!

Flexy.... I read a thread on a different web forum where a guy had tarted up the wheels on his old LC. He said that he rubbed down the corroded surface, might be a good idea to use something like a Dremmel, then he used a decent primer and then silver wheel paint from Halfords. The displayed photo looked quite decent and would have looked better if he had cleaned his tyres

I don't think there is a real knack to this type of DIY job other than good preparation and patience. You might want to consider a good laquer as a top coat if you are happy with the silver finish. Do you have a good auto paint supplier in your area? If so approach them and they might suggest the best paint for the job, my local supplier is a wealth of good information.

Good luck with the job and maybe you can post up a photo or two when the work is done

It's dead easy to do yourself - just take your time with the preparation and you should be fine.

When I did my Sera wheels I just bought the first spray tins of silver wheel paint that I came across. They looked fine, but I didn't buy enough for all four wheels. When I went back to the shop they didn't have any of this particular make in stock ( Hycote wheel silver ) so I bought some Stevens Silver wheels paint for the last one. It was a completely different colour to the Hycote paint - Much brighter and lighter.

I then had to buy some more Stevens paint to tosh over the other three wheels just to get them to match again !

I did something similar with the alloys for my celica. I sand blasted them until they were clean metal, then I sent them off to get powder coated (which cost a lot less than I thought it would). end result- stunning alloys that looked brand new.

you can get a full set refurb including powder coating, wheel balancing and tyre/wheel refitting for about 150 quid.

Nowhere near as much fun as doing it yourself though.

Do you have any pointers as to what companies can do this

I got a set of Ronal wheels done for my last Audi at a place in Stockton On Tees called Romax Engineering.

The service went as follows.

Drop the car off at 9AM, go into town, browse the shops, have some lunch then pick the car back up mid afternoon.
In that time they had removed the wheels/tyres, shotblasted the alloys and degreased them, powder coated them, refitted the tyres, balanced the wheels and refitted to the car. Fantastic service.

I've heard of a few places round the country doing similar services ( as Teesside isn't really that convenient for a lot of people ). Check in your local Yellow Pages for Powder coating or Alloy Wheel Services.

And did that all cost you £150 ? ,When was that? I sometimes go down that way when heading to England. I know I wouldn't do a better job doing it myself but there is a certain satisfaction, I'm undecided.

Yes, about 4 years back.
As far as I know the price is still round about that today. You can pay more for different finishes ( Shadowed, different colours etc ) but the basic silver is the cheapest.