Cleaning up/Painting SSR Mesh
I did this on the old forum, but I thought I should repost it if anyone is thinking about doing it. This is just how I did it........I did it over one night and morning....about 6 hours all up.
Alright I started with 2 pairs of SSR reverse mesh, 7.5's +2 and 8's -11, the pos set were silver and the other set were black.
1. Doing one rim at a time, I began with taking the rims apart. The bolts are rather tight, so one by one I shocked the bolts with a hammer and a nail punch, which loosens up the bolts making them easy to undo.
2. Once All bolts are removed, the centres will we quite stiff still in the rim, and I found the best way to get them out was to hit around the edges with a mallet in a circular motion which will gradually knock the centre out. Also if you have tyres on the wheel, let all the air out as that puts a little bit more strain on the rim. (I marked the rim with the centre, so I didnt put a different centre on another rim)
3. Now all the centres are out, its the best opportunity to clean the rim without scuffing your knuckles on the mesh. I started with degreasing the inside of the rim where most of the dirt/brake dust builds up. On the outside (dish) mine where in good condition, but I have heard one of the best ways to get the gloss shine back is to sand back with light sandpaper (1000 grit) then work your way up to 2000 grit, this will remove all the stratches etc.
Now with buffing I used a buffing wheel on a drill with some mothers metal polish....I know there is another really good brand out there, someone will know, yellow can?
4. Now dealing with the centres there is a lot of different steps. because I already had a good hard acrylic paint on the mesh already I just had to repaint the centres. I have asked Karl (kid korola) who has done this in depth and could enlighten us. This is my plan when I plan to paint mine in the short future.
-Sandblast the centres to get all of the old paint/grime off the centres, give you a good base to start with. I know there is also bead blasting? This seems to be a more gentle approach which protects the centre.
-A good metal etch primer. This protects the bare metal, and should be done as soon as possible after sand/bead blasting. protects it from erosion and damage to the metal. 2 coats to be safe.
-There are several ways to paint.....if you have gone this far, may as well powdercoat as it is one of the strongest coats you can do. I know dave (ae86) went down this path with his black mesh which had a awesome result. I just used a acrylic spray paint over the existing paint, as I was impatient and just wanted the wheels on my car.
5. Finally once everything was dry I began to put them back together. If you have shitty offset rims you can do the dodgy and flip them, I dont sugest it but it has been done before. I found the best way to do it was gently place the centre in, and began placing the bolts back in 1 by 1 in a circular motion, which eventually pulls the centre back into place. I also brought new bolts and nuts, all together they were just over $100.
This was the end result.
Now after I got all the mega bitches with my hectic rims, I did get them rebalanced a couple of days after I put the wheels on just to be safe. For me, not the bitches....because well they're bitches.
If anyone has anymore suggestions on what could also be done, any better ways....let me know.
Cheers
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