CRX Wheel Repair Curb Rash

Here are the results and instructions on a set of CRX wheels refurbishment I performed recently... I didn't start photos until midway through, so bare with me..

Completed wheels-- note that I was going for nice-looking original-type wheels, not perfect-looking repainted ones. The reason for this is I like a little "patina", and also going easy on the degree of refinishing allows more tolerance of imperfections resulting from my work.

 Original wheel with the most curb rash

Second wheel with some curb rash

So I started by removing tires/weights (tried to remove weights myself but resulted in more damage to wheels). Cleaned wheels with paint thinner, then dawn soap/water, then rinsed. Then I sanded down the high points of the curb rash with 220, used Bondo  glazing and spot putty (not the 2-part) to fill the curb rash; done in the sun in thin layers, ~5-10 min drying time between layers, sanded with 220 between coats, wrapped around an eraser, 'till smooth. When completed, sanded with 320. Blasted with air from compressor between coats. Also sanded the entire ring section (the part that is like 1/2 inch in from the outer ring, shown in pic below), to roughen surface. (sanded only thru clearcoat, not to primer or aluminum); careful not to hit wheel interior as I did; possibly better to do it after masking. Sanded other regions in the "field" of the wheel that were particularly bad, to "feather in" defects. Cleaned again with paint thinner, then dawn, then rinsed. Then masked all but the outer ring. Then started taking pics ;)

Bondo filling wheel rash, and wheel masked.

Here is a region that needed re-painting beyond the outer rim, so i sanded it smooth (to primer, not metal), and left a little hole for the paint to go down into.

Here is another little hole for a defect near edge.

Here are some supplies I used. Bondo Spot, putty knife, filler primer, rustoleum metallic brilliant silver paint. Note that I also tried Duplicolor wheel coating silver, and it was like the exact same color. Indistinguishable.

Then I primed the ring

Painted with the silver paint. Couple of coats; used 0000 steel wool between all coats during painting.

removed mask, and you can see the colors are close, but not perfect match. (the line in the middle of the ring is a shadow; color to compare is edge of ring to spoke.

Better view of color difference. Note scratches I created when sanding rim. Clearcoat takes this right out tho..

Best example of color mismatch-- this is the "hole" for the paint that went down onto the spoke.

I had some other regions of the wheel that needed spot primer/paint, so I created a mask to target only these areas (for primer).

Rim color mismatch

Rim color mismatch

So this may seem crazy, but I wanted that "patina", and did not want to paint over the black stuff that had developed over the years. (Tho i did try very hard to clean it with wheel cleaner, which took off a lot, but I got impatient and did not want to damage/scratch wheel.

Sanded interior spot defects on wheel.

In order to deal with color mismatch, I ended up feathering in the paint from the rim to the top of the spokes. Then I clearcoated essentially the whole wheel. This locks in that black stuff, but I was OK with that to keep that original look. Also hides other defects/makes them not stand out, as I mentioned earlier.

Completed wheels! They look a lot better than when I started, dontcha think? :)