BBS RC 090 on e46 and refinishing them, need some help :)

[demo8ii]

Hi guys,

I´m from germany and I´m driving an e46 coupe.
Since I got my drivers licence I wanted some Style 5´s. Now I bought some BBS RC 090´s in pretty rough condition.

First I´d like to know if I can run them on the e46 without doing some bodywork?
The rims are 17x8, ET20.

Then I´m disassembling the rims at the moment, so I can refinish them. The nuts and bolts are off now.
But how to disassemble the center? I hit them with a rubber mallet, but they won´t come off and I don´t want to do damage to them .
Does it help to use a heat gun?

And what about the Bolts and Nuts? They are corroded pretty hard. Is there a way to restore them too, oder should I buy new ones?

I hope that you guys can help me out a bit, I´m doing something like that for the first time . I also can take some pics, if needed...

[selah777]

To get the faces off using a blow torch might help. Need to use a little more force than a rubber mallet though.
As far as hardware goes, you can clean them using something like CLR but it is a pain.
Most people would just buy new hardware if it is corroded pretty bad.

[Dangerwillrbnsn]

Place a block of wood across the face of the wheel, not touching the lip (obviously), and whack the hell out of it with a 5lb sledge.

As for the hardware, if it's badly corroded and you're doing it on the cheap - use some jewelry cleaner and soak them for a day. When they come out of that, they will be clean and you can see if they're pitted. If, after the jewelry cleaner you find them in decent condition, sand them down and paint them up in your choice of colors.

[demo8ii]

Thanks guys, faces are off now...heated them and then used the block of wood and the rubber mallet. Worked very well !
Just wonderd a littel, cause there was no sealing between face and lip, thought there was a sealing in between?!
Maybe I´m going to try that jewelry cleaner, doesn´t sound that bad. Having a look on that in the next days...

[Dangerwillrbnsn]

There is no sealant between the face and the lip/barrel. Jewelry cleaner works AWESOME.

[roof_rack]

Take a 10 mm 12 point socket, take all the bolts off the back.

Buy a metal tap set, and a finishing hammer. tap the screws out. Heating them up with a heat gun will help aswell because aluminum expands much faster than stainless steal.

To get the face out, hit the front of it with a rubber mallet. It doesnt take a very high IQ to figure out which side to bang...IF you cannot get them apart, be very careful and put the wheel in a container of boiling water. put it in so the face is out of the water, and about 3 inches or so of the barrel are in the water, NOT the side with the face. keep an eye on the wheel, touch the side of it, wait till it is hot, but do not let the face heat up.

The idea behind this is to let the barrel expand, but not the face. this should drastically reduce the amount of effort needed to get the wheels apart.

the faces should pop right out though, I am refinishing a set right now aswell, only had to do this for one of them.

PB Blaster is your friend aswell.

If you are going for polished lips, do paint stripper on the lips, and then wet sand with 400 grit, 1000 grit, and 2000 grit, then obviously polishing compound. You may have to use lower grit on heavily corroded areas, but be weary that it does cut the aluminum pretty deep and will require quite a bit of wet sanding to get it smooth again. Depending on the roughness of the wheels, you may have to add in 600, 800, etc.

Good luck man!

cheers

[G535]

I wouldnt skip the 600 or 800 grit as you'd have quite a hard time with the 1000 grit right after 400. If they're not too damaged i'd start with 600.

As for the bolts: you can also put them in citric acid overnight - works great.

[roof_rack]

Here are mine, 400 --> 1000 --> 2000 --> Polishing Compound

Top is after polish, bottom is after 2000. this is all by hand aswell.



Really depends on the roughness of the wheel though, mine were in very good shape. like i said, fill in the 600 or 800 depending on the roughness.

Shitty cell phone pic, but you can see it is a mirror like finish.




Edit -

For the bolts, youre gonna want to let them sit overnight in some acetone first, or some other kind of solvent. this will break up all the oil, grease, and dirt. Acid does not work well with grease and dirt and oil on there. after they sit in the acetone for a day or so, take them out and just get any loose clear coat off with a paper towel, then put them in some citric acid, or vinegar. the stronger the acid the better.

[demo8ii]

Hi guys,
had some trouble with my car and had to sell it...

So the rims had to stay down in the cellar for almost a year now.
In december I went for a nice e34 and now the rims are finally in progress again !

The bolts were done in zinc-nickel, no more corrosion here.
The centers and lips are back from coating now too and I think they look awesome.

But now I once again need your help. I´m having trouble with the assembly...
As hard as they didn´t want to split, they now don´t want to get fixed together.

What kind of tricks can I use to get the centers right in place and to make sure there is no more space between the faces? Should I use heat again? Don´t want to smack in the freshly coated centers using a hammer.

Using the bolts and nuts to get the centers in doesn´t work, looks like it needs more force to do it ...