hey guys chrisfix here and today I'm
going to show you how to repair
scratches and curb rush as well as paint
your wheels to fully restore your wheels
I recently purchased this Jaguar x-type
and I don't know about you but I don't
think these wheels look good on this car
and not only do I not like the wheels
but my dad doesn't like to look at the
wheels either and I got this car for him
so I picked up a set of 10 spoke Jaguar
wheels from my local junkyard and if you
take a look they're really inexpensive
because there's all chips
there's curb rash there's a bunch of
scratches and just they're all messed up
but that's okay because I'm going to
show you how to restore them in previous
videos I showed you how to sand down
scratches from aluminum wheels and paint
steel wheels I asked you guys to send me
before-and-after pictures on my Facebook
and Instagram if you filed the video and
painted your wheels and check out these
submissions it's amazing what a little
bit of sandpaper and paint could do now
in this video we're going to be
restoring these wheels using a new
method since we have a lot of deep
scratches like this one trying to send
this away is going to create a divot in
this flat surface and you're going to be
able to see it Plus these wheels have a
lot of bad curb rash all over most of
the rim so sanding this down isn't even
an option so instead what we're going to
do is use this bondo metal reinforced
filler to fill the scratches deep gouges
and curb rash and just to show you what
it will look like these damaged wheels
will go from this to this and the car is
going to go from looking like this to
this and the best part is you could do
this at home inexpensively with basic
tools this is pretty much everything you
need we have some sandpaper soapy water
we have the body filler and then we have
spray paint and that's all it takes and
I'm going to list these products in the
description so you can easily find what
you need to restore your wheels to
brand-new condition and the entire
process is very simple with four easy
steps first we're going to clean the
wheels with soapy water second we're
going to use filler to fill any deep
scratches or curb rash third we're going
to sand the entire wheel smooth and
fourth we're going to paint the wheel so
let's begin for step 1 the first thing
we want to do is remove the wheel
weights and just pop it off with a
flathead screwdriver and we want to
remove the tire stem so grab your
Clippers and flip the wheel around so
you can cut the stem from the inside of
the wheel and once it's cut stand on the
wheel and pull it out with the pliers
now that the wheel weight entire stem
are removed we could decrease the wheel
and all I'm using is some soapy water
and a
the soapy water is dish soap and warm
water because warm water dissolves dirt
better than cold water and if you can't
get the wheel clean with just a towel
you could use a piece of scotch brite or
an abrasive end of a sponge to help get
the wheel clean and make sure you clean
the whole wheel even if you're not
painting behind the spokes because if
you're handling the wheel and you touch
grease somewhere and then spread it
around it could mess up your body filler
or paint work later on besides using
soapy water brick clean also works well
for removing that tough grease all right
so this is getting nice and clean and
take your time with this because prep
for body filler and paint is the most
important part since the filler and
paint won't stick to a dirty surface now
dry the wheels and let's move on to step
two for step two we're going to be using
our metal reinforced filler to fill in
any scratches any curb rash any deep
gouges in our wheel but before we use
our metal reinforce filler we're going
to have to sand down the surface of the
wheel but before we even do that
get your safety glasses on for eye
protection and get a dust mask on
because we're going to be sanding
everything down you don't want to
breathe that in now we're going to be
using 80 grit sandpaper and then 320
grit sandpaper we are jumping a little
bit from 80 to 320 but I'll show you why
so when you're talking about sanding
grits on sandpaper the higher the number
the more fine the sandpaper is so the
less aggressive it is so 80 grit is
going to be really aggressive you're
going to remove a lot of material with
this and create deep scratches the 320
grit is less aggressive and it's going
to create smaller scratches now we're
starting with 80 grit because we want
something that the filler could grab
onto and really adhere to plus we want
to clean out all the scratches and all
the grooves and all the curb rash and
smooth them down just a little bit so
let's go get started on that only use
the 80 grit sandpaper on the damaged
areas that you're going to fill with
body filler and stand that area down to
bare metal on the rim there's some dark
spots on the curb rash and that's dirt
you want to clean using your sandpaper
but if you have one of these rotary
tools with the wire wheel on it that
makes cleaning the curb rash out a lot
easier and a lot faster now I just
wanted to show you that the rotary tool
will save you some time but not
everybody has one so I'll be using
sandpaper now finish sanding down any
areas that are going to get filled with
body filler and make sure you get down
to bare metal and when the curb brush
and scratches aren't deep you can just
send them away like
and now this is nice and smooth and
doesn't need any body filler all right
so after you sand down all the damage
there's going to be a lot of dust so use
a leaf blower or compressed air to blow
the dust away now we're almost ready to
use our metal reinforced filler next
step before the filler is to wipe the
whole wheel down using rubbing alcohol
you want to get this as clean as
possible once you're able to wipe down
the wheel with a clean towel and not
pick up any dirt just like this we're
ready to apply our body filler now we're
coming to the part where we're going to
mix our metal reinforced filler so with
this filler there is also a hardener
here and you have to get a correct ratio
I'm going to show you how to do that
right now it's really easy now before we
open up our can of filler you want to
get something that you're going to mix
the filler on you can't mix it on
something porous like cardboard so I'm
going to actually wrap this piece of
cardboard with some parchment paper and
you don't want to use something porous
because we have to add this hardener
which is a liquid and if you get any of
that hardener into the porous cardboard
then you're going to have an incorrect
ratio and it's not going to harden right
so use something like glass metal
plastic anything non-porous and before
you begin doing anything make sure you
read the instructions and you have
everything ready when we pour the bondo
out a 3-inch diameter circle that's half
an inch thick we'll take 35 drops of
hardener now we can open it up and the
lids going to come in handy because our
lid is three inches in diameter which is
what the directions said to use for
measuring the correct ratio of filler to
hardener and you really don't need too
much of this stuff you can see this is
about half the lid and a half inch high
so since we use half of the three inch
diameter lid we don't need all 35 drops
we need half of that so we're going to
use 18 drops and once you add the
hardener you have about five minutes to
work with the bondo until it gets rock
solid 16 17 18 okay so now we need to
mix the hardener thoroughly and there's
a method where you need the hardener
into the bondo so you don't introduce
air into the mixture so you're going to
take your squeegee and roll it over
collect the bondo and smooth it out
collect it and smooth it out and quickly
repeat this process for about 20 seconds
to make sure you distribute the hardener
completely and I know mixing filler and
hardener could be intimidating but this
is simple the bondo is very forgiving
and although you want to strive for
accuracy if the ratio is a little bit
off it'll still harden and you'll still
get great results so definitely don't be
intimidated
this we don't have a lot of time to work
with so let's go get this on the wheel
we'll fix that damaged area right there
first and what you want to do is you
want to use a lot of pressure and force
that bondo into the damage this squeezes
out any air and gets the filler deep
into the damage then you could build up
the filler I'm actually going to be
using my fingers to shape it and smooth
it out and make sure you build it up
because you could always send it down
later on and just try to build the bondo
in the shape of the rim just like that
and again for this car brush I'm going
to force the bondo into the damage and
then build it up following the shape of
the rim and would you look at that for
any flat areas you could use the
squeegee but don't make a mess which is
exactly what I'm doing
try to keep the bondo only in the
damaged area or it's going to take more
work to remove it later and that's all
there is to it it's like playing with
play-doh or sculpting pottery you almost
feel like an artist doing this but I
guess bodywork is a form of art work so
perfect step 2 of using the metal
reinforced body filler to fill all the
little scratches on the surface here is
done
so the next step is going to be sanding
this down but we have to let this dry
for about 20 minutes before we start
sanding so it's been about 20 minutes
and this is completely dry now we want
to grab our 80 grit and I actually have
it on a sanding block so it's nice and
flat because we're going to be doing
these flat surfaces here this is where
we had that deep groove and all you do
is sand it down until it's even with the
rest of the wheel when you run your
finger over the area there should be no
lip and it should feel smooth like this
good now I'm going around sanding any
spots that use the filler and I'm making
it even with the rest of the wheel
alright so all our surfaces here are
nice and smooth they're all feathered in
you can see where that gouge was that's
nice and smooth I can't even feel it
with my finger now all we have to do is
work on standing the rim and then we're
ready for paint
now with the rim we're not going to be
using a sanding block because it's a
curved surface so we're just going to be
using a piece of sandpaper that we're
going to bend around the rim and just
glide that sandpaper over the entire rim
and don't focus on one spot when you're
almost done feel around for any bumps
and when you feel one sand it down until
it's smooth
now this is turning out amazing you can
see the rim here with all the spots
filled in by the bondo that gray right
there used to be little indentations all
curb rash but now it's nice and smooth I
can't even feel it with my finger if I
close my eyes and try to feel that it
feels smooth which is perfect our
indentation over here you can see it
because it's filled by the bondo again
close my eyes I can't even feel it
perfect so that was with our 80 grit now
we're going to go jump to 320 grit and
then we're going to spray it with primer
so we're almost done with step 3 so now
we want to sand down the whole wheel
with our 320 grit we just want to get
rid of any of those 80 grit scratches
and just make the wheel a lot smoother
than it is right now now you don't have
to get the surface perfectly smooth with
this 320 grit we're just trying to cut
down any of the really deep scratches
from the 80 grit the reason why we don't
have to get a perfect is because our
primer is a primer filler so it's going
to fill those 80 grit scratches for the
most part so just focus on getting out
the deeper ones and then we're ready to
paint okay we're done with the 320 grit
now we want to wipe the wheel down and
make sure you clean the wheel thoroughly
before we move to the last step where we
paint there's something called glazing
and spot putty which is probably
overkill for a wheel but I want to show
you quickly what it does it's like a
skim coat all you have to do is apply a
thin layer over any minor imperfections
that you see and then 30 minutes later
sand it down with 320 grit until smooth
and you can see how the putty fills the
small scratches and imperfections now
you can hit the wheel with some air and
wipe down the wheel one last time with
alcohol and now we're ready for our last
step step 4 where we're going to paint
the wheel we'll be using this gray
primer filler which we'll be filling any
small imperfections and it also Prime's
the surface of the wheel for our silver
paint after the primer we'll use a color
base coat after the color base coat
we'll use a clear coat now I'm going to
be painting both the face of the wheel
as well as the back of the wheel but I'm
not going to show you painting the back
of the wheel because it's the same
process so let's start with this primer
now for the first coat you want a light
coat so don't worry about covering the
full wheel make sure you start spraying
away from the wheel and then move across
the wheel and then stop spraying away
from the wheel this will give you a
better paint finish and that's coat one
now give it a few minutes and now we get
sprayed coat to coat to could be thicker
and cover more of the
wiill and make sure you're moving around
the wheel and spraying at different
angles to get complete coverage now we
can let this dry for a few minutes and
we're on the coat three our last coat
with this coat we want complete coverage
so make sure you don't leave any bare
metal also make sure to move around the
wheel again to get at different angles
and this is looking great now we have to
wait for this to dry for about an hour
before we sand it down as you wait for
it to dry go work on the other wheels
now about an hour later actually waited
an hour and a half the primer is
completely dried and we're going to sand
it with 600 grit sandpaper we're not
going to wet sand normally when you're
at 600 grit you want to wet sand it but
I don't want to get any water on here
and you want to make sure that this is
completely dry when you paint it so
we're going to do a light stand of 600
grit remember if your sandpaper gets
caked up just flick it with your finger
and what you want to do is you want to
just get the whole surface smooth and
send it down with that 600 grit which
will make it ready for paint good now
what you want to do is you just want to
feel around and feel for any areas that
are still a little rough anything that
you might have missed and you also want
to look for anything that has indents
scratches because anything that you
could visually see right now is going to
show up in paint and this is looking
great the reason why you use your 600
grit to sand down the primer is because
the primer leaves like a rough texture
on the surface because it builds up into
those scratches and you just want to get
that smooth so that you don't see that
in your paint work but this is looking
good
now get your lint-free towel and some of
that alcohol you're using before and
we're going to wipe down this wheel
before paint now we're going to be doing
our color coat I'm using a Ford silver
metallic which is going to match our
factory color pretty closely if you want
a silver wheel this is a really nice
color has a little bit of a metallic
flake to it and whenever you're using a
metallic paint make sure you shake it
out real good with metallic paint runs
show up really easily so you want to do
light coats and do multiple coats don't
worry about complete coverage light
coats is going to give you the best
result when you're spraying the flat
surfaces are easy to get to but make
sure you focus some of the spray into
the tight areas between the spokes also
don't forget about doing the rim so
about five minutes later we'll spray on
our third coat and that's going to be
our final coat because this is looking
great check this out after three layers
of base coat the silver metallic this
wheel is looking amazing I am so excited
to put this on the Jaguar but we can't
do that just yet we have to let this dry
for about 30 minutes and then we're
going to use some clear coat and steel
this base coat in so it lasts a good
long time and it's clear coat time so
we're using a special clear coat
specifically made for wheels for the
first layer you just want a light coat
don't make it thick and this clear coat
is resistant to the acidity of the brake
dust as well as chip resistant for all
the rocks and stuff that might kick up
and heat resistant again make sure you
walk around the wheel and cover the
entire wheel with clear coat and then
the third layer is going to be your
thickest layer you don't want the drip
you don't want to run but you want it
thicker so there's less orange peel and
it looks good and we are done
that was our final coat and we'll let it
dry for at least an hour alright I am
excited check this out our wheel is all
done it's been an hour it's nice and dry
now if I were you I'd wait a day or two
before you take this to a tire shop just
so you can let that paint really harden
and cure but with the power of editing
look at that and something I also got at
the junkyard it's one of these Jaguar
center caps and that just gets popped
right in just like that now this wheel
looks
official check that out now let's go put
it on this car I'm pumped to see this so
here's our before and check out this
transformation holy smokes
these stock wheels look so much better
on this Jaguar and the best part is I
fixed them I restored them myself to
like-new condition and you could do the
same and that's just a feeling you can't
beat and that's how you restore your
wheels using metal reinforced filler
hopefully this video is helpful and if
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all the products I used in this video
are linked in the description so you
could easily find them