Dave refurbs his wheels - finished.

[dave21478]

I ordered new booties for the MGF and got on with fitting them today. As I got started I realised the wheels were scabbier than I remembered so it turned into a refurbishment session, which I decided to document on here for your entertainment and education derision.

 

Yes, getting them done properly will probably last longer term, but I aint got the monies for that, and dont know anywhere nearby that would do it anyway, so its good ol DIY for me as usual.

 

 Note - I am not saying this is the best way to do it - its the way I do it. Its what works for me on steels and cheap alloys as fitted to the kind of toss I drive but if I were a powerfully built company director I wouldnt be trying this on the diamond-cut 22s on my orange girlfriends X5.

 

GO Go Gadget hover conversion....

 

The old tyres. 4 mismatched budgets, which is a pet peeve of mine. Two nearly new, one ok, one near the limit and two of them with a slow puncture or something causing them to go flat over a week or so.

 

This one looks to have been run flat in the past.

 

Remove the valve cores....A (very cheap) special tool is really needed here although you can wing it with pointy pliers if they are fine enough.

 

Break the bead seal. I made this lever a few years back. I used to use the front bucket of a tractor, but that was always a pain in the balls - this is much better....just a length of scaffolding pole, some box section and some steel plate.

 

It often wont pop first try so I have to work my way around the rim pressing down as far as it will go until it slips down into the central section of the alloy.

 

Flip it over and do the same on the rear bead. Note the bit of rubber matting to prevent the face of the wheel scraping on the ground.

 

Now to get the tyre off you will need a couple of proper tyre levers and some lubricant. Obviously proper tyre lube is available but anything like fairy liquid would do in a pinch. My brother in law choggs these tubs of lube from his work where they use it on the massive o-rings before they slide large section drainage pipes together.... Seems to be the same stuff as proper tyre lube.

 

 

cont.....

 

[dave21478]

Get the flat end of a lever under the tyre and making sure the other side of the tyre is properly in the central section of the alloy, lever the edge up over the rim. Some lube helps here...its not just for refitting!

 

A little way further round, get the second lever in place.

 

Flip the lip of the tyre over the rim and keep working your way round. The first part is the hardest.

 

With it right off...

 

Turn it over and do the rear face. I prefer the curved ends of the levers here. Again get one, then two under the lip and ease it over the rim, then work your way around.

 

Cont....

 

[dave21478]

A symptom of being run flat...little balls of rubber inside the tyre.

 

Really? Not just the Chinese doing cheapo tyres, then.

 

One problem of doing this at home is the growing pile of scrap tyres....seriously at a loss for what to do with these.

 

I then hit the alloys with a knotwheel wire brush in the grinder. Note that this is dusty as fuck and needs eye goggles. be careful. Also, dont breath it as especially the stuff on the inside of the rim will be a mix of paint dust, alloy dust, brake dust and other likely cancerous stuff.

I dont wear a mask, but thats because I am stupid.

 

 

knock off all the loos shit with the wire wheel and then sand the edges smooth with a palm sander and some 120 grit.

 

Everyone always says the key to a good paint finish is in the prep, and they are totally right. However, I hate painting and am invariably bored of it all by this point so its a case of "that'll do" once its all smooth-ish.

 

cont....

 

[overrun]

Soz for interrupting this, mate. Just wanted to advise folk to say away from the chocolate 'Toolzone' etc levers!

 

This is a good read, and there's nowt like a refurbed set of rims to set a car off.

[dave21478]

I am single for many and various reasons. Mainly because I am a potato-faced, tediously boring wanker with bodyhair that would put Chewbacca to shame. The downsides to this are things like excessive masturbation and crying myself to sleep with lonliness, but the advantages often outweigh those....in this case being able to do the rest in the kitchen without having a Chernobyl sized fallout.

 

Its Baltic out and paint would take days to dry so in the warmth of the kitchen things will go a lot faster.

 

I just use normal metal paint for garden gates and stuff. Avoid water based stuff as I find it to invariably be shit. If the tin says it needs cleaned up with water, its waterbased and basically just tinted dog piss. If it needs cleaned up with white spirit, its oil based and should be better.

 

After carefully considering the aesthetics of a blue car I decided to use I had a load of black paint left over from a previous job so they got done black.

 

For the first coat, thin the paint with white spirit quite a lot. Coverage will be wishy-washy but thats fine, you just want it to form a sticky surface for the next coats which will fill in the gloss properly.

 

Start with the backs.....

 

So that when  you flip it over you can deal with the runs from the edges..

You arent too worried about runs on the back.

also, make sure you get a good layer around the inside of the rim where the tyre seats, this will help provide a good seal.

Dont paint the mounting face. Ideally you shouldnt paint the wheel nut seats eaither as this can cause problems with wheelnuts coming loose in the future. Its pretty hard to avoid the nut seats though so I dont worry and will just scrape it off later.

 

First coat done.

 

Like I say, I am not looking for perfection at this point, just a good key for the next coat, which I will get on this evening.

 

 

[KruJoe]

Looking good so far Dave. I've done a few sets myself using similar methods, usually with silver Hammerite dabbed on with a sponge (I'm too tight to buy rattle cans).

 

[xtriple]

I have painted all the panels (wings, bonnet, bootlid, doors) from a 116 Merc in the kitchen before now... I was single then as well! I sprayed it and while I took infinite care over the prep on the panels I didn't take quite the same level of care over protecting the kitchen... which ended up black as well as the car!

[Guest bangerfan101]

My good lady would remove my scrotum with an axe, if she came home to a set of wheels being painted in her kitchen!

[Bren]

If I tried doing that in the kitchen I would be single shortly afterwards.

 

Why I like wheels painted black - they hide the shite prep.

[Mally]

We paint in the garage, then providing its not raining quickly transfer the painted bits to the Conservatory, where the heat is full on.

Still smells the house out though. Try to get the lad to paint when I'm on Holiday.

[For Fiats Sake]

I've decided to make a tyre wall in my garden hiding the drainage pipes that run along the garage base to use my scrap tyres.

 

I've only got 8 tyres so far though.

 

So it's really just a line of tyres with grass growing through them at the moment.

 

I may just burn them when it's barbeque season cos I hate barbeques especially when people spell it BBQ, like it's B&Q with a fucking stutter.

[drum]

I've done Land Rover tyres and trailer tyres but when I tried to change low profiles on alloys I made an arse of it and scratched the rims to buggery.

A buck rake tooth makes a good tyre iron and I've used the jack under the weight of the Land Rover's Perkins loaded front end to break the bead.

 

Think I'll use the hydraulic stabiliser leg on the hymac the next time though.

[dave21478]

Aye, these are 50 profile (rears are 55) which is about the lowest I can do by hand.

I think the C2 tyres were 40 or 45 profile and I just couldnt get enough leverage without ruining the rim completely.

[Mr A Lawrence]

Proper Michelin levers!!

 

If you've got a cattle farm nearby ask farmer Palmer if he wants some tyres to throw over his feed store.

 

Similar job.

[Parky]

Or ask a local go-kart track if they want some crash barrier material

[Timewaster]

I heard a tale of a landlord who had a few industrial units to let out.

A guy turns up and pays upfront for 3 months rent.

All seemed okay initially but after a month there was no movement at the unit, post was piling up behind the door etc.

After a while, the landlord let himself in to do an inspection only to find the tenant had filled the unit up to the roof with old tyres and done a runner.

Fake address and dead phone number.

 

It cost them thousands to get it cleared.

[dave21478]

Farmers have given up with tyres on silage sheeting here and are using wee sandbag things instead now.....tyres fill with water and attract mosquitos and rats and in the summer that pile we have has loads of wasps nests in it.

 

Not very environmentally sound, but I forsee a session with the digger and a mass grave for them......

[saucedoctor]

What you need is a late 17th Century Battle to commemorate, every year, say maybe the middle of July. Tyres gone.

[chodweaver]

Just don't be tempted to burn a big pile of them - once you've got them burning, you can't change your mind and put it out - I read that a tyre (tire) dump in the States burnt for 11 years after it was accidentally set alight...

[bigfella2]

Or give Kevin McCloud a ring. He probably know some tit trying to build a house out of em.

[chodweaver]

Ps Brilliant thread. Always wondered how to do this stuff...

[Guest Hooli]

I've seen a few houses built out of them in frogshire, that could work.

 

 

 

BTW steel belted tyres explode when burnt. The rubber vapourises around the metal & goes 'pop' when the rest gets soft enough.

[dave21478]

I re-coated the wheels at dinnertime and they looked excellent - glossy and smooth. I then added a third coat just before sleepytimes and it went to shit, reacting and going slightly wrinkly.

eh fuck it, i dont want to sand them any more so I just left it.

 

This morning I got 4 new valves from the tractor parts shop and fitted the new tyres - Uniroyal Rainsports. Refitting is literally the reverse of taking them off, so no photos. Use lots of lubricant to help them slide over the rim.

 

I then balanced the fronts using a manual wheel balancer I picked up a while back. Its quite a trick thing, but fiddly to use. I only did the fronts as I have run out of balance weights.

 

Before refitting the wheels I gave the calipers a quick squirt of red paint because extra top end speed.

 

[dave21478]

Not sure about them in black TBQH.

[oldcars]

They look good in black, much smarter.

[Mally]

Yes its fine now. Calipers are the best bit.

[KruJoe]

Good work Dave.

One little tip I'll drop here is; if folks are having bother getting the tyres to "POP" back onto the beads after re-fitting, unscrew the valve core from the sleeve, and blow straight in with the (fully charged) compressor. You'll not manage it with a bike pump or a 12v puffer.

If they still don't pop, stand the tyre on its edge and smack around the tread with a mallet as the air goes in. Keep your fingers away from both beads and watch for the tyre jumping (twice), and shooting tyre soap and/or grit in your face.

[Ghosty]

I'm usually quite sceptical of black wheels but that manages to look pretty smart. If you're not sure maybe take the centre badges off, that might help.

[Guest bangerfan101]

Local tip in Leeds takes old tyres. I've taken 8 in one trip before and they didn't bat an eyelid

[Mally]

They bat an eyelid in Rochdale. Try to charge you if you take more than 2 at a time.

Which is exactly how many I take.