Plastic wheel trim refurb: rattle can job?

[Mogul]

Daughter’s 12yr old Hyundai i20 needs a little TLC in the summer break.

Thought about finding a fresh set of genuine wheel trims, but the existing ones are pretty straight, they just need a spruce up.

I’ve degreased them and sanded a few scratches down…

Should I go with a primer, top coat, and laquer, or is there a short cut?

Any specific product reccomendations?

Cheers

[OldSkoolRS]

I had a similar option for my son's Fiesta last year. Figured by the time I'd bought the primer, paint and lacquer then it was more money than some budget non OEM wheel trims, so I bought a set of those. Needless to say they have been kerbed over the last year (first car) so was probably a good call. Still have the originals if it gets to the stage they are better than the replacements.

Otherwise there isn't really a shortcut as without the primer to cover the bare plastic areas the silver(?) paint won't stick properly. You could skip the lacquer but they will look dull and dirt will tend to stick to the metallic paint too, so they'll look grubby in no time.

[Mogul]

I’m determined to give it a go, but is it worth trying to do all four with 3 x500ml cans of plastic primer, silver wheel paint, and laquer? As in one 500ml can of each?

[OldSkoolRS]

I reckon you could do it. Just have them lined up ready to do and close to each other so you can move straight to the next one. For the silver coat just 'dust' it on rather than trying to get a glossy finish by spraying slightly further away. Otherwise you can get stripes in the metallic finish. I did it once on a gold Mk2 Cavalier (using a spray gun) so I had to re-do it. Lesson learnt.


I might do my son's original trims sometime as I've bought some ready mixed paint (for spray guns), so would only need a can of silver as I'll have the primer and clear spare once I've finished doing a bonnet for him. I'll just use an aerosol for the silver coat though I think, dusted on as above.

Best of luck with it.

[Mogul]

Hold my beer...