wheel experts.

[revho]

Picked a possible trade set of wheels to try and clean up. They are vintage Riviera's. They have some curb rash on a couple of them and are in need of a good cleaning. There is also some paint loss on some of the black and need touched up. I have a polisher and wool pad. I looked on line and someone suggested using regular "fantastik" cleaner and 5 minutes and they looked awesome. Any other tricks? How about taking the old black paint off and what type of paint do you repaint them with that won't flake off?

Thanks,

Kevin

[vw1s]

Apr 25, 2011 13:19:07 GMT -5 revho said:

Picked a possible trade set of wheels to try and clean up. They are vintage Riviera's. They have some curb rash on a couple of them and are in need of a good cleaning. There is also some paint loss on some of the black and need touched up. I have a polisher and wool pad. I looked on line and someone suggested using regular "fantastik" cleaner and 5 minutes and they looked awesome. Any other tricks? How about taking the old black paint off and what type of paint do you repaint them with that won't flake off?

Thanks,

Kevin

Pics?

How "vintage" are they? Do they have the raised area on the spokes?
DuPont Imron is very durable paint.

[revho]

pics for Patrick as requested.

[revho]

Any one use or try this outfit? I just emailed them for a quote. Says they can fix curb rash and what not. I will see what they come back with.

www.awrswheelrepair.com/wmi/index.html

And the wheels do have raised spots on the spokes.

Kevin

[Ruffuss]

Kevin,
Eastwood has a whole series of wheels/ body prep and paint/ coatings. I have a catalog, PM your address and I'll mail it to you. Or just email them for a catalog which ever.

[revho]

Thanks Kenn, I would be interested in seeing the catalog.

How hard is this to do it yourself? Roy emailed back from the wheel repair place and charges $100.00 a wheel for cosmetic repair. I don't know what a set of wheels cost other than what people seem to charge on the samba. If I get all 4 wheels refinished by this guy and have the $400.00 into his repair cost, is it worth it to get them done, or is it relative and worth what you pay for them.

Kevin

[teamafx]

I sure wouldn't pay $400 to get them refinished. You could get a new set shipped for about $600. I would just clean, polish and repaint them your self.

[Dustin]

Wont be hard to do yourself at all, Just need some sand paper, mothers mag wheel polish, a lot of elbow grease, masking tape, and paint.

I made a set of 8 spokes that looked worse than those look like this in just a few nights





Could have taken more time and made them really nice but they shine like chrome in the sun. Wish I had better pictures but those were the only ones I took.

[81pumagtc]

It's not hard to refinish wheels, and probably not worth $100 a wheel either.

I looked at the website, and some of their "Before and After" wheels, and I would never ride on some of the wheels they "repaired" that were badly bent or missing pieces. Everything looks like new, and it just can't be done that way.

I have had chipping wheels soda blasted and they I polished and painted them...and they looked pretty good. I have seen white corrosion destroy wheels after they have been sanded and refinished, so surface prep is important.


Dave

[vw1s]

If they were mine, I'd refinish myself. Most of the Rivi's you see now days are repops, which, I believe yours are, although, they look to be older repops. Here are a couple of pics of some old rivi's of mine, notice how there are no raised areas on the spokes. Also, mine are made up of at least two pieces, a steel rim, with an aluminum center, newer Rivi's are 1 piece.

[Dustin]

I prefer the raised area on rivieras