straight6pwr
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Posts posted by straight6pwr
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as to be expected i believe he was running GCs and had the car pretty low. luckily i've never killed a set of rear tires on an e30 from camber wear.
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I did actually lol
He was from Naperville I believe.. This isn't where you tell me that they had 15 bends and 4 hidden cracks, right? lol
Paladin? Nah, they were in really good shape when i sold them. only one spot of curb rash and a little clear-coat peal. Looks like he put some new tires on there which is good.
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while i agree with the spelling, i grew up hearing everyone saying it beeeee mer, not bim mer and i hate when people correct me for it. who cares!
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my car came with those wheesl when I bought it! you didnt pick them up from a guy in illinois did ya?
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edited the first post with some more info. time, and making sure people PM me so I can give out the address.
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i ran a euro plate on my car for a couple years, not even a peep from an officer. but i live in milwaukee, where police have more important things to attend to, like homicide, then bother people for stuff like that.
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I will be buying beer/soda and the brats/hamburgers/other main food items. generally, if people bring some chips, veggies, other side item that would be best.
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i appreciate any food/drinks you guys would bring! looking forward to having nice weather in may.
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love that it looks (and is) hacked together. lots of character!
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he'd better bring it!
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i used the base US versions for those numbers. 190hp e30 m3, 240hp e36 m3, etc.
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yeah this is going to be a good car weekend! i had some work done over at McAdams and they are the guys who organize the event. great guys, so it must be a great event!
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do you wrench on the car at all by yourself? alternator and control arms arent difficult tasks and you could save a butload fixing stuff like that!
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yeah you can get a ticket, but you can also get a ticket for having no front plate, so pick your poison. i ran the euro plate for a couple years, and no plate for the rest of the time and have never been hassled (even when pulled over)
nice work on the front end. whats with the amber fog lights?
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i'd have broken knuckles! the spokes hang out over the lip too much on DS1 wheels (mine) as well as the DS2 pictured spinning. wouldnt dare!
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yeah the oem paint/primer are especially tough to remove. its best to leave it on and just scuff it up before painting. i did my last set with tires on, also makes it more difficult (worth the remounting fee)
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Any color suggestions? I am back to not knowing what color I want... I like a dark grey with metallic, but I dont know what else would look right.
my favorite e30 colors:
sepangbronze - early model with euro bumpers
brilliantrot - late model coupe
alpineweiss - late model sedan
calypsorot - convertible
schwartz - m3
there are so many good bmw colors. as long as you stay away from bronzit, they all can look really good!
some sedan examples:
cirrusblau
[see signature]
delphingray
schwartz
lagunagreen
lapisblau (?)
sterlingsilber
alpineweiss
zinnoberrot
brilliantrot
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i think bmw should just go back to a 6cyl such as the 330hp s54 and get the chassis weight back under 3000 lbs.
here is the power to weight ratios of all m3s over the years:
e30m3: 14 lbs per hp
e36m3: 13 lbs per hp
e46m3: 10 lbs per hp
e92m3: 9 lbs per hp
if the next m3 is 330hp and 3000 lbs it achieves the same power ratio as the e92! but instead they will make it 400+ hp and increase the weight by another 200 lbs again. did you know that the current e92 m3 weighs more than the e34 m5?
unfortunately, the ///M cars are become less about being sports cars and more about having gadgets, driving themselves, and being comfortable.
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After steel wool and cloth:
Now, relish in your mighty ability to turn rough metal into something worthy of Nelly's grill. To protect your awesome work, tape over your polished area with painters tape for the painting.
Do the edge where the paint will meet first, and very carefully
Then do the rest
STEP 4: LET THE AEROSOL FLOW
Now that you have your wheels stripped, and the lip polished, its time for paint.
Start with your clean metal primer on the inside of the wheel. I chose white because silver will cover over white easily. You arent doing body work so you dont need high-contrast. Silver primer would make it hard to see your coverage.
First coat do lightly, concentrating first on getting any hard-to-reach areas like in lug holes, side of spokes, etc.
Second coat lay on heavy
Primed:
Wait for the primer to dry enough to flip it and rest it on the primer. Mine was dry enough for this after a couple hours.
Repeat the process on the front of the wheel.
Face primed:
Make sure to wait the required time before applying your base/clear. The primer I used required 48 hours of dry time before applying any other paint. ITS VERY IMPORTANT AND NOT JUST A SUGGESTION. There are well-educated chemical engineers deciding on the instructions on your cans of paint. I was in no rush to finish my wheels so I used this schedule for painting each wheel:
Day 1: primer back of wheel
Day 2: prime front of wheel
Day 3: base/clear back of wheel
Day 4: base/clear front of wheel
If you are trying to get the wheels done in a more reasonable amount of time so you can start pimping your wheels STAT, you could polish all the wheel lips first, then follow the above schedule but do all 4 wheels at once. You could probably do a set of wheels in a week properly that way.
OK where was I? Oh yeah base/clear:
Make sure there is no dust/debris that found its way onto the surface.
I like to do two light coats followed by a heavy coat for the base. Follow it up immediately with your clear. You can apply many coats (4-7) within the 1 hour typically allotted for spray paint. If you let the base dry, you will have to wait for it to completely cure before doing the clear (7 days or some such crap). For the clear, I usually do one light coat, followed by a heavy coat. Make the heavy coat as heavy as you can without the paint running. That part takes practice, i still screw it up.
Inside with base/clear:
Again, wait for the paint to be a little more than dry to the touch to flip it over. I waited overnight, but a couple hours should suffice.
Face with base/clear:
(IMAGE COMING SOON)
IMPORTANT: Try and remove any masking tape which touches your new paint as soon as possible. You'll have to be super careful (much like playing the board game Operation. BZZZZZT!) to not touch the wet paint, but if you let it dry it may peel away your new paint if you remove it later.
STEP 5: DRINK AND BE MERRY
You've probably f*ed something up, but unlike committing a felony, you can have a do-over so dont sweat it. With this particular set of wheels, I did not follow the proper drying times on the first wheel, so I had to sand down and re-clear the first wheel.
Have a victory beer anyways. (You should have been drinking beer from the get-go, but better late than never)
VICTORY:
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Refinishing alloy wheels DIY by straight6pwr
You are not a professional painter.
You are not using high-quality paint.
If you are unhappy with anything but perfect for your wheels, turn back now.
That being said, you CAN make some really nice wheels all by yourself. They wont be perfect, but damn near. This will be the 3rd set I've refinished, so I'm getting better. This DIY could help you sell your otherwise crappy-looking wheels for more monies! 8)
STEP 1: PREPPING FOR PAINT
In my case, the wheels I started with had many layers of old paint and someone had attempted to start stripping the paint off. The best thing to do in this scenario is to get the wheels media blasted. It will take many, many frustrating hours to get a nice surface with paint stripping, scrapers, sand paper, grinder, etc. I dropped my wheels off at the blaster and had them back in a few days all nice and stripped.
Finish before blasting: (This was the BEST of the 4 wheels. Notice the orange paint layer in the barrel.)
Sand blasted surface:
STEP 2: GATHERING SUPPLIES
What I used-
180 grit sandpaper
300 grit sandpaper
600 grit sandpaper
1000 grit sandpaper
0 coarseness steel wool
aluminum polish
clothes, rags, etc
power drill paint stripper attachment
clean metal primer (3 cans)
duplicolor wheel paint (4 cans)
duplicolor wheel clear (4 cans)
I think I spent about $100 in supplies.
STEP 3: POLISHING THE LIP
If you arent polishing anything, skip this step. But since you are a classy fellow, you probably are.
Basically, you'll work your way from course sand paper to the steel wool and finally a cloth to polish the wheel lips. If the blaster missed any primer (mine did, that bum) take your paint stripped wheel (power tools, huzzah!) and make quick work of it before starting. Also, if your wheel has any curb rash, try grinding it as smooth as possible without taking huge portions of metal off. I used a Dremel to smooth them.
180 - 300 - 600 - 1000 - steel wool with polish - cloth with polish - cloth dry
This is the hardest part of this DIY. Lots of sore shoulder breaks, quitting, etc. To avoid complete muscle failure, I tried to keep my polishing sessions to about an hour a day after work for a couple weeks whenever I had a chance.
After 180 grit:
After 300 grit:
After 600 grit:
After 1000 grit:
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cannot see cost without registering.
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im sorry, but why is this even a debate within your head?! M3!
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that color is one of the best blues ever! glows at night looks dope in day....
wow, this blue looks fantastic!
Dear winter: go screw yourself.
in Members BMWs
Posted
I've decided winter is over. Even though it snowed yesterday, I refuse to wait any longer before at least attempting to come out of winter mode.
Please excuse the general dirtiness of the car, it was not washed and hasnt been waxed since October.
I've put on the summer wheels/tires and cleaned the interior so far, still have many projects to complete once it warms up.
My new, man-sized tires. 215/45 Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs. These will be replaced with 235/40 when they wear out.