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When refinishing a
wheel we first remove the tire. The wheels
are spun for a visual inspection to see if
they may be damaged beyond making a safe
repair. If they pass this phase, they are
cleaned to remove road debris. A more
through inspection is done by checking them
with a dial indicator. A dial indicator is a
clock like instrument used by machinists to
measure tolerances to the .0001”. If needed
they are then straightened. Straightening is
more thoroughly covered else were in this
section. After being straightened, they are
stripped of paint. We use a media blaster.
This is a sand blaster except it uses
plastics which are very gentle on the
aluminum. This does not distort any numbers
or letters stamped into the metal. Any
welding to repair the curb abrasion is done
at this time with a TIG welder. The wheels
are now machined, polished or sanded. Now
they are ready for paint. The oxygen in the
air attacks aluminum so even wheels you
think have nothing on them are probably
clear coated to protect them. Regular wheels
are now primed with an epoxy primer, which
has a slow dry time but is a great product.
If the finish is grainier, we may choose a
different primer to allow the texture of the
metal to show through. After priming, we now
apply the base coat. After the base dries,
we now apply a urethane clear top coat. When
all of this is dry, we can wet sand and
final buff. We can now package for shipping
or mount a tire for use. |
