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Took me almost 3years to refinish these wheels...PICS before & after!


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I bought these wheels many years as a spare for my ZXT. And had them sitting at the side of my house for almost three years. Well one divorce, a couple of houses later and lots of life changes...a buddy of mine approached me and then decided that if I was to refinish them and polish them he would take them off my hands. They were covered in millions of spiders webs and putrid, nasty, west nile mosquito looking water.

 

Well got them finally done and now he has decided to go with a 16" wheel instead...UG!!! Oh well....

 

The wheels came out amazing and it took me WELL over 15hours (3weekends) to get them to what you see. It was extremely hard, back breaking work - let me tell you - WOW! My lower back was throbbing after finishing them this weekend and a good 45minute hot shower was needed.

 

These are the first wheels I have fully polished, as I normally just polish the lips. The original wheels were not too bad but it still took alot of prep time. The steps I used were:

1) Strip the Nissan Paint and Clear from the factory

2) Hand sand the aluminum in combo with a die grinder (the lips were tricky)

3) Individually clean each center outer scallop to remove the embedded brake dust using a few various chemicals and strippers - this took time as I did not want to damage the aluminum grain which looks awesome as a contrast to the polished surface

4) Polish with three various componds..starting from prep..to intermediate to final luster. I managed to polish the lips as well, which was tricky as they are not wide like a typical deep dish wheel and its easy for the polisher to skip and cut or damage the lip.

 

I am probably going to eBay them this weekend, as these wheels look amazing on 510s and Roadsters so it will appeal to that crowd as well. Plus they are 15" x 6.5" wide so they do not look too silly tall and you can still get a nice wide tire on there, with no spacers and are of course 4x4.5" (114.3mm).

 

Before and starting the prep:

209054891.jpg

 

After:

209059470.jpg

 

Note the center outer scallops - clean and detailed on this pic:

209054981.jpg

 

209059477.jpg

 

209054950.jpg

 

Regards - Yasin

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They make a special clear coat that you can spray over polish and they will keep their chrome look forever without re-polishing every 3 months. Good Job.

 

Rc

 

I think Zoopseal is what you are talking about, good for 2 years... I've heard its pretty good.

 

Or you could powdercoat them in clear also.

 

http://www.zoops.com/zoopseal.asp

 

The wheels turned out nice... That big surface that was polished must have been a PITA. I did the flat portions of the 280ZX 6 spoke wheels and still aren't completely happy with the finish... the aluminum is pretty soft and scratches easily... even with a non-cotton rag will scratch them...

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Looks great Yasin.... wish you were close by, I'd pay you to fix my CCW's I goofed up...

 

BTW, what country was that pics from? I don't reconize that soda brand.... "teib 1293" :ugg:

 

J - Thanks for the compliments. I did offer to re-finish your CCWs for you, have you made any progress on them? Maybe you should pop open a nice cold refreshing Teib and think about it?

 

 

looks great yasin!!

 

be sure to stay in contact with the buyer so we can see em on a car!!!

 

edit: diet soda's gross :P

 

Will do...I hope they end up on a 510 or a Roadster, they look tuff with these wheels on it especially lowered witha 21540 or 21550.

 

Diet Soda isn;t all that bad....you get used to it! Trust me I don't need the sugar!

 

 

Those look great! Dont even want to imagine how fun it must of been getting in all those cracks. Not sure if you said it but what year Z are those off?

 

Thanks! Yes getting into the scalloped area was hard work and tricky...! The wheels are off a 1984 300ZX NA.

 

Thanks to all for all the clear coat and powder coat suggestions!

 

My best - Yasin

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J - Thanks for the compliments. I did offer to re-finish your CCWs for you, have you made any progress on them? Maybe you should pop open a nice cold refreshing Teib and think about it?

 

 

Thanks for the kind offer Yasin. I'd be a little concerned with the cost to break them down and mail them to you though....

 

I'll prolly just have to try something on my own to revive them. What, I don't know.

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Yasin,

I definitely learned two things about you from reading this thread:

1) You do a great job on polishing wheels

2) Your soda choice is somewhat questionable.

 

Again, the wheels look fantastic.

 

Mark

 

Mark - I know I know...diet and Caffeine free..its not that bad...and trust me I don't need the sugar...LOL

 

The wheels are now listed on eBay, I put them up last night.

 

Thanks for all the comments.

Regards - Yasin

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