URS4 wheel restoration project just completed...
11-10-2007, 06:07 PM
#1
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
URS4 wheel restoration project just completed...
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/FinishedRim_17A3.jpg">
Well, another project is finally done,it's taken me a while! As much as I like the A8 wheels I've had on my car the past year or so I really much prefer the ride of 16s but don't like the stock 5-spokes, too narrow. I'd desired some original 16x8 URS4 wheels for quite a while since they're not only meaty like the A8s but a lot lighter, like 18lbs each compared to 22.5 lbs for the A8s. Unsprung weight is a big deal, reciprocating mass such as wheels and tires is an even bigger deal so I had to find some affordably. Much to the chagrin of original S4 drivers the factory clearcoat on the rims never held up well, even if the centers were ok. This means nice used sets are pricey and the rest need restoration, which can run around $150-200 per rim.
I managed to locate 2 different pairs of rims from Force5 and 2Bennett reasonably (and I won't even go into the original bent set I'm now stuck with courtesy of a certain S-Cars Forum member. Thanks a lot!)
With these STRAIGHT rims I went to work, first thinking I'd have them media blasted to a nice clean ready-to-paint state. Wrong! After a few days at the blasting co. they call to tell me the paint on these was so stubborn it would take a lot of time and money to get it off and cost close to $200 to strip the faces only! With that sobering reality I strapped on the rubber gloves, bought $20 worth of paint stripper and steel wool and went to town:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/S4stripping1.jpg">
On a couple of rims I ended up having to apply a dozen or more coats to get it off, the stripper wouldn't budge much for some reason. I did learn a handy tip that Permatex Gasket Remover does a better job than stripper, I bought some and it definitely helped get it all off. I really only focused on the faces, the backs don't really get seen and will be covered in brake dust most of the time.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/S4stripping2.jpg">
After getting all the nooks and crannies as clean as I had the patience for the wheels were sanded with 220 grit and primed.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Strippedwheel.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Primedwheel.jpg">
Next they were sanded with 360 grit wet/dry paper all over. This is a HUGE step to get smooth paint, fresh paint will show everything and though I have a few old maids in mine I'm still very happy with the overall finish. I'd say each wheel got a good hour of wet sanding before shooting the paint.
When deciding on colors I definitely wanted the lips to be a bright silver with a contrasting center color. After quite a bit of research I found a company called Alsa in Los Angeles that makes some amazing products including one called, "Ghost Chrome" which has incredible reflectance and looks just like aluminum. It is dusted on more than applied like regular paint, and it requires a contrasty basecoat to get the best result. We used some leftover Model T black paint (the old guy who owns both Model Ts helped me tape.) At $115 a pint the silver paint better look good and it does!
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RimPrep.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Rimblack.jpg">
The finished black awaiting silver:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RimBlack2.jpg">
After the silver and clear are applied and allowed to dry overnight the rims were taped off for the center color. I decided on a BMW titanium silver color, a bit darker than the original color but I didn't want to go too dark either.
The lips are masked off for this section and will be untaped for the final clear coat for the entire wheel face. We used 1/4" 3M striping tape and then masking tape next to it so we could tape paper to something substantial but get a clean edge. We were very nervous as to whether we got good paint adhesion, nothing more disheartening than to pull tape AND PAINT at the same time! Fortunately we were fine.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Rimtaping1.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RimTaping2.jpg">
This nice man is 81 years old young, still putzes around on cars. His Model Ts are sweet!
With the wheel centers and rims ready we started shooting color. I also painted my original mirror covers the same BMW titanium color, they'll go nicely when the wheels go on the car.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/PaintingCenters.jpg">
The color is on, awaiting clear coat. We used PPG Omni Plus catalyzed enamel, great paint and quite reasonably priced!
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/FinishedColor.jpg">
The tape is CAREFULLY removed and then the clear coat is applied,2 coats.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RemovingTape.jpg">
Look at that shine!
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/FinishedRim2.jpg">
Another angle:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/FinishedRim1.jpg">
One of the mirrors:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/MirrorPaint.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/GarageDecor.jpg">
Over the years I've spent a lot of time in this room, lots of good work has come out of this non-descript house/garage (with the funny wallpaper!)
I hope this inspires you to take on such projects, they're a lot of work but so rewarding. Now I just need new tires and EVOL needs his A8 wheels....
Well, another project is finally done,it's taken me a while! As much as I like the A8 wheels I've had on my car the past year or so I really much prefer the ride of 16s but don't like the stock 5-spokes, too narrow. I'd desired some original 16x8 URS4 wheels for quite a while since they're not only meaty like the A8s but a lot lighter, like 18lbs each compared to 22.5 lbs for the A8s. Unsprung weight is a big deal, reciprocating mass such as wheels and tires is an even bigger deal so I had to find some affordably. Much to the chagrin of original S4 drivers the factory clearcoat on the rims never held up well, even if the centers were ok. This means nice used sets are pricey and the rest need restoration, which can run around $150-200 per rim.
I managed to locate 2 different pairs of rims from Force5 and 2Bennett reasonably (and I won't even go into the original bent set I'm now stuck with courtesy of a certain S-Cars Forum member. Thanks a lot!)
With these STRAIGHT rims I went to work, first thinking I'd have them media blasted to a nice clean ready-to-paint state. Wrong! After a few days at the blasting co. they call to tell me the paint on these was so stubborn it would take a lot of time and money to get it off and cost close to $200 to strip the faces only! With that sobering reality I strapped on the rubber gloves, bought $20 worth of paint stripper and steel wool and went to town:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/S4stripping1.jpg">
On a couple of rims I ended up having to apply a dozen or more coats to get it off, the stripper wouldn't budge much for some reason. I did learn a handy tip that Permatex Gasket Remover does a better job than stripper, I bought some and it definitely helped get it all off. I really only focused on the faces, the backs don't really get seen and will be covered in brake dust most of the time.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/S4stripping2.jpg">
After getting all the nooks and crannies as clean as I had the patience for the wheels were sanded with 220 grit and primed.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Strippedwheel.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Primedwheel.jpg">
Next they were sanded with 360 grit wet/dry paper all over. This is a HUGE step to get smooth paint, fresh paint will show everything and though I have a few old maids in mine I'm still very happy with the overall finish. I'd say each wheel got a good hour of wet sanding before shooting the paint.
When deciding on colors I definitely wanted the lips to be a bright silver with a contrasting center color. After quite a bit of research I found a company called Alsa in Los Angeles that makes some amazing products including one called, "Ghost Chrome" which has incredible reflectance and looks just like aluminum. It is dusted on more than applied like regular paint, and it requires a contrasty basecoat to get the best result. We used some leftover Model T black paint (the old guy who owns both Model Ts helped me tape.) At $115 a pint the silver paint better look good and it does!
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RimPrep.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Rimblack.jpg">
The finished black awaiting silver:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RimBlack2.jpg">
After the silver and clear are applied and allowed to dry overnight the rims were taped off for the center color. I decided on a BMW titanium silver color, a bit darker than the original color but I didn't want to go too dark either.
The lips are masked off for this section and will be untaped for the final clear coat for the entire wheel face. We used 1/4" 3M striping tape and then masking tape next to it so we could tape paper to something substantial but get a clean edge. We were very nervous as to whether we got good paint adhesion, nothing more disheartening than to pull tape AND PAINT at the same time! Fortunately we were fine.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/Rimtaping1.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RimTaping2.jpg">
This nice man is 81 years old young, still putzes around on cars. His Model Ts are sweet!
With the wheel centers and rims ready we started shooting color. I also painted my original mirror covers the same BMW titanium color, they'll go nicely when the wheels go on the car.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/PaintingCenters.jpg">
The color is on, awaiting clear coat. We used PPG Omni Plus catalyzed enamel, great paint and quite reasonably priced!
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/FinishedColor.jpg">
The tape is CAREFULLY removed and then the clear coat is applied,2 coats.
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/RemovingTape.jpg">
Look at that shine!
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/FinishedRim2.jpg">
Another angle:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/FinishedRim1.jpg">
One of the mirrors:
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/MirrorPaint.jpg">
<img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee127/islingtonboy/GarageDecor.jpg">
Over the years I've spent a lot of time in this room, lots of good work has come out of this non-descript house/garage (with the funny wallpaper!)
I hope this inspires you to take on such projects, they're a lot of work but so rewarding. Now I just need new tires and EVOL needs his A8 wheels....
11-10-2007, 06:22 PM
#2
AudiWorld Super User
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Fort Collins, CO
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Those look great! I'll be restoring the same (original) wheels off of my S6 this winter/spring...
...they're off the car now while the optional urS 15x7.5" winter wheels are on. You've given me hope on restoring them!
11-11-2007, 06:35 AM
#6
Nice work! That's a huge job.
I wouldn't dare take on a painting job like that. Instead I ponied up the $600 for refinishing:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/66084/craprim.jpg">
to
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/66084/rimjob1.jpg">
(These wheels needed more than just paint -- two were bent and all had curb rash to varying degrees.)
On these they put them on a lathe and re-cut the lips and then clearcoated the raw aluminum. It was 99% perfect (there were a few small dimples where the original corrosion went deeper than their lathe job). They don't look perfect 2 or 3 years later though. One of them discolored noticeably due to brake heat at the track, and another got hot brake fluid on it from a leaking bleeder screw. I try to keep them covered with brake dust to hide the flaws
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/66084/craprim.jpg">
to
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/66084/rimjob1.jpg">
(These wheels needed more than just paint -- two were bent and all had curb rash to varying degrees.)
On these they put them on a lathe and re-cut the lips and then clearcoated the raw aluminum. It was 99% perfect (there were a few small dimples where the original corrosion went deeper than their lathe job). They don't look perfect 2 or 3 years later though. One of them discolored noticeably due to brake heat at the track, and another got hot brake fluid on it from a leaking bleeder screw. I try to keep them covered with brake dust to hide the flaws
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11-11-2007, 08:46 AM
#8
Doug those are just insane. Especially considering what you started with.
Can't wait to see them mounted!
Post the name of the guy who stuck you with the bent rims so he doesn't get any more business from the good folks on these forums. Stuff like that really pisses me off.
Post the name of the guy who stuck you with the bent rims so he doesn't get any more business from the good folks on these forums. Stuff like that really pisses me off.
11-11-2007, 09:44 AM
#10
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Refinishers out here want $700-800 to refinish all 4 incl. caps. Yours are probably...
more perfect than mine since they media blast at the shops but I got to use any color I want and the satisfaction of DIY.