Black winter wheels finally going silver

[900000]

Well I had my previous 6J black steel winter wheels for part of one season. They worked a treat but looked lost in the wheel arches. So thanks to a member on here I bought his 215/60 7J steel wheels for this coming winter. The eagle eyed will spot a 7J from a 6J in that these have 18 smaller holes compared to a 6J's bigger 14 holes! Don't ask me why! (For comparison here is a photo of my 6J's on my car - you can see the holes are a LOT bigger)

Yet these wheels were still black... So with a £4,95 can of Autoglym silver paint in hand I started the process this past weekend. Yes, I baulked at the near £300 to have them properly stripped, painted, baked and what not by someone else. They are just winter steel wheels and not some exotic alloy wheel! So this will do for now.

First I had to wash them properly and then cleaned them with some T-cut. But since they only had a meagre 100miles on the clock there was not much cleaning needed thankfully. Nor any repairing as they are in mint condition.

Next I took the valves out so they were completely deflated allowing me to push the newspaper in securely around the perimeter. I tore bits of paper into double layered bits with the folded end going in first by pressing down in the area with one foot and feeding the paper in. Then you go around doing the rest sticking them down on both sides with masking tape. Take care when you press down with your foot to not press too hard as you will easily tear the preceding bit of paper. I also covered the valves with masking tape.

Then I went around another time with bigger pieces of newspaper to cover the gaps and stuck this down with sellotape. Note the apt article about winter driving that popped up whilst doing this!

Do this four times and voila your wheels are ready for painting:

And the final result looks something like this:

I did all four but then ran out of paint! Doh. Halfrauds did not stock Autoglym paint so I had to order from eBay again and will hopefully finish the job this coming weekend. I will post the results as soon as they are done and I've fitted the winter wheels to my car. At the moment it is WAY too warm in London to do that just yet. So they are back on their tyre tree in the garden studio.

For some more tips and to see how someone else did it look at this blog: http://chrishowells.co.uk/?page_id=252

[And yes I know the weights are still on the wheels and they will be black under them come changing tyre time, but that being years away I'll deal with that as and when!]

[My_Yeti]

Like that! I prefer silver wheels!

I know its not the same car, but silver ones look better!

[900000]

Like that! I prefer silver wheels!

I know its not the same car, but silver ones look better!

I have another image from that same car and same website I normally show to indicate what I want!!! You would have seen this image in plenty of my previous threads on winter tyres before:

I like that simple look as well.

[CFB]

So what are you going to do with the 6J's

Selling?

With tyres or without?

How much?

Am I interested? Quite possibly

[900000]

So what are you going to do with the 6J's

Selling?

With tyres or without?

How much?

Am I interested? Quite possibly

Awh sorry....... the 6Js were sold to another member on here a few months ago! Sorry.

[CFB]

In the immortal words of James May... "C*ck!"

[domhnall]

I have a set of 6js here.......

[CFB]

shame i didn't know 2 weeks ago, i was up in scotland.

how much are you looking for and any idea about shipping costs to hertfordshire?

[900000]

shame i didn't know 2 weeks ago, i was up in scotland.

how much are you looking for and any idea about shipping costs to hertfordshire?

Merlinsfriend bought mine and he sourced a courier company to collect from mine... So speak to him. There are plenty of services online that will quote for what you want and then you just pick the best offer.

[oldstan]

Merlinsfriend bought mine and he sourced a courier company to collect from mine... So speak to him. There are plenty of services online that will quote for what you want and then you just pick the best offer.

Parcel2go.com

http://www.parcel2go.com/?gclid=CLKWoveMhqwCFcod4Qodz1QF_g

[g6zru]

Parcel2go.com

http://www.parcel2go.com/?gclid=CLKWoveMhqwCFcod4Qodz1QF_g

This might also help; http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-parcel-delivery

Fred

[domhnall]

shame i didn't know 2 weeks ago, i was up in scotland.

how much are you looking for and any idea about shipping costs to hertfordshire?

and I was in Hertfordshire yesterday - but I was flying there and back with Mr Easyjet

I was thinking of £25 a corner. Not had time to check out all the courier options. There was a Brisky member locally looking for these but he's not come back to me. If I don't hear from him by the end of the week do you want me to check out courier prices?

[900000]

Finally finished the process this past weekend. I decided to protect them with a clear lacquer last weekend and as I did not order this beforehand on eBay I had to buy what Halfords had. Their own brand. Thankfully I tested it on something else and it was a disaster! Huge splodges of paint coming out that refused to spray evenly. So bit the bullet and ordered some Wurth lacquer from eBay after reading some good reviews online.

Two layers of lacquer this past weekend and they were done.

Then I had to do the centre caps. I tried sticking my badges to them with Evo Stick like Rockhopper did but my badges were so cheap and nasty (I suspect) that the Evo Stick went through their backing and showed up (as a VW badge!!) through the front. Awful.

So a plan B was needed which is a variation on ejstubbs's excellent suggestion in this thread. I'm not sure why you took your alloy wheel centre's backs off and glued them ejstubbs? They have tabs and if you cut the hole in the Caddy caps the right size they clip through and sit there VERY sturdily and will never fall out. I bought the exact alloy centres that ejstubbs suggested at £8,99 for four from eBay.

Here is the process I went through.

First drill a hole through the centre so that you can get the jigsaw in to cut the middle out. Then mark the outline of the alloy centre caps with a marker pen:

Cut a big rough hole in the middle and then carefully go around the edge up to your marker pen line:

Sand the edges to get rid of the excess plastic:

You will then end up with this:

Through that you clip the alloy centre caps carefully. You might need to sand a bit more here and there or recut to get it the exact size:

The end result from behind looks like this. You can see the four clips of the caps having engadged into the main cap:

Job done!

I have not fitted the wheels to my car but here is a wheel with a cap:

They look MILES AND MILES better than the all black affairs I have to say. I can't wait to put them on. Sad I know!

[servicepoint]

They look very smart.

Slightly off topic Johann, in preparation for getting a SM I picked up 4 Skoda steel wheels 16'' 7J and went with the 215 60 tyres. Once these were put together I was surprised at how big they are, a fair difference from the 205 55 16 side by side, it was then I looked back at your picture with this size on your SM, there doesn't appear to be much clearance around the rear arches, I'm thinking of snow and the chances of it accumulating in the arch and freezing etc.

[Peter a Proud Yorkshireman]

Hi Johann

Yep they do look miles better and all we need now is some cold weather.

You have done a great job on them perhaps you could do it as a sideline!

Heated windscreen got first go this morning and quickly cleared some fairly thick frost which had neighbour scraping earlier.

Heated wing mirrors did not clear very quickly. They produced loads of steam around the covers but did not clear the glass as soon as on my ex Octavia or the veteran Fabia.

Cheers

Peter

[900000]

They look very smart.

Slightly off topic Johann, in preparation for getting a SM I picked up 4 Skoda steel wheels 16'' 7J and went with the 215 60 tyres. Once these were put together I was surprised at how big they are, a fair difference from the 205 55 16 side by side, it was then I looked back at your picture with this size on your SM, there doesn't appear to be much clearance around the rear arches, I'm thinking of snow and the chances of it accumulating in the arch and freezing etc.

Thanks.

I've not had these on but have seen them on Rockhopper's. A few other people have also had this size of winter tyre last season. None of them reported any issues with clearing around the arches. This is a Škoda approved size by the way.

[BossFox]

Heated windscreen got first go this morning and quickly cleared some fairly thick frost which had neighbour scraping earlier.

You've got frost already?

We've only had a bit of damp on the outside of the windscreen so far.

Mind you, my winter tyres (for the Fabia) are still on the way.

[Peter a Proud Yorkshireman]

Hi Johann

Yep they do look miles better and all we need now is some cold weather!

done a great job on them perhaps you could offer this service to others as a sideline.

Heated windscreen got first go this morning and quickly cleared some fairly thick frost which had neighbour scraping earlier.

Heated wing mirrors did not clear very quickly. They steamed but did not clear the glass as soon as on my ex Octavia or the veteran Fabia.

Cheers

Peter

PS Just been out to look at clearance at rear on my Moons and winters and looks fine 3 inches from mudflap and nearer 4 inches from back of arch

[Kenny R]

Another question for Johann. Do the centre caps fit with a locking wheel bolt fitted ?

[900000]

Another question for Johann. Do the centre caps fit with a locking wheel bolt fitted ?

This was also one of my concerns before I got the caps. Yes they fit perfectly over the standard Å koda locking nuts.

[Kenny R]

This was also one of my concerns before I got the caps. Yes they fit perfectly over the standard Škoda locking nuts.

Thanks, should get my centre caps today, TPS only had one in stock, had to order them in.

[rockhopper]

Thanks, should get my centre caps today, TPS only had one in stock, had to order them in.

How much TPS charge?

[Kenny R]

How much TPS charge?

£6.10 each

[jeep]

Looks smart, think I will do mine also, I have the T5 caps that hide the wheel nuts, but making a mounting hole/or even fixing differently for the Skoda badges should not be a problem. It is still too warm to fit the winters yet so it seems like a reasonable project for the next few days.

[domhnall]

Looks smart, think I will do mine also, I have the T5 caps that hide the wheel nuts, but making a mounting hole/or even fixing differently for the Skoda badges should not be a problem. It is still too warm to fit the winters yet so it seems like a reasonable project for the next few days.

+ 1 here this evening when I got back from tropical west London, definitely winter tyre weather