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I had a shoddy set of centre caps (paint wise only) and figured on an otherwise boring Sunday I had nothing to loose trying to revitalise them.

The results so far don't look bad, goodness knows how many minutes they will last on the car though!

Please don't be fooled into thing this is an informative "How to" type post, I have no idea how you are suppossed to do this, I'm just showing you how I did it!!

Expereince: None whatsoever.

Preparation: Regular viewing of Discovery channel and Men and Motors. Glance of instructions on random products bought from Halfords I guessed might be useful.

Products used:

Halfords plastic primer (grey)
Halfords clear laquer
Hlafords "VW Reflex Metallic Silver". Selected as the correct shade by my untrained eye in artificial shop lighting.
Mixed pack of wet and dry

The process.


First of all, find a well ventilated dust free area. I closed myslelf in my dusty garage with the door shut as it was raining out.

First reassure myself it can't get much worse than the starting point, specimen A.

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00105.jpg[/img]

First step was the strip down the part. I removed the one bit that seemed to come off.

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00106.jpg[/img]

Next I used random combinations of wet and dry paper, random grade, random wetness. I was mostly winging this part.

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00107.jpg[/img]

Then masked the centre bit I did not want to paint.

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00108.jpg[/img]

Several coats of primer later......

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00110.jpg[/img]

A top coat or two...

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00114.jpg[/img]

A coat or two of laquer on.....

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00117.jpg[/img]

Reassembled.....

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00119.jpg[/img]

Balanced on wheel for quality control "it was close enough".......

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00121.jpg[/img]

Once all four done, move all to the oven. Well OK my downstairs toilet under the radiator. Hotter than an oven usually.

[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16089/Dsc00122.jpg[/img]

Refitting is the reversal of removal. I hope.

Kept me occupied for a few hours anyway!

Super job Graham

GrahamS4 wrote: Refitting is the reversal of removal.

they actually look quite good, round of well done's

Top job well executed and the step by step guide was Haynes quality.

Class write-up

I think i might even be tempted to do mine now too

Thanks guys.

Quality wise I have actually surprised myself, they are top notch.

In real light and not flattered by the camera the colour match is not so good, but there was a sutble difference in them originally. Possibly due to the colour of my car but the slight mismatch in colour contrasts and looks ok.

Excellent job Graham, if anybody else wants to try this a paint I found to be spot on is made by Wurth:

http://www.wurth.co.uk/

Art No: 0893 351 900 - WHEEL SILVER 4OOML - 8.93 EACH (EX VAT)

Art No: 0893 351 930 - HIGH GLOSS CLEAR LACQUER - 8.93 EACH (EX VAT)