The owner of the car always strives to preserve the appearance of his four-wheeled pet in immaculate condition. In addition to aesthetic pleasure, it largely helps to protect the integrity of the vehicle and extend its effective operation.

One of the urgent issues in this area is the restoration of alloy wheels with their own hands. Driving off-road or extreme driving during the winter period can disrupt the integrity of their outer surface. Subsequently, various scuffs, chips or dents appear on the wheels.

Content

• 1 Preservation
• 2 Preparatory operations
• 3 Work
• 4 Paint application

Preservation

In his methods of resuscitation, the motorist is quite limited. Often, restoration work is reduced to the use of putty and subsequent painting. These operations remain in demand after the acquisition of a set of used disks.

Painting refers to effective methods to combat corrosion. If it is carried out correctly, then the discs can last more than one season.

With the help of self-coloring, a motorist receives the following positive factors:

• foci of corrosion are blocked;
• wheels get aesthetic appearance;
• motorist has the ability to pick up paint to match his vehicle;
• the operation in the garage will reduce its cost while maintaining decent quality.

Preparatory operations

To ensure reliable and long-lasting protection, you will need to apply one of the types of modern paints:

• Acrylic. Widespread and popular among motorists. They are distributed in the liquid state, which leads to their use with the help of cans under pressure or in spray guns. Due to their physico-chemical characteristics, acrylics are easily fixed on the metal surface for a long time.
• Powder. They are based on a modern dry polymer. This type of coating is used in most industrial companies for applying the outer layer on alloy wheels. In garage conditions, the method is difficult to reproduce, as it requires more complex equipment than other methods of application. Motorists use it rarely.
• Liquid rubber. The method is relatively new, but already has a sufficient number of fans. The result is either glossy or matte finish.

See also: We select wheels on the car

When applying popular paints, you will need a certain set of materials:

• two-component epoxy glue, it is desirable to select it as close as possible to the main tone of the wheel in color;
• paints and varnishes in the most comfortable for work;
• masking tape if processing is intended without removing the rubber;
• compressor with a spray gun;
• drill with several types of cleaning pads or sandpaper strip with different grit of about 300 ... 600 units;
• protective devices: rubber gloves, respirator.

Paint can be selected with the help of a professional colorist, in order to get the planned color as a result. You can speed up the drying process using an industrial building dryer.

Work

Restoration of the coating of alloy wheels with your own hands is possible both with the removal of rubber, and without dismantling the ramps. If there is no possibility or desire to engage in dismantling, then it is enough to glue masking tape along the edge of the contact between the rim and rubber, and the rest of the surface is protected from paint with oilcloth.

We clean the surface of bitumen residues, dirt and dust. In such a situation it is customary to use a car shampoo. or other auxiliary "chemistry".

With a marker or chalk, we highlight problem areas on the surface where there are damages to the outer layer in the form of a bloated paint, scratches or chips.

We carry out mechanical processing of the selected zones. To do this, choose the most convenient way:

• manual sanding;
• cleaning with a drill and a special nozzle;
• sandblasting.

Purified areas are degreased with chemical solvents. If there are deep scratches, you will need to putty. Grind the dried surface to bring it to the correct size.

After completing all operations, re-clean the outer surface with solvents.

Paint application

The coloring process consists of three stages:

1. Primer. To ensure the high-quality protection of the metal base, we use a three-fold application of a primer. After each layer, wait for drying for further processing. Allowed the use of building hair dryer to dry the layers.
2. Paint application. It is carried out in the same way as the application of the soil. The nozzle of the spray gun is removed from the surface by 40 ... 50 cm. It will be sufficient to process in 2 ... 3 layers. After each treatment, wait for the surface to dry completely.
3. Varnish coating. This operation refers to finishing. Before using the equipment, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the working tools from paint or primer. Two layers will be enough.

See also: What is wheel ripping and how to recognize it

Full drying after all treatments takes 2-3 days. After that, the wheels can be put on the car.