great job they turned out brilliant beats paying someone 3 or 400 euro too

 

beats paying someone 3 or 400 euro too

try 600e

 

Great job, end result is excellent

 

Looks great.

Will have to see if I can remove the centre of my split rims without them deflating. Suppose I could just let the air out of the tyres before starting.

 

great job

i had a go at my style 71 split rims, they can be easy to split but if you get one pig of a bolt your fucked ive still to do my rear two.

 

savage job, fair play to ye

 

Hi Johnb850,
I just took my time taking the bolts out, making sure not to damage any. I also bought a torque wrench in McQuillans (only cost me 28 euro) as my research told me that I need to tighten the bolts back at between 25~30 lbs of torque. Also, by doing this I wouldn’t damage the threads.


The alloy metal polishing kit I used cost me €8 (again from McQuillans Tool store). I am sure there are better kits out there which would give a better shine to the outer rim. But I wasn’t 100% sure how the wheel would turn out so I didn’t want to spend big money on a polishing kit and find out it made no difference.

I spent at least 5+ hours doing this one wheel (including taking pics). But I spent a lot of time cleaning and scraping the inside of the wheel which in hind-sight there probably wasn’t any need. I think the next wheel shouldn't take me as long.

 

Cool.

The bolts on mine are a bit different. They have a nut on the back. But apparently once the nut is off the bolts just knock out.

Will probaply get the tyres removed before I start. Or let the air out at least.

Found this thread. So I cant wait to get stuck. I think if I get the centres taken out then it wouldnt cost too much to get them powder coated.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1156455

 

Fair play Matt!
I'd say half way through the job you were wishing you hadn't started! But the results make it worth while - wheel looks fantastic! And better the cash in your arse pocket than someone elses!

 

Nice job! Whatever about the significant cost savings you can't beat that cosy feeling of pride when a DIY job turns out as well as that!

As an aside, do you not find the ride very harsh on those low profile runflats?

 

535DMAN, saying the ride is very harsh with the runflats would be a very polite way of putting it. I would say the RFT's are extremely dangerous. They are fine on motorways / good roads but the tramlining on poor roads is unreal, very dangerous.
Once I have finished the refurbishment on the final 3 wheels, I plan to put on a full set of either Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta or Eagle F1 Asymmetric (non-runflats).

 

Matt that is superb, well done! Bet your glad you didn't go for the LM's now Would love to get another look at your car at some stage..well impressed by it. Get some pics up of the wheels fitted when your done. 10 out of 10!

 

Matt - Firstly thanks for taking the time to do the write up. It will be very helpful

The wheel turned out very well and as you mentioned, the saving was also a nice bonus

I have a set of 17" 7 spoke wheels that I was going to practice the same thing on before I tackle an MVll wheel. From what you have done do you think there would be any issues with a self refurb on an MVll?

Its not the money saving really as they are not too much to refurb but more if it can be done I would like to do it you know

 

Hi Manlord,
I am not that familiar with the Mini MV11 wheel. Can you send us a image?

The first thing I would say is this was my first attempt at this so if I can do it, I am guessing anyone can.

Secondly, I would say I had an advantage in that I only needed to do the outside rim part of my wheel (& that I could split my rims making the access / refurb of the outer rim much easier). The inner part of my wheel didn’t need any refurb work so it more or less halved the amount of work I needed to do.

Finally, I would say you could refurb more or less any wheel, as long as you have the right tools (& time!). I purchased more or less all my tools in well know Car & hardware stores. I am 100% sure you could get more bespoke wheel refurb tools off the internet. But my aim here was to do the refurb without going to great cost and with everyday tools that I already had in my shed.

Regarding miltispoke wheels, I would say it can definitely be done but it would take you additional time to sand down all of the different spokes with wet sand paper (Grades 240 ~ 1200) i.e. more surface area = simply more time.

If you could get access to more specialised tools (a sander that could get between spokes), it would speed things up considerably. I am also thinking you would need bespoke polishing tools that will get in-between the spokes if you want to get that polished finish which I got on my outer rim (but if the wheel has a matt finish, you wont need this).

I hope this helps.

 

MV2's..................

http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showpost.php?p=264627&postcount=1

 

Hi Manlord. Looking at the MV2's design I would say you could definitely fix them yourself. If the damage is only kerbing / corrosions around the edge, sanding with the different grades would bring them out perfect. While I started with 240 grit sand paper and went in steps up to 1500 grade sandpaper, this high grit sand paper was only to get a shinier finish which it doesn't look like the MV2 needs (but was standard on my wheels).

It sounds like a good project for the St Pats weekend.

 

Now Matt - You know the only thing needing a refurb after Paddy's weekend is going to be my head & wallet

I think I'm going to tackle my 17"'s just as a practice and then if I'm happy enough I will go for the 18"s

Thanks mate

 

Wheels look great matt!!! I'll drop ya up the wife's mini so ya can refurb hers aswell k... Now where's the pics of it lowered seen one on robbies phone looks savage... Ya gotta take it out on a track day soon tho..... Or just buy my Clio so I can buy another e36 m3 for track... 2000 and it's urs....
Cheers
Mick

 

Hi Mick, If your wifes Mini wheels need a refurb, come down to my house any weekend. Its amazing what Robbie, yourself, myself and a six pack of beer could get done in a few hours!

 

Hey breadvan_Matt, great job on the wheels!

I'm wondering if I could do the same on my M-Parallels, they have a highly polished lip and face and they're kerbed quite badly:

Thats one of the fronts and it isn't too bad, but the rest have approx 200% more kerbing with deep rashes. Does sanding alone with 250 grit paper really take these rashes out? I'm just worried i'd start sanding them back and then even with higher grit papers, not be able to get the original finish back.

Any thoughts?

 

Hi Voodoomelon. From looking at your picture, I would be pretty confident that you could do a refurb on the M-Parallels.
As your inner wheels look fine, you can concentrate on your outer rims just like I did.
You start with a low grade and the higher the grade sandpaper you go to, the better the shine you will get.
Just take your time, doing one wheel at a time.

Regarding kerbing, you do need to be careful.
I didn't go below 450 grit sandpaper myself. I possibly could have used a lower grade sandpaper, but in the end, you are literally sanding your wheel away, so avoid using too low a sandpaper unless you really have to.
I would also say that there is a point to which the kerbing is so deep, that it cant be sand-papered away but you will be able to see this yourself when you start the sanding. Start with 450 and judge from the results if you need to go any lower.
Also, dont use the 450 on all the polished surfaces. Start with 1200+ as kerbing aside, the polished surface looks in good condition in most surface areas already.

 

Excellent job ! Miss my 108's had them on my old touring !
Realy underated wheel i personaly think they are the nicest oem wheel style!

 

Fantastic DIY, I've a set of style 32s with heavy kerbing so its good to see that your kerbing completely dissappeared. Mine might require a file to get the lips flat again, as the previous owners seems to have been slightly blind, but hopefully they'll come up as well as yours did.


Thanks for posting.