108 alloys rebuild

[Oscar50]

I recently managed to obtain a bargain priced set of 108 alloys, and after many days of paint stripping goodness how many layers of paint they are in a good position to start the re painting process.
My question is do the mating faces of the barrel and star remain unpainted on re assembly? When I stripped them they had a layer of thick black paint on them which made the separation process quick tricky.
Many thanks.

 

[raymond.harper]

You are a brave man! Not an easy task, so far I have refurbished two wheels and just painted the mating surfaces. Tyres were placed and there was no problem with balancing. Any problem would have shown up then I think. The picture is of a factory-painted insert.

 

[Oscar50]

Brave or stupid!! So what did you paint the mating surfaces with?

 

[raymond.harper]

I used a normal spray can paint, titanium silver for the insert, and a darker colour for the rim, As I said, with the tyres fitted it was possible to balance the wheel. The fitter said both rims ran true before the tyres were fitted.

 

[9designs]

All the surfaces would be painted as one, raw aluminium would corrode and weld them together otherwise. As long as all the old paint is removed and one layer is there shouldn't be too thick. I'd be concerned that "normal" spray paint wouldn't last long. Did you etch prime first to create a bond?
The cost in refurb is the splitting, cleaning threads and bolts and repairing any broken bolts and the reassembly, doing all that yourself saves a lot, but I'd have dropped the stripped down parts to wheel refurb place for chemical clean and repaint through the paint oven.

 

[raymond.harper]

Two rims have been sandblasted and then painted with etch primer before a final coat. I avoided putting multiple layers on the fitting surface and placed bolts in the holes to stop paint from going down them. The other two I intend to be chemically stripped but it is a very time-consuming process. Four broken bolts on one rim were a real challenge. You can see the layer of paint and corrosion on the centre section. But the dead blow hammer was a revelation!

 

[Oscar50]

That's great thanks, not started paint process just yet but they will be etched primed and probably followed by a standard primer.
Thank you for pictures as they look very much like mine once split, with mallet and block of wood! That white layer on the star rim was what I was concerned about but seems to be lifting OK.
4 wheels 80 bolts, 79 removed with ease, last one rounded, not a bad average I guess.