Painted my wheels finally!

Painted my wheels finally!

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Discussion

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Monday 17th February 2003
quotequote all

Finally did it :wink:. Decided to be a little diffent and do them in Steel Grey Metallic. Saw a pic of a McLaren F1 with the same colour. I think that it's a lot better than black. It's probably the best I can do with them due their size and style. Also had a go of hand painting the calipers in yellow. It's a pretty good match! I didn't even check the colour properly when I bought it. Nicked the idea from Kylie. Sorry Kylie, it appears that I still haven't got a mind of my own!

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Monday 17th February 2003
quotequote all
ps. There's more pics at
http://community.webshots.com/user/superdavelotus
if anyone is interested.

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Monday 17th February 2003
quotequote all
Front pic of the front wheel a bit closer. I've only painted one caliper to see if OK.
Sorry with flooding with pics, just a bit excited.

rob.ellis

2,861 posts

283 months

Monday 17th February 2003
quotequote all
Looks great. A real improvement over black IMO.

ErnestM

11,621 posts

272 months

Monday 17th February 2003
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Dave - the wheels look fantastic!

ErnestM

clarky5150

423 posts

273 months

Monday 17th February 2003
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Considered buying your car when it was on Autotrader but was put off by the wheel colour. Looks good now though mate!

apache

39,731 posts

289 months

Monday 17th February 2003
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much better, anthracite seems to be a popular colour for wheels these days

kylie

4,391 posts

262 months

Monday 17th February 2003
quotequote all
Wow, that is such an improvement. I really like the calipers too, they look real good in yellow. Looking forward to seeing the centre caps on as well. You got such a good price for yours. For all four caps I paid 15 for mine, including postage. Its a little bit more expensive but am happy all the same. We get stung every time when ordering stuff from overseas due to our dollar being much less.

Also I really think it is great everyone sharing their own little improvements and a little how it was done procedure. I hope we can see much more from other people when they do a we job at home. I think it makes it more spesh if you can say you done most of stuff yourself. Then can tell people what works and the big don'ts. Esp like when you have an idea and you post it here and people jump in and give you such a good head start and confidence into the project.

See ya,
Kylie

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Monday 17th February 2003
quotequote all
Thanks guys and gals, it's reassured my decision. Just need to finish the calipers and put the Lotus badges on.

Cheers,



Dave Walters

gemini

11,352 posts

269 months

Monday 17th February 2003
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looks a peach

kylie

4,391 posts

262 months

Monday 17th February 2003
quotequote all
Hey Dave, check this this site out when you have a chance. He has a similar car to ours, well mine anyway. Am hoping to do some similar work with the exhausts. Well I have got a few artworks to catch up on first

www.black89lotus.com/

See ya
KS

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Tuesday 18th February 2003
quotequote all

kylie said: Hey Dave, check this this site out when you have a chance. He has a similar car to ours, well mine anyway. Am hoping to do some similar work with the exhausts. Well I have got a few artworks to catch up on first

www.black89lotus.com/

See ya
KS


I came across this a few days ago, it's really cool isn't it? I've saved it as one of my favourite sites and will read when I get the chance. Didn't realise at first that the list of work he's done, there are actual links to pics. Must have been on a different planet at the first time I came across this site.
Next jobs are only very minor, wire up fogs (trying to see if there is already the wiring inplace), fix interior carpets down. Next main job is to replace the headlights (corroded). Next 3-6 months will get front or/and rear bumper spoilers. Was thinking of retro fitting the S4 door handles. Oh and I need a CD changer or sigle slot (onyl have radio cassette)

Paul V

4,489 posts

282 months

Tuesday 18th February 2003
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They look great, how did you go about painting them?

Looking to do similar to the mini as the lacquer is coming off, rather do it myself than pay someone to do it!

Did you use any special paints/primer?

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Tuesday 18th February 2003
quotequote all
I first ordered some aerosols from www.frost.co.uk I got crome, bright silver and yellow caliper spray. unfortunately when I tested all three, they were crap!
Believe it or not I eventually bought all the gear from Halfords of all places, you should have a superstore near you. Iam well impressed with the finish. It's the best i've seen in a long time from an aerosol. Even before I applied the laquer it was really shiny!. First I bought Hamerite degreaser spray £3.50. It recommends that you lightly sand the wheels down first with the paint but I thought that I wouldn't be able to get into the nooks and crannies so I used a scourer sponge with the degreaser. When I wiped it down, you could see where I had rubbed down.
Halfords Grey Primer £5.99/ 500Ml, Steel Wheel Spray £5.99/500Ml, Universal Clear Laquer £5.99/500Ml. I masked the tyres first and covered with newspaper but had problems getting the masking tape to stick because I had put tyre dressing on a week before. Suggest taking your car to a jet wash first. I put about 2 coats of primer plus a very light sheen on first to get a good adhesion. By the way I could be talking a load of crap here as Iam a novice and I wouldn't want to lead you up the wrong path. Second, 2-3 coats of Steel Wheel Spray followed by two good coats of Clear Laquer. Used 1 primer and two of the Spray and laquer. Total cost £35. Not bad really. The reason for doing this myself because I wasn't sure about the colour and thought that I may have to change it whilst in the middle of painting it. If you can get it to all the spots, I would recommend sanding first.

Paul V

4,489 posts

282 months

Tuesday 18th February 2003
quotequote all
Cheers, I think I’ll have a go when the weather warms up a bit, I have a compressor so may try using the spray gun, I’ll need to decide the colour now!

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Tuesday 18th February 2003
quotequote all
I haven't got the luxury of a spray gun yet, so I made sure that I heated up the wheels and the spray can first so the paint went on wet and glossy, instead of drying before it lands on the surface. I also had to do this because it's freezing here but I was a little impatient and couldn't wait til summer. Iam going to try to finsh the calipers this weekend even in this weather! I must be crazy. It must be the Lotus feaver!

LotusV8

2,591 posts

289 months

Tuesday 18th February 2003
quotequote all
Looks excellent Dave! I like the calipers too!

superdave

Original Poster:

935 posts

261 months

Tuesday 18th February 2003
quotequote all
I can send you some updated pics for your web site if you're still interested.
Are you any nearer yet on the Esprit position?
Let me know.

Cheers,



Dave Walters