LS Mesh Refinishing

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awptickes

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I got some super ugly looking LS Mesh wheels a while back.

A few weeks ago I sanded them smooth, got most of the crusty paint off, then sprayed them black gloss.

Tonight I had some time, so I sanded the face surfaces to get them looking the way I want.

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I ran out of time, so the lip isn't fully done, but it'll get done.

I'll keep updating as I do more.
 
I did more sanding, and I think it looks decent enough with 120grit on my random orbital sander. I had to step it down to 120 from 220 because it just didn't look right with the 220. I used a 120 grit wheel in the drill to get into the center of the wheel, because in an air-tool it was removing too much material too quickly no matter what I regulated the air pressure down to.

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After I was happy with how that one looked, I did another.
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Then, I got some clear coat together (make sure it's compatible with whatever paint you used) and laid it down, REALLY THICK. Like, I think I put four thick coats on, to make sure it wetted everything and flowed well. It looks pretty good in the daylight, and I'm going to let these cure for a couple days in my 120F garage loft.

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The really cool part about doing this style of paint/sanding/clear is that touch ups are super easy. Just sand out the spot you need to fix, lay new paint down on that spot, sand up to about 400 grit, then lay clear down on top feathering it across the rest of the wheel.

More to follow.
 
Popped the old tires off, I'm gonna start on the other two tonight if everything goes right.

Going to start with a brass wire wheel to get as much crud off as I can, then smooth it out with 120 grit sanding. Then, I'll lay down some thin coats of black gloss enamel paint, and sand them on just the face surfaces like I did before.

Here's what I'm working with to begin:
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Got them finished up.

Sand everything off you can, then spray as light of a coat of black as you can, but remember, the thicker the black coat the more to you have for mistakes.

I kept forgetting to take pictures, but here's what I have of this process.
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And finally, all four together with clear on 'em. They're going to cure in my garage loft over the weekend, its currently like 124°F up there, so they'll be nice and done by the middle of the week when I get time to mount the tires.

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