bronze or gold anyways. I see they are held with #8 torx and nuts on the back. They are 3pc wheels.... Can I just take the faces off? With out worrying about splitting the lips from the barrel and re sealing? Pics of before and after.......

Ask Jurrian from HRE. Either on this site (he's a member) or through the company website. He's very helpful and quick to respond. Post picks if you go with gold or bronze, I've been debating doing this to my wheels for my black C4S.

Thanks Agent! Thought of just emailing or calling them direct after I posted! Will update this when I get a chance to talk to them!

Quotes source post: 14914933

Piotr, I think the part of this process that is a pain in the rear is the unsealing, cleaning up the old sealant, and resealing of the wheel (cleaning up excess.) From what I'm reading there's no huge risk in bending the wheel while removing it but for prosperity's sake I would probably still go 180 degrees symmetrically alternating left-to-right to be sure the tension is being removed evenly.

Quotes source post: 14915688

Thanks Jester Yeah we can totally refinish the wheels for you if you'd like to send them to us (You don't have to of course, but if they're sent to us, I can assure you that they'll look brand new, like we just machined the wheels and produced the set that day). We can disassemble, them, refinish the inners and outers as well as refinishing the center to the way you want it as well (Gold or Bronze, we've got a LARGE handful of colors that fit into those two color categories). Finishes that weren't available back then when we initially made this style so there are plenty of colors to add your own unique style. If you're interested or you have questions, feel free to send me a PM

Why don't you just answer his question? I'd like to know too. Can the centers be removed without affecting any seals?

Quotes source post: 14916133

I did by PMing michalik.piotr directly to answer his question because the answer I gave him may not be the same answer I give you or anyone else. If you would like to know if your centers can be removed without affecting the seal, I first need to know which HRE Wheel you're referring to. Please PM me directly.

[Image-only post; no author-written text. Original image references:] https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/rockon.gif

Quotes source post: 14914933

I've done a few sets of BBS which are assembled a little differently than the HREs but I think the basic principle is the same. If you're going to go to the trouble of removing all the nuts and bolts, I would just go ahead and take them completely apart and do a full refinish. If money is no object, just send them to HRE because I won't lie, it's a LOT of work. For mine, it started with some oven time to loosen the adhesive and after that, it was mostly all elbow grease. ( Pro-Tip #368: When removing filthy dirty wheels after their 5-10 minutes at 350�, do NOT use the novelty oven mitts that were given to you as a gift by the girl you were planning on sleeping with later on in the evening ) If you decide to do them yourself, I'd be happy to share what I learned from my projects. Finished product on the car:

most 2 pc you can take the center out, most 3pc, not. the whole thing has to come apart. But if you want them like new, I would send them back to HRE and get them like new. Its alot safer to have them assembled by the factory

Jurrian, thanks for the help and the PM. Socal911....jesus thats a lot of work! lol This may be helpful for anyone else with 540s, you CAN take the faces off w/o having to re-seal. Not know yet: What is the sequence/order of taking all the screws out and putting them back in and the torque? Also, anyone know of a tool/socket, air or drill mounted torque wrench or socket attachment to make this quicker and easier?? Cheers and thanks for all the help!

Quotes source post: 14917425

I broke the BBS nuts loose by hand using a star pattern and then used a cordless drill to remove them the rest of the way. Reassembled the same way with the cordless drill/driver clutch set about mid point to snug everything up and then did the final torquing by hand. I bought these cheapo rollers from Harbor Fright. And then mounted them to a flat surface. And then put the wheels on them. The theory was that it would speed up the tightening of all the bolts since I would easily be able to rotate the wheel. It helped, but not as much as I had hoped.

socal, let me know when you want to do my set thanks for the info!