Fred the Fucking Fiesta

Ex850R

Ohh how you fuss and fiddle with the first set of wheels you refurb!
I only got two of my set done in such a fashion, 2nd pair I was well over it......
A good set of flap wheels for angle grinder and dremel and blend in the dings.

Ben

lol, I'm taking my time as I don't want to do anything that requires starting again!

I have 5 150gm cans of paint, still not sure it's going to be enough...

Ex850R

I don't recal but I used a few on 2 wheels, so tricky all the angles you have to do, can't just blow it on generally I found. Reminded me of a paint guy who did my Volans saying he won't do wheels ever again after mine, too tricky.

good luck!

AshDVS

Saw a Fiesta XR4 this morning and noticed the very subtle side skirts - never noticed them before - I wonder how rare they are?

Ben

Thanks Les, I'll need it lol.

I wouldn't think the skirts are too rare, usually the wrecks have a hard hit from/rear/both so the sides are intact. Silver isn't a common colour. Funnily enough, the wheel caps are almost as expensive as the wheels these days.

Saw an XR4 worked with cams/exhaust for $5k. Very tempting.

AshDVS

Leave the centrecaps off, just pickup some nice looking wheelnuts. done.

Ben

Agreed. Final sand complete, just waiting for a warm steady day/night now!

Ben

Quick sneaky post edit to show the car lowered all round with the 16s. Turns out the 16s are Ronal wheels. I have to admit, I miss them already.

Ben

So painting has finished, cured and new Bridgestone RE003s are now on. Just needs new rear shocks, rear sway, rear hub spacers, WQ lights and a proper detail.

Wheels look great from normal standing distance but up close they're pretty average. Great effort for a first attempt though lol.

I'll post in a new thread to see if some of those experienced with paint can help, but I'm not sure what went wrong. I don't think I did thick enough coats of everything. I'm surprised that the discolouration in the primer (that felt smooth) has appeared in the top coat - so maybe I didn't prep or just didn't have enough primer.

The paint hasn't had a polish or any prep as I like the satin, but I might need to do that before putting on some wax just to make cleaning easier. The dust etc is from a dusty garage (didn't help with the wife putting the dryer on while I was out a few times) and would sand off easily. So yeah, I'll need to do some research and see what I did wrong.

AshDVS

Looks great with the new wheels. Brake dust will cover any flaws!

sucksqueezebangblow

16"s look better, and possibly weigh less?
Hard to tell from the photos but are the new wheels larger overall diameter? It looks higher in the rear end now.

Ben

Looks higher? Really? I think it actually looks lower. Hmmm, the photos were shot with the 16s in the back as well.

Originals were 205/45/16 with new being 205/40/17. Just 5mm difference (591mm vs 596mm) in overall diameter.

Good question on weight, I should've weighed them. The 16s have really chunky solid spokes so I'm betting the 17s are lighter.

Vee_Que

17s are better for tyres which is always a bonus.

sucksqueezebangblow

Sometimes looks can be deceiving depending on where you are looking.
The gap between the tyre and guard might shrink with bigger wheels but the ground clearance increases.

Case in point:

Ben

Vee_Que;102645 wrote17s are better for tyres which is always a bonus.

I was very annoyed that the RE003 was cheaper in the 16!

AshDVS

Ben;102780 wroteI was very annoyed that the RE003 was cheaper in the 16!

That's pretty unusual. Perhaps just unlucky? or maybe the RE003 is a tyre where the 16" versions are cheaper than 17" versions?

It would be interesting to know what each rim weighs, bare (tyre weight variance can be significant between manufacturers, even before you think about size).

I like the look of the 17" better than the 16" though.

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