DIY Refurbished: RH Alurad Toplines for my W202
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Joined: Jun 2007
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From: Germantown, MD
2007 SLK55 P30
DIY Refurbished: RH Alurad Toplines for my W202
Found these on craigslist for $100 for all 4. Wheel lips had peeling clear coat, corrosion and curbing. I spent $50 on materials and went to work... Note: I have never done anything like this before.
First, I masked up the wheel faces and used an aerosol paint stripper to remove all the clear coat from the lips. Then I sanded down the corrosion and curbing starting with 60 grit. I found that spraying penetrating oil helped with the corrosion. After removing the corrosion and leveling the curbs, I dry sanded with 120 and 320 grits. After that, I wet sanded with 400, 600, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grits. I finished the lips off with 2 passes by hand with Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish.
Before and After on the wheel lips. The one I polished first had the worst corrosion.
For the wheel faces, I sanded them down with 320 grit and sprayed them with Duplicolor Silver Wheel Coating and clear coat.
All finished with a 65mm center cap I found on ebay.
First, I masked up the wheel faces and used an aerosol paint stripper to remove all the clear coat from the lips. Then I sanded down the corrosion and curbing starting with 60 grit. I found that spraying penetrating oil helped with the corrosion. After removing the corrosion and leveling the curbs, I dry sanded with 120 and 320 grits. After that, I wet sanded with 400, 600, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grits. I finished the lips off with 2 passes by hand with Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish.
Before and After on the wheel lips. The one I polished first had the worst corrosion.
For the wheel faces, I sanded them down with 320 grit and sprayed them with Duplicolor Silver Wheel Coating and clear coat.
All finished with a 65mm center cap I found on ebay.
