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Budget Re-furb Wheel Project: RE Amemiya

31K views 114 replies 26 participants last post by  hkfd3s 
#1 ·
Picked up some true 3-piece splits about a week and a half ago. A staggered set of JDM Desmond RE Amemiya wheels; RX-7 wheels.

Specs are 17x8.5 et42 and 17x.95 et42.

The condition of these wheels was good: no bends, one wheel had very tiny curb rash, the paint on the faces were starting to chip, and the lips had normal pitting from daily use.


2011-09-16 11.42.20 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-16 11.42.59 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-16 08.44.06 by TFO808, on Flickr

These wheels go for about $1400 + s/h, but I was able to score these for only $1000 locally! (I’m stoked because we Hawaii residents get raped on s/h on car parts). I’m going to be splitting the wheels, painting the faces, and polishing the lips myself over the next few months. My goal is to take my time and be finished by December.

And so the “Ballin’ on a Budget” wheel rebuild begins….
 
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#3 ·
Being very excited about owning project splits, I couldn't wait to take them apart. I Split the wheels by cutting through the old silicon seal, unscrewing 40 bolts per wheel, and separating each wheel using a heat gun and rubber mallet.


2011-09-16 08.40.02 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-16 11.31.07 by TFO808, on Flickr

Once they were all apart, I took the barrels home for some cleaning. The barrels were cleaned using simple green, a green scratch pad, and wire wheel. Next step was to protect inside of the barrel with some good ol' Rustoleum primer and spray paint. I wanted to paint it an outrageous color, but I restrained myself and went with a simple dark color: Black Night Metallic.


2011-09-16 11.43.29 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-17 13.15.22 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-17 10.06.49 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-17 13.18.59 by TFO808, on Flickr
 
#4 ·
+1 on the crazy outrageous color but that blue is awesome :shock: any pics of your car as it sits now? just to get an idea of how it'll look?
 
#6 ·
With the barrels all done, I decided to embark on my first ever attempt at polishing wheels. Started with a 100 grit to remove the curb rash and pitting, and then went 400-600-1000-1500-2000 grits to smooth it all out. Finished with Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish and Powerball.







BEFORE While these are not as bad as XCnuse's lips, here's what I started with this evening.




100 Grit Sanding




400 Grit Sanding


600 Grit Sanding


1000 Grit Sanding


1500 Grit Wet Sanding


2000 Grit Wet Sanding w/ WD-40 Ready for polish!








Polished! Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish + Mothers Powerball







 
#7 ·
[quote author=JoshB link=topic=199220.msg4121701#msg4121701 date=1317265912]
Subbed. I love those wheels. Shoulda done same crazy color, would have looked good on your car.
[/quote]

Haha, I really, really wanted to! But these will be going to my wife's MZ3.... but they will also see time on my dub lol.
 
#8 ·
[quote author=dnasantiago link=topic=199220.msg4121705#msg4121705 date=1317266257]
[quote author=JoshB link=topic=199220.msg4121701#msg4121701 date=1317265912]
Subbed. I love those wheels. Shoulda done same crazy color, would have looked good on your car.
[/quote]

Haha, I really, really wanted to! But these will be going to my wife's MZ3.... but they will also see time on my dub lol.
[/quote]

Pink would have been in order then. Look like you did some awesome work with the polish too.
 
#11 ·
This past weekend was spent testing out two color schemes on two of the faces, but first I had to strip the original clearcoat and color using aircraft paint stripper.


2011-09-22 12.45.42 by TFO808, on Flickr

First up was a Rustoleum matte silver look. This scheme was inspired by the wheels on Rotiform's website.


2011-09-23 09.52.07 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-23 11.46.22 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-23 11.50.53 by TFO808, on Flickrckr

This paint job was cake because of the matte color. The unrefined look doesn't require too much paint prep or wet-sanding afterwards. Any imperfections in the paint like dust blends right in with the matte lol.

This next color, the one I will be going with, does require more prep, spray time, and wet-sanding. However, in these pictures, I did not get around to wet-sanding yet.


2011-09-24 12.34.36 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-24 15.45.10 by TFO808, on Flickr


2011-09-25 18.33.56 by TFO808, on Flickr

That's all I got for now. I will be adding more pictures as I start doing the remaining wheels. On a side note, I am heavily debating on replacing all of the wheel bolts with gold and painting the car's brake calipers gold for a nice contrast.

In order to get these to tuck nicely I will be mounting/stretching 205/40/17 on the fronts and 215/40/17 on the rears. Should have a nice look to em'.
 
#14 ·
[quote author=JoshB link=topic=199220.msg4121727#msg4121727 date=1317267411]
Gold hardware would look awesome on that red.
[/quote]

I agree, only thing holding me back is the cost.... at $1.59 per bolt x 160 bolts..... this is supposed to be my cheap ass wheel project, lol. But, I'll see if some extra loot comes around before the holidays.
 
#17 ·
[quote author=JoshB link=topic=199220.msg4121735#msg4121735 date=1317268434]
Ouch. Maybe see if someone can PC them? $240 is alot for some bolts :/
[/quote]
IDK, I still might dish out the loot for the balla bolts

[quote author=r2rrita link=topic=199220.msg4121736#msg4121736 date=1317268456]
looks very nice
[/quote]
Thanks, I hope the process continues to yield good results

[quote author=exentix link=topic=199220.msg4121723#msg4121723 date=1317267151]
:drool: wow
[/quote]

Haha thanks , but still not drool worthy yet lol.
 
#18 ·
Subbed.

Those wheels look awesome man. The gold hardware will look awesome with that red, definately a wise choice. And why not just powdercoat them? You've already got all the bolts and I'm sure powdercoating just the heads of the bolts will save you lots of money and possibly be even more resistant to wear and tear. You never know what kind of quality you might be getting by buying the bolts.
 
#19 ·
[quote author=ccsmith87 link=topic=199220.msg4121910#msg4121910 date=1317300600]
Subbed.

Those wheels look awesome man. The gold hardware will look awesome with that red, definately a wise choice. And why not just powdercoat them? You've already got all the bolts and I'm sure powdercoating just the heads of the bolts will save you lots of money and possibly be even more resistant to wear and tear. You never know what kind of quality you might be getting by buying the bolts.
[/quote]

I'll check on the powder coatiing option, but I am just not too sure that a gold PC job will result in nice shiny bolts like these:


Also, I would rather pickup the second set of bolts so that when I get tired of the color scheme and repaint the faces, I'll still have the silver hardware laying around to reuse.
 
#20 ·
[quote author=dnasantiago link=topic=199220.msg4122121#msg4122121 date=1317317272]

Also, I would rather pickup the second set of bolts so that when I get tired of the color scheme and repaint the faces, I'll still have the silver hardware laying around to reuse.
[/quote]

That's a good idea actually. I never realized hardware was that expensive. Bolts alone cost as much as one of my wheels :/
 
#21 ·
[quote author=dnasantiago link=topic=199220.msg4122121#msg4122121 date=1317317272]
I'll check on the powder coatiing option, but I am just not too sure that a gold PC job will result in nice shiny bolts like these:


Also, I would rather pickup the second set of bolts so that when I get tired of the color scheme and repaint the faces, I'll still have the silver hardware laying around to reuse.
[/quote]

True, the PC job probably won't be as shiny. And if you do plan on changing the colour it would be a good idea to have another set.
Just making some suggestions where you said it was a budget project. :)
Looking good though. :goodjob:
 
#22 ·
The "budget" part is definitely the hard part. So far I've avoided the costs of powder coating or professionally painting the faces ( ~ $250-$300), and paying someone else to professionally polish each lip ($125 x 4). The gold hardware really depends on if I have extra loot to put into the wheels. At this point, I can save some $$$ for bolts or do the right thing and use that saved $$$ for the upcoming holiday season.
 
#25 ·
[quote author=cannafornia link=topic=199220.msg4122287#msg4122287 date=1317329060]
stopping by to say those are some very nice wheels. dont see alot of old school 3 pieces surviving. cant wait to see on the car.
[/quote]
because they are pointless for a normal car; they were really only for racing teams but even they saw no purpose.

Besides, three piece wheels are dangerous.


Hardware is relatively expensive; I came across a few places but still.. EXPENSIVE. Expect to pay about $150 for (cheapest) new hardware; thus I don't have new hardware lol.
But you'll find the bolts alone around .80 - 1.20 price range on average which sounds like nothing... but remember.. you're talking about ordering well over 100 of them lol

No need to powder them. If you do, they will get destroyed when you get them back in and torque them down (only torque to 10lbs/in but still.. it won't help). That, and you probably won't be able to get a 12 point socket to fit them properly after they do get painted.

Hardly a refinishing project if only one has the worlds smallest scratch across the lip :p

You can find some aftermarket places that sell them and typically market themselves in the BBS and VAG group since those are the guys that deal mostly with wheels.


It cost me $200 to have my faces painted a special order color; $170 with a typical color. And it is quite shiny. Not like lacquer shiny but it's reflective for a powder.


I'm running 215/40s all around on a 17x8 / 9
205s would have disgusting (as in puke disgusting) stretch to them, but that's just me.
215/40 Toyo Proxies on 17x9: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/XCNuse/Mazda3/IMG_7501.jpg


That tempts me to paint my inside barrels though


Just be careful; I guess you didn't have to put much time in them to refinish that lip which is good, but I put.. hmm. On my wheels, I got for $650 (shipped across the US) and put in another $800 (including tires) into them; but if I tried to sell them now, I still would barely break $1k for them I'm sure.

You really have to find the market for them and get someone that is interested. The less YOU spend, the better off you are. I screwed up and wasted time trying to spray mine myself.


Good luck on the silicon seal, those scare me if not done properly.

Also, make sure you get loctite on ALL of your hardware!
 
#26 ·
^^ holy hell you've got a lot to say, lol!

Thanks for the insight, I appreciate reading your opinions. Good points and advice taken of not powder coating the bolts :goodjob:. I am good to go on reassembly and have all my bases covered (torque specs, loctite, sealing, and reassembly procedures).

[quote author=XCNuse link=topic=199220.msg4122397#msg4122397 date=1317342683]

Hardly a refinishing project if only one has the worlds smallest scratch across the lip :p

[/quote]

Sucks that you think that, as I have been using a lot of elbow grease to get these wheels looking solid. Like I stated in my first post, there is pitting in the lips and the paint on the faces are chipping. Sanding is needed to get these pitting imperfections out and repainting is a must. I personally don't want to roll on shitty looking wheels with busted faces and half-ass polished lips. To me, the person working on this project, this qualifies as a refinishing project.

[quote author=XCNuse link=topic=199220.msg4122397#msg4122397 date=1317342683]

I'm running 215/40s all around on a 17x8 / 9
205s would have disgusting (as in puke disgusting) stretch to them, but that's just me.

[/quote]

As for my choice in tire sizes, it's not because I am a fan boy of stretch. The 205 FR and 215 RR is for fitment because I drive low and tuck; not this mexi-flush stuff we all see to often.

I also want to point out that the size difference between 215 and 205 is about 0.4"-0.5" difference. If you want to puke on 205's on a 8.5" wheel, you might as well puke on the 215's on your 9" wheel. The stretch on my front wheels would be very comparable to your rear wheels.
 
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