Cleaning/Painting steel wheels - should I remove the wheels?

[BandofBrothers]

Hey everyone,

I've spent the last few days cleaning my new Clio (06 plate 1.5DCI) - inside and out. I just have a little t-cutting to finish on the exterior paint, followed by a final coat of wax.

Today I popped off the plastic wheel trims, to give the wheels quick clean. However, I ended up degreasing, rinsing and hammerite painting them as they were pretty filthy and rusty. Once all the dirt was off, I used a piece of sand paper to get rid of any flaky paint and destroy the rust bubbles etc. They really do look 100x nicer - even if I will barely see them because they are covered with the wheel trim, I know they are somewhat more protected. I used Hammertite direct to rust black paint and brushed it onto the prepared surface nice and thickly.

Now, I am sat here worrying about the "other side" of the wheels (the inside). Would you recommend taking the wheels off one by one and tackling the other sides? I really can't afford to have them properly refurbed at the moment, but can pop to town tomorrow and get another tin of hammerite paint.

If it is worth doing, would I need to do one wheel at a time, and jack up each corner of the vehicle slightly to take the weight off? (noob question - have never jacked up a car before - lol I know......embarrasing)

Many thanks for any help and advice

 

[JCC]

The first thing you should do is stop taking T-Cut near the car, it's not designed for the type of paint you have on it and is doing more damage than good. Check the detailing section for better products to use.

As for the wheels, it's not something I'd do, you can't see the inside of them and they're not going to rot through, but whatever floats your boat.

 

[danielbarton94]

Up to you mate if you want to do it isn't it ? Personally if I was doing this id jack the car up take the wheel off and paint it then just put it back. I'd let it dry while it's on the car just be careful getting paint on everything .

 

[BandofBrothers]

Ah, thanks for the info.

With regards to the t-cutting, I have barely put any on the car so far (I just bought a tube of the new stuff - which is designed for black cars, and says it's okay to use on metallic paint too).

Should I return this new tube as I haven't used it yet.

 

[danielbarton94]

Personally t-cut is fine don't worry about it, not everyone is into detailing .

 

[BandofBrothers]

It's not as if I smother the whole car in the stuff anyway - I was just planning on using it on a few very light scratches, and some stubborn marks that I can't seem to get rid of with cleaning or polishing etc. They are like water marks but I cannot get them off.

 

[danielbarton94]

There is better products on the market by fat , but what your using will do .