SoCal35

iTrader: (5)

Well, I never thought I'd be posting in this forum. I usually find my answers here, but for those who couldn't find the answer on how to do a DIY on rash repair, I thought I'd briefly share my experience.

What I used:
- Electric Sander/Polisher (with 180 grit sandpaper)
- 320,600,1000, and 2500 grit wet/dry sandpaper
- Mothers Mag/Aluminum Wheel Polish
- Dremmel tool (not Dremmel brand)
- Ice cold Gatorade (weather was HOT)

All I really did was use the sander to grind down the rash marks. Once they were smoothed out, I sanded working up from 320-1000. I then wetsanded with 2500. Then I used Mothers wheel polish.

Sounded complicated after I did research on how to do it, but with a steady hand, I grew some ***** and tried it. Wasn't as hard as I expected it to be.

Overall I'm happy with the results. I really didn't want to spend $50-100 per wheel for repair. I'll probably spend more time to take the rest of the clear coat off of the lips (I think it's from the factory [Work Wheels]) since they're starting to fade/dull.

I didn't take specific pictures, but just took pics whenever my hands were clean haha.

Began with:


Halfway through:


Pretty much finished:



Enjoy!

Oh yeah, the process took me about an hour for two wheels.

varcity64

iTrader: (2)

not so sure i would do this (i would be toooooooo nervous!), but great job and nice write up

btw, i find myself posting in this forum quite a bit lately. there is some amazing stuff in here

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

any pros mind chiming in to let me/us know if this is similar to how its done in the big wheel refurb places? if so then hot damn, i'll be trying this out within a week.

would better results comes from attempting to file down the rash before hitting it with the sanding wheel? this should help prevent the sharp edges from chewing up the sanding pad as well as require less material overall be removed.

Faymester

I'm definitely scared to try this my self, but if this is kinda how it's actually done I may give it a go too.

vwynn

iTrader: (4)

did you have the wheel spinning? or did you just sand in that curbed area?

nice progress tho! all you need is some high grade wet sand paper and polish

Ay-nako

iTrader: (25)

wow sick!!!

chrispy

iTrader: (21)

Looks great Francis! Nice job doing it yourself.

SoCal35

iTrader: (5)

I used the dremmel tool to file down any pieces of metal that were sticking out... I tried with a hand filing tool, but it was taking a bit longer to get it as smooth as I wanted. Either way, the sanding pad ended up getting chewed up anyways- I didn't file/dremmel down jagged edges so far that it would cause a "dip" in the lip (I already had one that was unavoidable seen in last pic).

The wheel was spinning. Made it a lot faster. I didn't apply so much pressure due to the fact I didn't want the sanding pad chewed up right away.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I don't recommend anybody to do this. If you're nervous, I'd suggest taking it to a pro. I was kind of in a whatever mood and if I messed up, I was willing to pay a pro after (but way later as it wasn't a priority to repair wheels)

jasonm

iTrader: (5)

Good Job. I did this as well on a set of some used 20's that I bought a while back. The clear coat was pitted and some rash. I used the dremmel on the serious areas and hand sanded after going to higher grits and removed the old clear coat while i was at it. Got the lips shinny.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

so you just had the *** end of the car up on stands and put the car in drive so it idled with the rear wheels turning?

SoCal35

iTrader: (5)

Oops, I misread vwynn's quote Inititally, I thought vwynn meant the wheel on the portable sander. PureDrifter, I did not use any lifts on the car. To try and clear things up, I sanded around the lip in a circular motion using the portable sander.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

All four of my wheels have rash. I'd rather a pro do it. I screw up one wheel being impatient and I'll be pissed.

One HoT

iTrader: (5)

Nice job. But it looks like it needs some more of that 2000 grit to remove some of the heavier scratches from the low grit sandpaper then hit it off with some more metal polish.

Only method will only work for non-clearcoated polished wheels.

Chris@GlimmerGlass

iTrader: (3)

Nice work! I've actually just started a similar job after a local shop dropped one of my wheels (and they of course deny responsibility).