GTS Wheel Rash DIY Repair
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 8:44 pm
So dummy me, backed out of a parking spot too fast to beat the traffic going across the lot, and forgot I had a concrete curb on the right side. I heard the nastiest loudest sound of metal rubbing against concrete. I'm not use to this because with other cars I've owned, the tire would normally be the only thing to hit the curb. But with the lower profile type tires of the Kizashi, it is at higher risk of wheel damage if you happen to rub a tire against a curb.
First of all, I initially attempted this repair with not-so-good results because I didn't take the wheel off the car and I did a horrible job filling, sanding, and painting the rim. The original paint (silver) that I tried using, didn't quite match the Kizashi wheel paint either. And I didn't take pictures. So, the second time around, I was able to find a paint that matches the Kizashi wheel paint close enough. So I decided I would take another crack at it and do an acceptable job and take pictures of my progress with it. If it doesn't come out looking "acceptable", then I'll either live with it, or get a new wheel.
1. Before filling with wheel filler, the rash on my Kizashi wheel looked just like this, but it also covered 1/3 of the wheel: (I unfortunately didn't take pics of the rash on my Kizashi wheel. I didn't think to post my first repair job and I had already filled the rash. Since my first repair job sucked, I decided to post my second attempt) 2. I use this to fill in the damage. I made the mistake of not taping off the area that would be getting filler, and ended up getting filler on other areas of the wheel. Another lazy dumb mistake I made. So with sanding the filler smooth, you'll end up sanding a little further outside the repair area. Plus I had to sand off the other areas that I got filler onto. So I ended up with a much larger repair area because of my poor planning. 3. So I took the rim off, and sanded the heck out of my initial repair job. (This basically entailed sanding off first paint repair attempt). 4. I finished sanding with a 200 and then 400 grit to get it smoother. I took the wheel and put it outside on my deck to be painted. 5. I vacuumed and cleaned the wheel as best as I could. I masked the areas of the wheel off that I didn't want overspray on with foil & tape. NOTE: You do NOT want to tape off too closely the area that you are going to paint. Because when you remove the tape, you will see a fine line of paint that you cannot get off unless you re-sand. Therefore, you want to leave some space in between the actual repair area and the good part of the wheel. The intention is that the overspray will blend in the repair area with the good area a little better. 6. Here is the paint I used. I used a perfect match wheel paint and a clear coat paint for the final application. "Pewter Metallic" is the only one I could find that would match the Kizashi wheel paint close enough. 7. My initial first coat of Pewter Metallic paint was a very quick pass: 8. If it is a nice warm sunny day, the paint will dry within a few minutes. Enough to be sanded lightly with a 400 grit. Unfortunately, I decided not to prime the area because I just didn't think it needed to be, but I probably should have. The Perfect Match paint has a tendency to "crumple" on the edged areas that aren't sanded absolutely perfect. So I had to re-sand and put multiple coats on until it looked "acceptable". I couldn't get it perfect. It was very frustrating, but I just kept working at it until it looked good enough 9. Final Result after clear coating. Total time took about 2 1/2 hours. The repair area is not noticeable at all unless someone got down right near the wheel and I pointed it out to them. So the repair came out good. The paint I used was the only type I could find that matched close enough. The color is a great match, but the finish/texture isn't exact. But it's pretty much undetectable. I'm very happy with it and I don't have to buy a new wheel. The paint and clear coat seem very durable and should hold up just fine in a car wash and being driven in the elements. I put the wheel back onto my car and I will polish the wheel up in a day or two.
First of all, I initially attempted this repair with not-so-good results because I didn't take the wheel off the car and I did a horrible job filling, sanding, and painting the rim. The original paint (silver) that I tried using, didn't quite match the Kizashi wheel paint either. And I didn't take pictures. So, the second time around, I was able to find a paint that matches the Kizashi wheel paint close enough. So I decided I would take another crack at it and do an acceptable job and take pictures of my progress with it. If it doesn't come out looking "acceptable", then I'll either live with it, or get a new wheel.
1. Before filling with wheel filler, the rash on my Kizashi wheel looked just like this, but it also covered 1/3 of the wheel: (I unfortunately didn't take pics of the rash on my Kizashi wheel. I didn't think to post my first repair job and I had already filled the rash. Since my first repair job sucked, I decided to post my second attempt) 2. I use this to fill in the damage. I made the mistake of not taping off the area that would be getting filler, and ended up getting filler on other areas of the wheel. Another lazy dumb mistake I made. So with sanding the filler smooth, you'll end up sanding a little further outside the repair area. Plus I had to sand off the other areas that I got filler onto. So I ended up with a much larger repair area because of my poor planning. 3. So I took the rim off, and sanded the heck out of my initial repair job. (This basically entailed sanding off first paint repair attempt). 4. I finished sanding with a 200 and then 400 grit to get it smoother. I took the wheel and put it outside on my deck to be painted. 5. I vacuumed and cleaned the wheel as best as I could. I masked the areas of the wheel off that I didn't want overspray on with foil & tape. NOTE: You do NOT want to tape off too closely the area that you are going to paint. Because when you remove the tape, you will see a fine line of paint that you cannot get off unless you re-sand. Therefore, you want to leave some space in between the actual repair area and the good part of the wheel. The intention is that the overspray will blend in the repair area with the good area a little better. 6. Here is the paint I used. I used a perfect match wheel paint and a clear coat paint for the final application. "Pewter Metallic" is the only one I could find that would match the Kizashi wheel paint close enough. 7. My initial first coat of Pewter Metallic paint was a very quick pass: 8. If it is a nice warm sunny day, the paint will dry within a few minutes. Enough to be sanded lightly with a 400 grit. Unfortunately, I decided not to prime the area because I just didn't think it needed to be, but I probably should have. The Perfect Match paint has a tendency to "crumple" on the edged areas that aren't sanded absolutely perfect. So I had to re-sand and put multiple coats on until it looked "acceptable". I couldn't get it perfect. It was very frustrating, but I just kept working at it until it looked good enough 9. Final Result after clear coating. Total time took about 2 1/2 hours. The repair area is not noticeable at all unless someone got down right near the wheel and I pointed it out to them. So the repair came out good. The paint I used was the only type I could find that matched close enough. The color is a great match, but the finish/texture isn't exact. But it's pretty much undetectable. I'm very happy with it and I don't have to buy a new wheel. The paint and clear coat seem very durable and should hold up just fine in a car wash and being driven in the elements. I put the wheel back onto my car and I will polish the wheel up in a day or two.