How To: Repair curb rash and paint rims

[MP3Performance]

LMAO - Tell me about it, I just painted my rims instead of buying actual ones.

My main reason for painting my wheels is because I love the MP3 rims and do not want to change them. The saving money part is an extra bonus.

BTW, I finished painting the wheels today. It took me 2 whole days of work (damn curbrash and flaking paint (argh) ). I will get them balanced and mounted tomarrow, and get a couple pics up too.

 

[mazdaspeed777]

My main reason for painting my wheels is because I love the MP3 rims and do not want to change them. The saving money part is an extra bonus.

BTW, I finished painting the wheels today. It took me 2 whole days of work (damn curbrash and flaking paint (argh) ). I will get them balanced and mounted tomarrow, and get a couple pics up too.

Yah! Welcome to the club. Can't wait to see the MP3 rims painted, are they the same Racing Hart style as the MSP or are they 8 spoke design that some of the MP3's came with. I want to see what the 5 spoke racing harts look like painted.

 

[MP3Performance]

Here are a few shots of the finished deal:

Pic 1: Before

Pic 2: After

Pic 3: Car after

The tires are still kind of dirty due to the bondo sanding, I will eventually clean it up but I want to let the paint completely dry (like for a week). When I got the wheels balanced today the mother fckrslfhasdlfljhad scratched 2 of the rims (bang), even after telling them they were freshly painted. I went kinda crazy on the salesmen, so they only charged me $15 but did all 4. I had to spend an extra hour touching up the scratches.

I love how it came out . I thinks it makes the whole car seem more "intimidating" and the red breaks match the RB swaybars and springs. I think the MP3 wheels are the hardest to paint (from the P5, regular pro, or MSP) because they have many curves, holes and turns. Make sure to take your time on the bondo part, and sand it down good and smooth. I could have probobly done a litter better on the sanding part, but unless you are 5 in. away from the wheel you cant even tell.

One more thing, these wheels collect dust soooooo fast. I had them in the garage overnight and during the day and they already had dust settle on them (you can see my hand prints on the 2nd pic from puttin the wheel on (shrug) ). BTW the wheels are painted gunmetal, not bronze.

 

[amsgator]

no clear coat huh? it doesnt look like it

 

[MP3Performance]

no clear coat huh? it doesnt look like it

actualy, i put 3 layers of clear coat. just like in the directions 2 light and 1 heavy. I put 3 coats primer all around, 3 layers paint inside the wheel, 4 layers outside, followed by 3 layers of clear. it might not show since it is still dusty, but i can get a better pic after i clean them off in about a week (still very worried about soft paint (poke) ).

EDIT:

Here is a better pic of the "shinyness" from the clear coat. Dont mind the different tires, they are all proxes4 now.

 

[Turtle of Time]

lol i have sad news, the wheel i did manage to spot-fix perfectly (or at least semi-perfectly) is bent and can't be balanced..., the one that was a crap first try fix is semi-bent but still balances okay, so i think i might just get MSP wheels.

 

[mazdaspeed777]

lol i have sad news, the wheel i did manage to spot-fix perfectly (or at least semi-perfectly) is bent and can't be balanced..., the one that was a crap first try fix is semi-bent but still balances okay, so i think i might just get MSP wheels.

LOL! Well scratch the idea of painting those. You were jumping speed bumps wern't you! lol

 

[mazdaspeed777]

Here are a few shots of the finished deal:

Pic 1: Before

Pic 2: After

Pic 3: Car after

The tires are still kind of dirty due to the bondo sanding, I will eventually clean it up but I want to let the paint completely dry (like for a week). When I got the wheels balanced today the mother fckrslfhasdlfljhad scratched 2 of the rims (bang), even after telling them they were freshly painted. I went kinda crazy on the salesmen, so they only charged me $15 but did all 4. I had to spend an extra hour touching up the scratches.

I love how it came out . I thinks it makes the whole car seem more "intimidating" and the red breaks match the RB swaybars and springs. I think the MP3 wheels are the hardest to paint (from the P5, regular pro, or MSP) because they have many curves, holes and turns. Make sure to take your time on the bondo part, and sand it down good and smooth. I could have probobly done a litter better on the sanding part, but unless you are 5 in. away from the wheel you cant even tell.

One more thing, these wheels collect dust soooooo fast. I had them in the garage overnight and during the day and they already had dust settle on them (you can see my hand prints on the 2nd pic from puttin the wheel on (shrug) ). BTW the wheels are painted gunmetal, not bronze.

Great job. Yah I think I didn't balance mine till after a week, so they didn't scratch mine since they were nice and dry. Yah I said before the paint collects alot of dust. I even washed them with a car wash brush and it didn't get all the dirt off, you pretty much have to had wash them to get them perfectly clean. BTW great color choice. Gun spoke grey and bronze look great on blue.

 

[Turtle of Time]

LOL! Well scratch the idea of painting those. You were jumping speed bumps wern't you! lol

I'd actually say they were small scuff's like the dude selling his rims on here...

oh well, the 17 spoke was a pain in the ass to clean.

 

[CulRidr]

Well done MP3Performance, your rims were really bad but now look awesome! I guess the help I provided you is a good return for the help you provided me with my CAI
They look maybe just a tad lighter then mine, but either way that colour is awesome...Now all you need to do is paint your emblems and that final touch is really sweet (I already have the flying M's done...I'm just finishing up with the "mazda" one. As for the calipers, I will be painting mine yellow to accent the MP3 badges...plus it's different from most ppl who paint them red!

 

[MP3Performance]

Well done MP3Performance, your rims were really bad but now look awesome! I guess the help I provided you is a good return for the help you provided me with my CAI
They look maybe just a tad lighter then mine, but either way that colour is awesome...Now all you need to do is paint your emblems and that final touch is really sweet (I already have the flying M's done...I'm just finishing up with the "mazda" one. As for the calipers, I will be painting mine yellow to accent the MP3 badges...plus it's different from most ppl who paint them red!

Yes, thanks a bunch for the pictures you took, they were a big reason I went with gunmetal, and I am very happy how it turned out. How is the CAI anyway? I never found out if you managed to relocate the pcv valve. I am currently looking for a DG style grill, so I might not paint the emblem yet, but then again if I get board I probably will paint it. My next project is to get the DG lip I bought a month ago sanded, painted and installed, but I think I will let a professional take care of that.

Does anyone know where I can get a set of new lug nuts, something in flat black or a dark color?

 

[CulRidr]

No worries, I'll eventually put updated pictures at higher resolution. The CAI with the X-series filter (from K&N) is freaking awesome...and the K&N sticker adds a nice touch. The throttle response is instant, and the sound from it is intoxicating. Haven't bought a clip yet to bolt down the darn thing, but it's not moving anywhere so it's all good for now. I can't wait to see the results of my free-flowing engine by the end of the summer (P&P intake for 125$, a wagner shorty for ~125$, and a custom downpipe/midpipe+highflow cat (need to get an estimate) should get me some pretty nice bump in power for someone who wants to stay N/A (drive2)

Yes, thanks a bunch for the pictures you took, they were a big reason I went with gunmetal, and I am very happy how it turned out. How is the CAI anyway? I never found out if you managed to relocate the pcv valve. I am currently looking for a DG style grill, so I might not paint the emblem yet, but then again if I get board I probably will paint it. My next project is to get the DG lip I bought a month ago sanded, painted and installed, but I think I will let a professional take care of that.

Does anyone know where I can get a set of new lug nuts, something in flat black or a dark color?

 

[mazdaspeed777]

P&P intake for 125$

If your talking about P&P the intake manifold than just do it yourself. Its time consuming but not that hard. There is a good how to on this in the how to section. That way you can save that $125 for more mods like a performance midpipe!

 

[MP3Performance]

No worries, I'll eventually put updated pictures at higher resolution. The CAI with the X-series filter (from K&N) is freaking awesome...and the K&N sticker adds a nice touch. The throttle response is instant, and the sound from it is intoxicating. Haven't bought a clip yet to bolt down the darn thing, but it's not moving anywhere so it's all good for now. I can't wait to see the results of my free-flowing engine by the end of the summer (P&P intake for 125$, a wagner shorty for ~125$, and a custom downpipe/midpipe+highflow cat (need to get an estimate) should get me some pretty nice bump in power for someone who wants to stay N/A (drive2)

Happy to see another N/A MP3 (headbang) . It seems everyone lately has gotten bit by the turbo bug.

I think it will be hard to find a shorty header, especially for 125. The last one I saw went for much more. I dont know how much off the stock emissions you want/have to keep, but you would see a much bigger gain by removing the precat and getting a regular header especial with a new midpipe and downpipe. You will still have a highflow cat so that will let you pass emissions, since the precat is only needed for cold starts.

 

[mazdaspeed777]

(bowdown) N/a Ftw!!!!(bowdown) (first) (nana)

 

[whitemp5seattle]

question: do you think I could paint these rims? or are they beyond repair?

 

[MP3Performance]

question: do you think I could paint these rims? or are they beyond repair?

Definatly can be repainted. That being said it will take a little more than just scuffing the old paint. I would recommend using a drill wire brush with fine brissels (goes alot quiker). Are all four that bad? If so I think you could need about 1.5 to 2 days just to prep all 4. What color you thinking about?

 

[whitemp5seattle]

Definatly can be repainted. That being said it will take a little more than just scuffing the old paint. I would recommend using a drill wire brush with fine brissels (goes alot quiker). Are all four that bad? If so I think you could need about 1.5 to 2 days just to prep all 4. What color you thinking about?

I've always wanted gold/bronze rims...but I'm not man enough to drive around with gold/bronze all year lol. So I might try it out on some stock rims for winter. That way if they suck they'll just get covered by the snow and mud

 

[CulRidr]

Well I'm reconsidering the P&P for now since I'm not sure how much gain I would get for the money (seeing as our VTCS is already removed), but I have already ordered the shorty from a member here for that price; just needs welds...
And I want to stay completely emission compliant, therefore a shorty with a down/midpipe should help a lot with power while still stopping all the crap from coming out of your pipe on cold starts (for those who don't know, the 2nd cat stops NOTHING until it gets warm, which is why there is the "precat"...)

Happy to see another N/A MP3 (headbang) . It seems everyone lately has gotten bit by the turbo bug.

I think it will be hard to find a shorty header, especially for 125. The last one I saw went for much more. I dont know how much off the stock emissions you want/have to keep, but you would see a much bigger gain by removing the precat and getting a regular header especial with a new midpipe and downpipe. You will still have a highflow cat so that will let you pass emissions, since the precat is only needed for cold starts.

 

[mazdaspeed777]

question: do you think I could paint these rims? or are they beyond repair?

Yah definately, just take some rougher sand paper to the corossion areas then use some bondo spot putty on those same areas and paint. and BAM! Bling Bling!