Bargain new wheels !

I had a bit of luck at Stonor and got meself a set of original GTi alloys with tyres for the bargain price of ?25 !!
The alloys are in fairly good condition, one has a nick in the lip from a kerb. They seem balanced too. The tyres all needed air, and one needed re-sealing against the alloy (?5). The tyres have about 7mm of tread on em all, two are good years, two are conti's. I've cleaned them up a bit (more needed) and here they are …



     

Excellent!

That makes all the difference!
All you need now is the side stripes and arches and you'll have a gti! :wink:

Thanks Al  

I have a set of arches actually. More to hide rust rather than go for the gti look. but i might consider spacers first, as the gti arches don't half stick out a bit !

Nice one greg - looks better than the black rims IMO. Nice shine you got on that MK1 too! :wink:

i think its a huge improvement over the black steels too. The steering feels a little lighter now, i guess the wheels are lighter. Actually i remember crazyquiff doing some weight comparisons and the steels came out heavier than the gti 13's and the 14" p-slots too.
Going from 155/80 to 175/70 makes a difference too!

Nice one Greg - looks very smart with the wheels. Shiney wheels really improve a cars appearance. Half way through repainting the steels for my C. Fitted one already and cant believe how good it makes the car look. Have the wider tyres taken any of lightness out of the streeing?

Cheers

hi markone, the wider tyres have been overshadowed by the lighter wheels i think. the steering is definitly lighter than with the thinner tyres.
look fwd to a pic of your refurbed steels ! what colour you going for?

Nice car Greg, especially with those gleaming set of original 9 spoke VW alloys. The tyres alone must be worth the price you paid, you must be feeling rather pleased with yourself.

Greg - doing the steels with silver hammerite (Dubboys recomendation). Looks very good, the hammerite has nice silver, speckly finish. Only done a couple of wheels so far as it my girlfriends daily driver, so having to do one at a time - will put a pic up when done.

Cheers

Hi,
I've heard a couple of people refinishing wheels with Hammerite / Smoothrite. Just be aware that when dry it is quite brittle and does chip-off quite easy, so probably not a 'long term' solution.  I refinished all the suspension parts of my old Beetle using smoothrite and they did end up very 'pebble dashed' after 6 months or so. Might be better with several coats tho………..

Cheers, did put three coats on to get a decent finish . Suprised you had such problems. Hammerite should have a tough finish once it has fully cured - can take several weeks to properly harden though (how long did you leave it to cure? was the surface properly keyed?) . Use it regularly as a painter/decorator for iron gates/fences etc where its particularly good at withstanding years of being banged and knocked :dontknow: .

Cheers

Hi - took about 6mths to build the Beetle, so suspension bits prob had a couple of months before 'hitting the road'. I did mine with (I think) 2/3 coats of aerosol Smoothrite. All bits keyed-up properly before painting. I'd go for powdercoating as the best solution, but isn't really practical/affordable in most cases. I do think Smoothrite is a good option for home use though - did my fuel pump brackets in it !  Just not sure it can withstand stones being thrown up at it, etc.

lhasa said

Nice car Greg, especially with those gleaming set of original 9 spoke VW alloys. The tyres alone must be worth the price you paid, you must be feeling rather pleased with yourself.

Hey lhasa - welcome back  :y: - where you been lately??!! (Sorry, off topic!!)

I used hammerite smoothrite satin finish on my steels and used one large can for the 4 wheels (plus a tiny single coat on the wing mirror mounts). I'd guess the wheels had 3 coats and 3 days to harden in a garage. I've still managed to nick the paint a few times either with a tyre iron or perhaps from doing handbrake turns on gravel (hee hee). Its hard stuff, but not impenetrable. Then again, it was my first go with the stuff. I think if i did it again i'd use a primer on the steel before the smoothrite. …. just my 0.02c

cheers lhasa! i was grinning all the way home with that bargain!

Ah I went old school and used the standard brushable Hammerite . Used a brush and thinned out the 2nd and 3rd coats (final coat was 40% thinners) could hardly see the brushmarks. Not had any experience of the spray 'smoothrite'.

Cheers