Style 5 refinishing

[ayoDMO]

So I received my Style 5 wheels on Friday and figured I'd take the easy route to just get them professionally refinished. I emailed a few places and they are all charging a shit ton of money from where I live, SO I went on instinct and decided to give it a shot and do it myself. I worked on two of the wheels today and it took me 7 hours to polish the lips. I am actually satisfied with myself on how they came out and I can't wait to do the other two throughout the week. I will however get the centers powder coated professionally, unless someone can show me a DIY thread of doing it myself.

Enjoy the progress! I'll post better quality pictures towards the grand finale

Blackberry Quality -_-
http://i47.tinypic.com/34xnyog.jpg

These pictures do no justice to how they actually look, but people love pictures lol

http://i45.tinypic.com/flhocg.jpg

[pbonsalb]

You can read a few DIYs here. What I did was disassembly, then stripping and cleaning, then some filing on a little curb rash, then some sanding and polishing on the lips, then reassembly, then final polishing on the lips, then cleaning with pre-powdercoat cleaner, then clearcoating of the entire outer surface of the lip and center.

I did clearcoat the backside since I had disturbed all the nuts and wanted to protect them from the elements that will cause corrosion over time. I did not re-clear the area the tire covers except the edges that I had disturbed while stripping.

My centers were in pretty good shape so I did not re-powdercoat them in color. I just re-clearcoated over.

Came out pretty good. Still look good 2 years later.

We did all this in a converted household electric oven (modified a little) using an Eastwod powdercoating kit. The old stove was free and the powdercoater about $200 (deluxe model). Already had the compressor, but did buy a new filter. The prep materials from Eastwood do add up in cost -- cleaners and paint.

Clearcoating the polished surfaces does reduce the shine a little. But I don't want to polish my wheels every few months. The kids who do the quickie polish job will end up back in the same place again when they get lazy in a year and stop polishing, and have to do the job over again because the bolt heads and nuts and seam between the center and lip are not protected. That method would work for an occasionally driven car that is garage kept, does not see rain or snow, and gets regular cleanings. I happily gave up a little of the polished beauty. Use a gloss not satin clear coat to bring out as much shine as possible.

It takes time, which is why shops charge a lot. They have overhead as well. Figure on about $200 per wheel.

Some people send their bolts and nuts out to get zinc or other plated. There is some info on this that you can search for. New ones are several hundred dollars for a set. The plating can be as little as about $75 for a set. I did not do this. Do not over polish or sand or wire brush your nuts and bolts or you will remove the finish and they will corrode sooner.

[bimmerrob10]

yeah i have to refinish my bbs 724,s really not looking forward to it ...lol

i havnt got any quotes yet ... but im thinking my rims are prob all alum. i doubt my lips and barrels are metal like the style 5,s are .. im going to have to do some research on them.....

[ayoDMO]

thanks pbon for all that info. I will most likely get the centers professionally done simply because I don't have time due to work.

And good luck bimmer. I'm sure you can find a DIY thread on it. The internet is everyone's friend. The key thing is just taking your time and not to rush. If you can do that, then you'll be completely fine

[bimmerrob10]

yeah i would really like to get them powder coated bbs gold in the center with a polished lip ...

im a auto painter by trade so , i could paint them in the booth with no problem at all .
its the damn lips i dont want to tackle ..

and id rather have them powder coated instead of base coat, clear coat..

guess ill figure something out this fall

[ayoDMO]

yeah dude the lips are such a bitch. well they aren't really bad, it just takes so much time to do lol. it's quite easy as long as you have a full day to do em

[StayStetti]

That's the easiest part.. Anyways, just gotta get a pattern down. I suggest not fully polishing a wheel at a time, because the polish will eventually get screwed up from dust over time. I sanded each wheel down with the same grit and polished them all at once.

[ayoDMO]

yeah it's all time consuming but it's awesome to say "i refinished them myself" :D

[bimmerrob10]

yeah .. deff going to do mine myself .. not paying someone 200 bucks a rim to powdercoat them ... and thats with me doing all the breaking down of the rims ..


now ive searched for where to get new bolts but to no avil...

anyone know

i have bbs 724,s same as the style 42s

[vaphi100]

May have you covered. I was going to refinish some style 5's as well and this is where I traced new bolts down to.

Since i'm not allowed to post URL's yet bear with this awful excuse for a URL.

www . wokke . de

[bimmerrob10]

yeah problem is none of them bolts look anything like mine ...

there male ends i have female

mine look like a 14 spline center bolt

[pbonsalb]

You don't want to buy new bolts if you are concerned about costs. Have yours plated. There is a link in one of the style 5 refinishing threads from within the last year. Will cost you a fraction of new bolts costs.

[bimmerrob10]

ty ill search

[Yefry]

Ive redone a bunch of style 5's and 19's, Usually I get the bolts recoated in zinc chromate which leaves them with a shiny silver finish...I used a spot I found in PA for $45 for the batch of nuts and bolts but their service and turnaround time was pretty shitty..there is another in texas that costs $55 but I heard was much better!

If your doing the lips yourself you might as well spend some cash to do the centers since the lips are more expensive anyway. I got mine done for $200 here and they came out awesome....


You don't want to buy new bolts if you are concerned about costs. Have yours plated. There is a link in one of the style 5 refinishing threads from within the last year. Will cost you a fraction of new bolts costs.

This is the link I started last year about bolts

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1779225