(First post of this post is copied from the “What Did You Do today” thread)
Bought some
tires
locally that happened to have wheels attached to them.
However, the rear wheels had a bit of curb rash
So I spent a couple hours sanding, filling, and scuffing to prep for paint (later this week). 600 grit wet sand and grey scotch brite does a good job keying the existing paint.
It’s a learning experience for me, so definitely experimenting.
Went to my local auto paint shop where they were super friendly and really willing to help an amateur out, color matching one of the wheels I did not sand down to get this color match. The chip looks pretty darn
For reference, the invoice says “man9251 silver”, but I think the official Porsche color code is L9A1. The color chip below was another one that was super close
They recommended to take it down to 800 wet/dry so the metallic flakes don’t align into sanding grooves, but 600 was probably ok, too. I took it up to 800.
Since I don’t have compressors, guns, etc, they mixed up aerosol spray cans of color and I bought some 2k clear cans for the gloss coat.
After I got back home, another thing I noticed and spent a little more time on was the center bore which had surprisingly loose/flakey paint.
Once I was satisfied with that, it was just a matter of masking the tire, lug seats, and center bore face, along with the disk contact faces.
(the masking tape didn’t stick too well to the rubber, but I wanted something to stick a plastic wrap to later on. It did well enough, but a more aggressive tape would be better… or just not having tires in the way)
(I used a roll of paper to mask the barrel behind the lip that marks the transition between the silver face and grey barrel).
With masking out of the way, I had to make something resembling a paint booth since I don’t have a lot of space, so a folding table and a big box from my friendly local bike shop turned into this which I had too much fun making:
Closed -
Open-
A couple well placed strings and some gaffer tape hinges worked really well to keep the wheels covered between coats while allowing quick access to painting.
Also clutch was putting the wheels on a separate piece of cardboard so I could easily spin them for access all around. That worked surprisingly well and made a world of difference. Basically a cheap lazy Susan.
On to the color coat after wiping down with a wax and grease remover. First coat was a light dusting to create a sort of tack/tie coat. Waited 5 minutes and then started laying down color.
a quick check with the center cap to see how we are doing
It is pretty darn close. I’ll see how it is after everything cures, and maybe treat the caps, too? Maybe, maybe not.
Finally, popped the 2k canister and started shooting clear. Again first coat was a light dusting to create a tack coat to resist runs with future coats. It was starting to get dark, so these pictures are after I finished and moved them into the garage to cure over night (why the color/lighting is so different)
Overall, an improvement to the curbed wheels I purchased, but a FAR cry from perfect. There are minor imperfections in the paint application, but primarily, my wheel sanding and filling was lacking. I probably should have used high fill primer or something to fill in the little nicks, but for a daily driver, these should do the job. Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow in the daylight to see how well everything matches up.
This is a superb example of what an amazing DIY write-up is all about. Nice work, @Caylman !!! Really great job. Looking forward to seeing the final photos on these.
This is new to me, so I really appreciate your experiential confirmation 👍
I never had much luck with longevity of rattle can clearcoat, of course that was a long time ago. Let us know how it stands up to wash wax cycles and good job, excellent prep masking too.
So clear coat has set up overnight so I’m more comfortable moving them around, but will still them a few more days to more fully harden.
Pop quiz - can you tell which was the repainted one?
Here Is a closer side by side:
Quiz answer: the one on the left has fresh paint.
I’ll say the paint is a 95% match (to my untrained eye, that is). The wheels I refinished are slightly cooler tone, and the metal flake is very slightly smaller (?). It is interesting because all the tones and highlights are shared between mine and OE, but the balance of them is very slightly different.
OE Porsche:
DIY Porsche:
Once they are on the car with space between, I’ll be very hard pressed to tell, but as is always the plight of the diy, I’ll be too aware of the flaws. I do think it is a notable improvement over the curbed version of the wheels, and I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out for having shied away from body/paint work most my life.
This was a catalyzed 2 part clear coat so pretty darn close to the “good stuff”, just in spray can form. You pop a button on the bottom of the can and then you have a few hours to use it before it hardens in the bottle.
Not sure if that’s what you are referring to, or just the “standard” clear coat stuff.
Thanks for that post, that’s new technology to me and although I currently have no CC needs I may someday so good to know.
Impressive.
Out of curiosity, what did you use to fill in the curb rash?
I used JB Weld thinking it would be tough/robust. And maybe it is, but it doesn’t sand like aluminum, so it kind of shows through. It really needs some kind of thin sandable coat to fill in the little tiny bits and smooth the transition between the two materials.
Really good job. I’ve done some DYI painting including a wheel curb and a big gouge in the rocker panel/plastic intake surround that came out surprisingly well on my Rhodium Silver. I ordered the paint and clear coat from A******n and it was a great match
Nice work OP, and thanks for sharing methods/learning/products. As to matching factory perfection, worthy goal, but you'll never look at your wheels as closely as you do when refinishing. Some may lose sleep over it, I wouldn't.
The wheel wheel spacers finally arrived so I could get the wider rear wheel installed (10” wide vs oe 9”). I do definitely prefer this style wheel over the
cayman
2 (?) that were on it previously.
Just closing the loop on this thread. Have a good weekend, everyone!
