smart repair on rims..

[Günter]

@Scott , from Lepsons: thanks for your offer on the remaining paint from the refurbish -but as said, I need to do it within budged. So transport of this paint would be maybe not that cost effective after all ?!

..what I try out for now is one of my usual DIY projects -even if this means it will not be the ''new from factory'' quality as it needs for a S350 Mag-alloy .

My previous question '' Scott..what paint code does match the last refurbish?..'' was sorted now by an Auto repair & paint-shop garage with a *paint-scanner* device. The computer named it [on this special set of wheels, of course..] as a paint-code out of the FIAT/Lancia optionals list.

Not sure about, Scott -does this sound like something you can remember ? FIAT-Lancia 628A *Grigio Graphite*

Anyway, the paint-shop just sold me the amount of fresh paint that would be usefull for the project. The deal was made for 20Euros -2K paint, hardener & satin clear-coat all inclusive ...does sound good so far

So lets start, as some may have noticed I managed to get my hands onto some used (but previously refurbished S350 wheels).

The previous owner used them again after refurbishment, but the front ones suffered at least from new 'curbing' . Luckily without serious structural damages as far as I can see it. What means there is just a need to cover up the bare Magnesium surface as good as possible, as the paint from the refurbishing is strong , but also cracked and chips off as the curbing happened. The problem is that I have no *anaerobic-atmosphere* room to work in. For now I just solve this with a little help of some silver-grey colored 'reactive' metall covering paint mixture and some thin layers of primer. To 'immitate' the hight of the previous layers of base-coate, primer, paint and clear-coat there is an need to fill in the gabs & holes with some metall body-filler & finisher. The top coat of paint that I will use needs to be applied with a model-crafting airbrush gun from my RC-projects -as for the term 'smart repair' in the title.. . So it needs to be a verry liquid mixture with a slightly differend viscosity -hope it works, we will see it.

first test with primer..

not a professional arrangement, but it works

upload http://www.imagenetz.de/fdd0eaa83/BILD0788.JPG.html

first try out with filler..

lets call it 'edging' ..not perfect on the first try -will need to do it again. See the odd joint lines on the next couple of shots

opposite rim [the more curbed LH one..] , more sections to repair..

more detailing needs to be done

Edited July 28, 2010 by Günter

[Günter]

short update.

rework of the engraving on those damaged sections of the shoulder.

notice the light 'goldish' shine after application off some reactive 'clear primer' ,compared with the pure silver look of the bare magnesium on the other engraving section... . Not sure what this recoloring means -but there is definitve some sort of reaction. If it's good or bad ...we will see..

[Advantage]

Günter, please be careful when using 2k paint. It contains isocyantes => cyanide! You will need at the very least a carbon filter mask (but change the filters regularly - every 30 minutes or sooner) but preferably a sealed air fed mask. A paper mask just won't do. This stuff can be deadly.

Sorry if that sounds a bit like a lecture and I'm sure you know what you're doing, but others may not and then try to copy your procedure without the correct equipment. Your paint supplier will be able to advise on what precautions to take.

[matk]

I agree, in a prev life I was responsible for advising bodyshops on H and S requirements for paint sprayers, it's like asbestos, the smallest amount is capable of causing immense long term lung and body damage.

[arbell9]

http://www.cdph.ca.g...cuments/iso.pdf

The legal safe limits are quite low, Health professionals now consider an 8-hour average of 0.005 ppm to be an appropriate

limit for all isocyanates. But they state they must never exceed 0.02 ppm.

AN FYI at 3ppm for 6 h per day for 4 days rats start to die after day 12, and most in the experiment were dead by day 20. Mice tolerate a slightly higher dose, 6 ppm. ref

If you can smell the furity smeel of organic isocyantes you have way gone into the danger zone.

Chemical Overview as an example

Methyl isocyanate -- C2H3NO -- is a colorless liquid that has a sharp odor with an odor threshold of 2.1 ppm. Its vapor pressure is 348 mm Hg at 20° C and it is highly flammable with a low flash point. Methyl isocyanate is a chemical intermediate in the production of carbamate insecticides and herbicides, and is extremely toxic to humans from acute (short-term) exposure. In 1984, in Bhopal, India, an accidental acute inhalation exposure to the gas, estimated at 13 to 100 ppm, resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 people within 5 days and adverse health effects in greater than 170,000 survivors.ref

Edited July 30, 2010 by Alex --GT3--

[Günter]

the mentioned problem on the 'process of painting' is already my biggest problem by now. So I see what you all want to point out..

..especially as I've read somewhere that the 'meant as more healthy' type of water based paints is not that good at all -especially as the dust on the overspray is far more capable of going into the human breathing system. The other point is -what should I use to mix up the paint to make it more thinner ?! As the way of limittet area application means an smal airbrush will be used. This only works with very thin mixtures of paint together with the specified air-pressure. What I have is demineralized-water (electrolyt clear), and Acethone cleaner. Some sources say that for water base paints also Isopropyhl-alcohol is used as a mixture solvent ??

last for today..

[richardvg]

The iso content in terms of what he is doing are negligible .It is primarily the long term effects of the products that are carcogenic .If you take a regular household product like Benzine for example ,that has a high hexane count - more dangerous than the 2k hardener.

Secondly , your biggest problem is where to stand the rims when detailing .You ideally need a "flow through " of air otherwise you get huge bounceback of overspray in your face .

richard

[Günter]

..my face is the least concern that I have on that, the small modelcrafting airbrush does not apply much paint at once. And I can work in the free air, the aim is not 'mirror like finish' (as the refurbish was done actually in *satin*-finish too..) -so some minor dust is not the problem.

What I have to test first is the right mixture of solvent, not for the harderner mixture but for the paint itself. I'm not sure by now that the metallic-flake within the paint is working good with the airbrush-nozzle size ?!

So still my question for the professionals: what to use as solvent for the so called 'water base system'-paint ..?? Some water/alcohol mixtures should work -right ?

[richardvg]

Gunter

if you are using the waterbased basecoat , you would require de-ionised water to mix with it - not much ( 2;1 ratio) should be fine.

richard

[Günter]

that was my thought too ...

-and think the alcohol could help a little with the 'drying -proces' time..

will test an mixture on sunday, on a metal plate.

[Günter]

turns out good so far ...some slight imperfections are visible, this comes from the not so perfect preparation-work on the filler. Interesting point is -even without the 'satin-finish' conventional clear coat (need to mix that up with the hardener later on..) -the water based paint (*Fiat-Lancia* GrigioGraphite ) seems to match up on this set of wheels.

next one was the rim with the 'broken out' sections (paint chiping..) on the center. The rubbish coloring in the picture is just backlight irritation. The only thing that is not perfect is that the paint (as long as it is without the 2K Hardener/clearcoat) is really thin. It covers up the yellow-white surface color of the filler ,but the imperfections from my filler work & sanding are visible if you spot closer. I even needed to work out two small points with an conventional brush on that -but as mentioned earlyer : ''You learn every time from your try-out's ''

..sadly, the airbrush-compressor just gave up -so there is one rim that still needs a cover up in *Grigio-Graphite* ...and all wil need the satin-finish #2K-clearcoat

[rocket63]

Interesting stuff Gunter.

[Günter]

''covered in beef & onions''

still not as perfect as it could be done ..but for the first time -why not

you can compare the white (primer) market sections on the tire with the ones from the other pictures, so everyone can see that there are in fact three diferent wheels to rework. Most anoying so far, the marks from sanding back the filler with abrasive paper. This wasn't done as good as I wanted. Maybe I just do it once more... the amount of paint that has been left in the bottle is big enough. Especially on the *OZ+Racing* engraving it needs some more rework. But that was at least one of the more stronger 'paint chip' sections to solve... .

next week, if all is dried out enough .. 2K 'satin top-coat' goes on

[Simon350S]

I think you have my old wheels Gunter, they look like they've had a hard life!

You should have taken the tyres off, they are a bitch to do! You are risking significant damage replacing them afterwards!

[Günter]

this 'home refurbish' sort of thing isn't meant as an permanent work. As soon as the DOT 06 Falken tires are gone (there is much treat left to use..) the whhels will get an other professional refurbish.

Just thoght those whhels were fittet on S350 Nb. 11 previously ?? Anyway, I have now (as the deal turnd out to go slightly slower than expected..) two sets of wheels to choose. One (my original) AWIc set , cheap and practical powdercoated satin black, fittet with fresh (DOT 10/10, DOT 50/09) Toyo's ..in 235 &285 -and this OZ-Cronos ..to use for 'special operations' or Lotus-Club gatherings.

Only downside is that the Cronos have 225/35 & 275/35 tires on -makes the wheels look really ''small'' in the wheelarch.. . And my (fitted with original, non adjustable suspension..! ) car gets on front splitter contact with the ground as for the 35% square section of those 225-type tires in some pot holes..

[Simon350S]

I bought those tyres so that the wheels would have a better chance of fitting on my S3T

Even if they are not my wheels, they are definatley my tyres!

[Günter]

OK, maybe the tires are yours -but it is an improvement on one important aspect: my previously fitted tires on the AWIc's were DOT-00 marked ..and now, after an fun day on one of the local 'bike short tracks' [spreewaldring -located south of Berlin] even an sreded profile section on one of the rears So it was just a 'must' to get my hands on an spare set of wheels, and rework the AWIc & fit fresh rubber on them. The other AWIc rims in the board are not fitted with tires, and the full set of wheels available in Germany is 'just' an ordinary OZ type for Lotus. So now, as the right paint code is found ...and as I can not see serious structural damages (hope it is so for real ) -why not choose the Cronos and refurbish them again if there is an need of later on..

[Günter]

It was a hard 'learning by doing'-type of thing. The first try ended up with contaminated hardener -the hardener dried out foritself in the bottle. So I bought an other amount of hardener from an different source.

Tried to applicate the top coat today and the 2K *satin-clearcoat* worked not perfectly -the sanding scratches are still visible on those two.

On the front LH one the whole rim needs an second try, as the airbrush was not right calibrated for the mixture. Serious 'spitting' ..so I need to sand it all back with wet 1000 or 2000grid paper after it is hard enough.

Next thing on the list -where to find the wheel centers with the 'long leg type' clamping for cheap money ? As the normal Elise/Esprit-V8 [AWIc] wheel centers do not fit into the gaps.. .

Edited August 4, 2010 by Günter

[Simon350S]

How much do you want to pay for a set Gunter? I may be able to source a set for a good price, may take a while though

Have you got the correct wheel bolts fot eh 350S wheels? They are longer than the standard V8s

[Günter]

30mm wheelbolts (or even longer for certain special H&R spacer applications ) are available around here on several points -that's not the problem. Have 40mm ones in use as I plan to run with 10mm spacer plates on both endes (AWI & Cronos could look good with a wider track, I think.. )

but the longer S350 center cabs would be the thing you can't get easy over here.. . will need to calculate based on the Lotus 'stock price'-list & SJ Sportscars first.

[richardvg]

Hey Gunter

Listen if you are in dire need of a job ..........the last one you should take is in spraypainting , no disrespect.

if you have to spray rims (touchup smart) ,at least mask off the frigging tyre mate!

secondly , the centre masking ( stud holes ) is not necessary if you are misting.With a basecoat you will get shadow lines where the tape is.

last but not least , if you are spraying satin clear ,the thinner (coat on job ) the better .

if you have scratches that you can see under the painted surface , give the sprayed surface a light sand ( 800- 1000 grit ) and spray over that.Hopefully the Clearcoat covered the scratches ( like a build primer would)

Richard

[Günter]

Richard, the paint on the tire is not my most important concern ..it does not hold on really strong if you scratch with the fingernails on it -have tested that. On the first try outs I even covered the tire sidewall (not sure that you really have seen all of those pictures...)

-and the tires are not an perfect fit for the rims, slightly to small for an V8 Esprit -and , of course at least *DOT 06* labeled ..so the tires were just an additional gadged to the set of rims. Positive point is -there is still much profile hight to make a use of... .

The center section masking was there for the one rear rim -one of those rims suffered from paint/filler chiping, right on the center section [where the Lotus-cap goes in] ...that's why I covered the area from overspray onto the flat-spoke area. So don't know what you mean with 'center masking'-stud holes -there was no masking on the stud holes ?!

But you're right on the satin coat -I've noticed that it will not be so 'satin look' if the layer is to heavy build up at once. It starts to look glossy under this circumstances, but as said -I've just sand back the whole outer rim face on this particular one. The clear coat on the other one , and the one with the 'faulty center section' worked as good as it needs to make a use of the wheel for a while.

[Günter]

the last wheel is now ready, not perfect -but 'presentable'... .

The clear coat does not have the same touch as the original (it is not only 'satin finish', it also feels even more rough instead of slightly glossy, but that's caused by my lack on painting skills i would say) -downside is that the airbrush was again 'spitting' on some points, so there are now big 'boobs' of clear-coat all around [note the left edge in the picture..]. Not sure about on 'wet sanding' and polishing those out again... . Think it is just enough now

[Bibs]

You mean 'blobs', 'boobs' are something else entirely

[Günter]

no no.. not Blobs, not Bubles -it looks like boobs (stiff and handy, and comes mostly in pairs..) ..same way in German a painter sometimes talks about 'nose' if the paint is running on an edge and forms something

Edited August 11, 2010 by Günter