Technical Help with refurbishing Sedici wheels

[Christian]

I get the Sedici back from the sprayshop tomorrow night and as soon as I get it want to get the wheels cleaned up too (I was going to get new ones but insurance has put a stop to that!)

The wheels are the original 15" Fiat 5 spoke alloys - they are not 'damaged' but are badly tarnished. I was thinking of getting a sand wheel for my drill or using a dremil or something - has anyone got any suggestions of how I can tidy the wheels up to a clean non-tarnished finish withuot having to spray paint them? Any help appreciated!

Chris

 

[Hellcat]

I just got mine re-finished professionally. £20-25 a wheel. Good, if not better, than new.

 

[Christian]

It's these wheels on mine - Thanks Hellcat but I really could do with having a go at them myself due to the cost of the respray (believe me, it more than offset the cost of the car!) I had already been quoted 45 quid per wheel by a place in here Leeds with no discount for all four

I have been looking around and think I will possibly try some rubbing compound on them and a bit of elbow work and see if it makes a difference. The wheels are clean on the above photo, just corroded/tarnished, but there is little rim damage, just damage to the surface.

 

[Hellcat]

What did you have re-sprayed? Any panel work? What was the cost? Would you like the details of the place that can do them for £20 a wheel?

 

[Christian]

The entire car has been resprayed mate - the same colour, Fiat racing red. Unfortunately, there were cosmetic issues on almost every panel, mainly 'toffee hammer dents' and a small amount of rust on the rear offside panel and the front nearside wing was completely caved in. These are not particularly visible on the photos of the car I uploaded onto this site. The cost was around the £700 mark. The guy we use is a professional resprayer who did our T25 and the Barchetta earlier in the year. He actually beat our next best quote for the Barchetta by £600 and it came out like a new car. The cheapest other quote we had was £1200 from a guy in Headingley called the Dent Doctor. Our guy did a complete respray and some minor dents for £600, metallic too.

I have not seen the Tipo for nearly two weeks, but I am expecting great things from this guy! I'll get some glamour photos of it up, once I get the wheels done. Just to be different, I also just managed to get hold of a 'Granturismo' trim for the rear to see if it looks any better than the Sedicivalvole one. (we'll see) If the place that did your wheels for that amount is a reasonable distance to me, mate, yes I would be interested.

Chris

 

[Hellcat]

Darlington... Close enough?

 

[Christian]

Thanks fr your input mate but it's a bit too far - nvm I'm sure I'll sort it one way or another - i'll post regardless of success!

 

[tipomike]

Sounds as if your car is going to be "mint" when you get it back. The wheels on your car where origionaly diamond cut and then laquered and after a few years most Mk1 Sedici wheels where refurbed to a sprayed finish. Retaining the "cut" look is the way to go though. If you polish up the wheels and then seal with a good clear laquer you should be ok. The wheels on my car are cleaned regularly and given a regular polish and they still look pretty good - they were refurbed about 8/10 years ago.

Re the Grandturismo badge........my view is if you are lucky to have an origional Sedici - then you should proclaim it to the world!! There arn't many origional cars left now.

I will try and find a pic of my wheels and post it.

 

[tipomike]

Now found some pics. Have also included my son's car.....he has taken a different approach with his wheels! Although they were already sprayed silver before he started

 

[Hellcat]

Professionally powder coated, and keep it Sedici!

 

[Christian]

Jesus, I LOVE that black one mike! Already replaced my wallpaper! (I previously had a pic of mine! )

Just got the car back tonight and it looks absolutely amazing - like a different car - just as I'd hoped - that guy is good, he even did bits I hadn't even noticed. Looks like a new car - apart from the wheels. Mike, if you have any tips regarding how you got that soft polished look on the black car, I'd appreciate it - just need to get them done as fast as possible. What type of tools/paper/polish, if any, did you use? They look amazing

 

[Christian]

HC, thx you must have posted same time as me - I actually have a pic of that white one on my screen saver too hehe - I prefer the silver/chromey look rather than the dark or black look, makes the car look brighter. Still a nice looking car that one though

 

[Hellcat]

Hehe who'd have thought when I bought the milkbottle she'd be on someone's screen saver! The reason for the anthracite wheels was it originally came with aftermarket 5 spokes which I thought looked too thin and delicate for the tipo's bulky shape. I got a set of Sedici wheels from Dazzdog, but someone had tried to copy the mk1 style by painting the surface silver and the insides grey. Faced with a refurb I decided to go dark, with the lines of the dark bumper across the dark wheels and onto the dark skirts. Works well on a light car, not so on a dark one.

 

[Christian]

LOL mate yeah, it's a Tipo free for all on all my PC's - including my work one - I got a folder for my ss with mostly pics I saved from this site including yours, now got Mikes too ;D - I think the dark colour suits yours, don't get me wrong, it's just that now I got this gleaming Racing Rosso Tipo on my doorstep, the wheels look dull and I think they will look better a brighter shade. I been doing a bit more digging on this site today whilst in work and found a few people with Cinqs and Unos who have done their wheels to a mirror finish (or close) so I think I will have a go. I will wait on the glamour pics of the car til I get the wheels done - thx guys

 

[jonti]

I have seen mirror finish Tipo alloys on Ebay before. The problem with Racing Red is that it takes alot of work to KEEP it gleaming.

You must be very pleased - I picked up my respray 3 weeks ago (bizarre - 2 Tipo Racing Red resprays within 35 miles in 2 weeks !). Its already filthy !

 

[Hellcat]

Keep it protected with wax or resin otherwise you'll have a racing pink tipo before you know it.

 

[jonti]

Wise words. Make that MATT pink. Allegedly they used an advanced lacquer and several coats of it. I'd like to post a picture (albeit of a humble diesel) if I can get it clean...

 

[tipomike]

Thanks for the kind comments re my car/wheels. UHT - the milk bottle is looking pretty cool as well!! Please to hear you are happy with the respray in red. It is a great colour - when my sons car is polished up it looks really good.

Turning to my wheels - I have a confession to make....I didn't do them I bought them off a pal of mine who managed to "find " them for me almost at the same time as I bought the car. I can only assume that they were probably prepared by an electic drill and wheel and then steadily polished up with fine grade paper. I would think it took forever!!

They have lasted so well due to the very good laquer spray job and the regular cleaning and polishing they get. With a black car the "sharp" wheels really stand out so I keep them that way.

Given you have spent so much on the paint I think that if it was me I would shop around for quotes for either the above process or a full "diamond cut" and also colour anthracite or black the cut outs to emphasise the contrast.

One thing though....If your wheels have been refurbed before you run the risk of cutting to deep into the casting - where this has happened before on other cars the wheels never seem to hold their finish for long.....something to do with the casting proccess I am told.....can anyone comment?

Good luck anyway.

Ps - on the faq/help section of www.tipo16v.co.uk there is a photo of a new wheel you could use as a guide

 

[Christian]

Grrr I thought I was on to a winner, but the one wheel I tried to do yesterday was an absolute nightmare. It took 8 coats of Nitromors to get most of the paint off, and then the wheels turned out to be too badly corroded and pitted to polish up. I was working on the one wheel from 2pm til 6pm yesterday before I got fed up and put it back on the car in darkness.

In work today, I used some silver coloured aluminium paint with a brush and did three wheels with it off the car, the fourth wheel was done on the car cos I broke my wheel brace and three sockets trying to get it off (heres hoping I don't get a puncture today). They don't look too bad now, better than they did, but the wheels are clearly painted with a brush and are obviously corroded and aged underneath. If you squint they look okay though.

Hazel says I can have some new wheels for my birthday next April (the car was my Christmas present this year) so when it comes to the time I'll either get new ones or get these professionally refurbished. I'm in work at the minute so I'll do some pics later.

 

[Christian]

Here he is - looking a lot more Euro than before too