I was telling the ppg sales man today at the school about my plans for my wheels.
I told him about how they are polished and how I wanted to keep the face polished with a red lip, I got shot down. He explained to me why it is a bad idea and that the lip will just start to chip off since it wouldn't be the same depth as the surface. I asked him some questions on what he recomends doing to keep my wheels shining year round. After an hour or so of talking I came up with what is the best way to keep these wheels looking nice. I mentioned the clear idea but he said that wouldn't help stop scratches at all, so he showed me this 11 piece metal wheel polishing kit. I looked at it read about it and it seems like it would work. The kit is 129 bucks comes with its own variable air buffer and rouge compounds. So I might just use the duplicolor wheel paint and use some car clear over it to protect it better. I don't think I'll be changing the design of the wheels. For some reason salsa red is a very expensive color, I really don't understand why, it has no pearl flakes the only thing metalic in it is this gold paint that is mixed with it. I have mixed the color before when I did my hvac and cluster trim and the color is basically maroon with gold mixed together. Pretty much just trying to save some money for the next car. The only expensive thing I'll be buying this year is two more winter tires and wheels, so I can devote more money to be saved for the next car. As of right now getting another neon, whatever trim it will be is not looking to good for this year, I have lost some hours at work which drastically affects how much money I can save up. So unless things pick up fast I may not be buying it till this time next year.

 

Even though this didn't win the poll, its the way the wheels will be... As they are now, just alot brighter.

So in about a month I will be starting hopefully the last refinish on these wheels.
I will be using:

Duplicolor graphite rattle can wheel paint
PPG dx533 Aluminum cleaner
PPG dx501 Aluminum conditioner
PPg vibrance medium clear

Now I know some of you are saying why use the duplicolor paint, well here the answer, I compared it to real auto paint and the real stuff didn't have the same metallic flake that I like with the duplicolor. The two winter wheels will be on probly until the middle-end of may. The ppg aluminum products will produce an exetremely bright face almost like chrome. I am doing this the correct way this time and not cutting any corners so I will be taking my time sanding these wheels and not leave a single deep scratch visible. Since most of the work is already done for me because of the last time, I will start from 400 grit and slowly work my way up to 3000 or even 4000 to get a bright shine. I have gotten prices for everything except the alum. conditioner which seems to be rare around me, so they are tracking it down, if it comes out to cost what the cleaner cost, this project will cost the same as the last refinish which was 250 bucks. I still have alot of sandpaper left over and even an extra can of duplicolor.
The wheels will not go on the car until the clear coat cures which should be about 2 weeks, I don't want it to start peeling on me.

I will get some pictures up on how bad the two rear srt wheels have held up during this winter.

 

Here are those pics of the two refinished srt wheels that went through the winter.
The passenger side wheel didn't have any paint chipped from it but the clear was pealing off. Before the winter, these wheels did not have any peeling or chipping of any kind.





This is the drivers side, this wheel is the most heaviest damaged by the salt.









I will be putting the two srt wheels on that were on the front in the rear while I refinish these two.

 

I just ordered some supplies from tcp global:

1x PPG 1/2gal Vibrance clear (medium)
1x PPG Dx533 Aluminum Cleaner qt
2x FineLine 1/4in masking tape

Hopefully they will be here by next friday.

What I still have to buy:

Base, I'm still debating, its going to be gray but I'm stuck between three colors:

Dark Charcoal Metallic:



Graphite Gray Metallic:



Anthracite Gray Pearl:



PPG dx501 - Its been ordered from ppg and should be at the paint store at the end of the month. Then I have to drive all the way over there, ugh..

 

that sucks about the rear disk setup... but at least u got something for ur car with the money... i would have to say the dark charcol matalic... that is my oppinion

 

wow, mental note...... proof read before u post.... holy ****

 

Well everything that I ordered will be here on wednesday. I actually think the anthracite gray pearl looks awesome, its only 10 bucks more a quart than the other two.

 

I got a call today at work from the paint store and they said they have shipped some aluminum conditioner (dx501) to me. Unfortuntely they were only able to get it in the gallon size, so I will have plenty extra for other things.

 

I like the anthracite best too (for your car).

the graphite seems too light.

and the charcoal seems like a 'cool' color (in the sense that its color temperature is 'cool' or bluish) which isn't as good a match with salsa red. the charcoal would look best on a blue/black/white car though. but on a warm red, i'd go with the anthracite

 

And before the day the project gets started, I get my first let back....... So I was going out to downtown Newburgh to get something from a friend and I hit a massive pot hole... Completely unavoidable because of the cars parked on the side of the road and oncoming cars in the other lane. Ok so I hit it and the front right strut didn't decompress until about 3 seconds later, giving my car a little jerk. I already had two blown struts that are in the rear that I was going to ride out to the summer, but with one of the front struts broke, it feels like riding on uneven street all the time... ughh every time I start a project something always pops up, this is starting to get very frustrating... So the wheel refinish is def. on hold. All I need is another 100 bucks for supplies but I need that money towards struts right now instead of wheels. This really couldn't have come at a worse time, right after I spend 220 bucks on orders last week...

I want to get the koni sport series struts for their superior ride and handling but I don't know if these struts will hold up till then.