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After scrapping the plans to sell my car due to lack of interest, I found myself in need of new wheels because I sold my Tracer Tech 2s. There was only one other set of wheels that I have ever had interest in, Tracer's one and only other wheel design. As luck may have it, there was a set for sale and I scooped them up for an undisclosed price.
The lips were in pretty much mint condition but the powder coat on the face pieces was very faded and chipping on the backside. They were also rebuilt improperly the last time with washers behind each rim bolt, so they needed to be refinished. There are countless build threads out there of this very nature, but this has been my first 3-piece wheel rebuild/refinish so I figured I would share it with everyone in case someone needs something to reference.
Step 1: Dismount Tires and Acquire Proper Tools/Supplies
Have your tires removed at a reputable shop or tire facility. I say reputable because I have had many bad experiences with janky tire machines destroying lips and/or fresh finishes on wheels. Even though you are dismounting to refinish the wheels, save yourself the headache and have them removed by someone/somewhere that you trust. I had mine removed by a friend at a dealership in town. It would also be wise, if applicable, to have each wheel put on a balance machine so you know whether or not a lip or barrel is bent. I could only imagine the frustration of assembling a wheel only to find out it was tweaked. Furthermore, make sure you have all the necessary tools and equipment needed to split the wheels apart.
Don't be alarmed by all of the black goo all over the place, it is just bead sealer that ends up getting everywhere no matter what.
Take note of the type of sealant used between the barrel and lip and get a basic idea of how they were sealed before.
Tools needed:
As sad as it may be, I didn't have any of the aforementioned tools prior to this project so I purchased them all new. Total cost was around $35, the blade kit I found at AutoValue in their bargain bin for $4.99, the rest was fairly reasonable at Northern Tool and Supply. Also, you do not need to have a 32oz rubber mallet, smaller or larger will work just fine but 32oz is the most common and it worked flawlessly. As for the ratchet, I bought one with a rubber handle to reduce the risk of it slipping and hitting the lip of the wheel, and make sure that the extension you use is long enough to clear the lip of the wheel, it makes it much easier, trust me!
Step 2: Mark Each Piece For Future Alignment
Mark each barrel and lip with a number and a line, so each wheel piece stays in its respected place. If you plan on refinishing these pieces, use tape, or something that will allow the wheels to go back together the same way they came apart. Because Tracer Tech 1 faces mount from the back of the wheel and not sandwiched, the alignment of the face/lips/barrels is not quite as important because when re-sealing, they will only require one bead of sealant which you will see later as we move through this. Nonetheless, keep each wheel piece in the right place.
Step 3: Remove Rim Bolts
Remove all the bolts holding the wheels together. On Tracer wheels there are 40 per wheel, so if you have something similar, be prepared to spend a little bit of time on this. You are welcome to use a small impact drill if you'd like, but for the sake of safety and assurance I did them all by hand. According to the date engraved on the back of these wheels, they were manufactured in Germany in 2008, so I have decided to re-use the bolts (new ones would cost upwards of $400). To protect the heads I lined the inside of the 8mm socket with Saran wrap, this prevented metal-metal contact which would have destroyed the polished surface of the bolts.
It would be wise to use more than one layer of Saran wrap, and occasionally move the socket to another spot in the sheet after every few bolts, eventually the Saran wrap will tear and become ineffective. Each bolt head should fit snugly inside of the socket with minimal play.
It would also be wise to immediately put all of the bolts and nuts into some sort of a container if you plan on re-using them.
Step 4: Remove Centers
Once all of the bolts are removed, it is time to start splitting each wheel into three pieces. If you are lucky like me, this won't be as hard it normally is. Depending on the type of wheel (sandwiched face or no sandwiched face) this may take only a few minutes or it could take an additional step or two. For this style of wheel, you should be able to pound the centers down and out with the rubber mallet. However, make sure that you have a soft pad beneath the wheel to catch it when it hits the ground, do NOT do this on concrete, wheel faces are heavy and they WILL be damaged if they hit a hard surface at the right angle. The faces may take a few blows from the mallet before they fall, but once they do you can set them aside.
Step 5: Split Barrels and Lips
Now that the faces are out, the lips and barrels need to be split. The difficulty of this task will depend on how long the wheels have been together, as well as the type of sealant that was used prior to your rebuild. In this case, a flexible silicone sealant was used, and it can be sliced with a razor blade or a craft knife, such as the one that I purchased for this project. Insert the blade into the sealant and slowly work your way around the wheel. I needed to do this about 3-4 times per wheel before I had a clean cut in all areas.
If you cut all of the sealant thoroughly and you still cannot get the pieces apart by hand, use the rubber mallet and pound them apart. Some will use a piece of wood and jam it against the lip or the edge of the barrel and instead hit that with the mallet. Use your own discretion in this step and whatever you feel safe doing, just be careful not to send a piece flying across the room. Also, Tracer wheels have stainless steel lips, so they are far more durable than the more standard aluminum lips, so again, please use your own discretion when pounding them apart.
**If you cannot get the pieces apart with the mallet, heat your oven to 350 degrees and place the lip/barrel combo in the oven for 3-5 minutes. This will soften any stubborn sealant without risking damage to the wheel, again try to split the pieces. Also, WD-40 or some sort of lubricant such as Deep Creep or Permatex can be sprayed into the slice that you have made, softening and loosening the sealant (this method can be very messy).
Step 6: Remove Old Sealant
Once the wheels are split, you will have 12 separate pieces in which you can do whatever you like with! Be sure before any refinishing takes place, that you scrape off any remaining sealant with the craft knife and a scotch pad. This part is time consuming, and also messy!
Step 7: Refinish/Clean Desired Pieces
As I stated before, the lips of these wheels are MINT, so I will not be touching them aside from scraping off the old sealant. Also, the valve stems are still properly sealed and there is no residue around them, so they are staying in as well. However, in your rebuild, if you wish you may take the stems out and replace with new ones, or simply clean the area and install the old ones again.
The centers I brought to a local, yet very reputable powder coating facility, All Pro. I had attempted to remove the old powder coat with industrial aircraft paint remover, but it was simply not working. Luckily, All Pro also acid dips delicate metals if needed. For my wheels they used a combination of both sandblasting and acid dipping to remove the old finish. As far as I'm concerned they are the best in central MN. The color that I chose was a special order made by Prismatic Powders called Dusted Black. It took over a week to make and be shipped, but it was worth it because they turned out AMAZING! I cant wait to see them on the car and out in the sun!
**Before powder coating, make sure you remove any hardware that you don't wish to be powdered, and make sure that they are fully aware of what you are looking to have done; point out any tape marks needed, or areas that should not be powder coated. If your wheel faces are sandwich mounted, do NOT powder coat either side of the mating surface.
With the faces set aside I could now focus on cleaning up the barrels and lips and get them ready for a polish.
This should do the trick for all 4:
I did one wheel first just to see how much of a different I could make. Although it looks super shiny, it's sort of a dull shine. I did read somewhere that the type of alloy that Tracer uses doesn't really buff out to a brilliant shine. So this is the best they are going to look without sanding them down, etc... I like the all natural shine though.
I left off with a rather dull polish on the the barrel, so first I decided to do another pass with the buffing wheel and got the raw aluminum to shine a little bit better.
While at work this week I found a wire stripping wheel and decided to take that home use it to remove the rest of the old sealant instead of using the blade, which would have been very time consuming. This worked FLAWLESSLY!
When you are done stripping both the lips and the barrels with the wire wheel or something similar, you should have something that looks like this:
**There must not be ANY sealant remaining if you want any hopes of the new sealant bonding to the wheel and lip.
Consequently, stripping the sealant is very messy, and it will end up all over your shiny lips, so the best way to remove it is to wash them off with water (I used the bath tub and a rag). I then did a quick and final polish on the lip before I set it aside for assembly. First I rubbed a layer of polish on with my fingers and then wiped it off with a clean polishing cloth. There was still plenty of cloudiness still so I used a fresh and dry polishing wheel and at a medium speed, worked it back and forth across the lip until it looked brand new again.
As you can imagine, the hardware (at least the nuts) are going to be quite dirty. So I soaked them in some simple green and water for a few hours, then I shook them around with my hands until the majority of the brake dust and residue was off. The best way to dry them is to simply set them out on the table for a few minutes.
I wasn't quite satisfied with the cleanliness of the nuts so I used the smallest of the three polishing wheels and while securely holding the drill with one hand, I ran each nut and bolt across the wheel until the were shiny enough to put back on the wheel. I would recommend doing this at a medium to low drill speed so you don't send nuts and bolts flying all over the place. Granted, if you have a bench grinder, this would be much easier.
Now that all the pieces and hardware are clean, I was ready to assemble a wheel. So first I gave each piece a quick wipedown, and then set them up so I could drop the face in from the back.
This style of wheel requires no sealant or sealing rings between the pieces because the face mounts from the back. So I aligned the lip and the barrel using the previously made marks (or close to it) and set them on top of each other, I would suggest doing the same. Because these wheels are such a snug fit, I was able to flip the wheel on the side to make sure everything looked proper. Then I VERY carefully flipped the assembly over so the faces were up and I could insert a couple rim bolts to hold everything together.
I chose to use blue threadlock because it is the most popular for 3-piece wheels, you may choose whatever you like but keep in mind the bolts will only be torqued to 20-30 ft/lbs. Furthermore, only a small amount is necessary to achieve what you need, there is no need to drown the bolt. After you have 4-5 bolts with threadlock on them, insert them carefully into holes on opposite sides of the wheel. I chose to use 5 holes, one for each spoke of the wheel. Using the same saran wrap method I used before, I tightened each bolt down in a star pattern to what I felt was "tight".
Continue the steps above for the rest of the rim screws. Although not pictured, I used a 250 in/lb torque wrench (3/8") and maxed it out to about 21 ft/lbs for each screw. In the end I only had one casualty with a locking nut, unfortunately M7 flange nuts are not available anywhere in my area, and most places only sell them in quantities of 50 or more. Luckily, BFI is going to send me what I need.
The last step before having the tires mounted was to seal the barrels. For this I used GE window/door/attic/basement waterproof silicone. Use a caulking gun and apply a generous amount of sealant into the space between the barrels, then work it in with your finger, then repeat.
I am speechless at how well these came out, and I cannot wait to put them on the car come spring. I even bought some genuine German-made air caps to spice them up a bit. They are currently sitting in my apartment collecting dust while I wait for the rest of my new air management to show up. I won't be mounting the tires until sometime in April or May. I will give them a good polish again before they go on the car, just to get all of the dust off.
Here is how they sit right now (don't mind the dust in some of the photos):
The lips were in pretty much mint condition but the powder coat on the face pieces was very faded and chipping on the backside. They were also rebuilt improperly the last time with washers behind each rim bolt, so they needed to be refinished. There are countless build threads out there of this very nature, but this has been my first 3-piece wheel rebuild/refinish so I figured I would share it with everyone in case someone needs something to reference.
Step 1: Dismount Tires and Acquire Proper Tools/Supplies
Have your tires removed at a reputable shop or tire facility. I say reputable because I have had many bad experiences with janky tire machines destroying lips and/or fresh finishes on wheels. Even though you are dismounting to refinish the wheels, save yourself the headache and have them removed by someone/somewhere that you trust. I had mine removed by a friend at a dealership in town. It would also be wise, if applicable, to have each wheel put on a balance machine so you know whether or not a lip or barrel is bent. I could only imagine the frustration of assembling a wheel only to find out it was tweaked. Furthermore, make sure you have all the necessary tools and equipment needed to split the wheels apart.
Don't be alarmed by all of the black goo all over the place, it is just bead sealer that ends up getting everywhere no matter what.
Take note of the type of sealant used between the barrel and lip and get a basic idea of how they were sealed before.
Tools needed:
- 32oz rubber mallet
- 3/8" ratchet driver
- 12-point 8mm socket
- 12-point 10mm open/closed wrench
- 4-6" 3/8 extension
- Saran wrap
- Craft blade or Exacto-Knife
- Torque wrench (not pictured)
- Silicone sealant (not pictured)
- Beer (not pictured)
As sad as it may be, I didn't have any of the aforementioned tools prior to this project so I purchased them all new. Total cost was around $35, the blade kit I found at AutoValue in their bargain bin for $4.99, the rest was fairly reasonable at Northern Tool and Supply. Also, you do not need to have a 32oz rubber mallet, smaller or larger will work just fine but 32oz is the most common and it worked flawlessly. As for the ratchet, I bought one with a rubber handle to reduce the risk of it slipping and hitting the lip of the wheel, and make sure that the extension you use is long enough to clear the lip of the wheel, it makes it much easier, trust me!
Step 2: Mark Each Piece For Future Alignment
Mark each barrel and lip with a number and a line, so each wheel piece stays in its respected place. If you plan on refinishing these pieces, use tape, or something that will allow the wheels to go back together the same way they came apart. Because Tracer Tech 1 faces mount from the back of the wheel and not sandwiched, the alignment of the face/lips/barrels is not quite as important because when re-sealing, they will only require one bead of sealant which you will see later as we move through this. Nonetheless, keep each wheel piece in the right place.
Step 3: Remove Rim Bolts
Remove all the bolts holding the wheels together. On Tracer wheels there are 40 per wheel, so if you have something similar, be prepared to spend a little bit of time on this. You are welcome to use a small impact drill if you'd like, but for the sake of safety and assurance I did them all by hand. According to the date engraved on the back of these wheels, they were manufactured in Germany in 2008, so I have decided to re-use the bolts (new ones would cost upwards of $400). To protect the heads I lined the inside of the 8mm socket with Saran wrap, this prevented metal-metal contact which would have destroyed the polished surface of the bolts.
It would be wise to use more than one layer of Saran wrap, and occasionally move the socket to another spot in the sheet after every few bolts, eventually the Saran wrap will tear and become ineffective. Each bolt head should fit snugly inside of the socket with minimal play.
It would also be wise to immediately put all of the bolts and nuts into some sort of a container if you plan on re-using them.
Step 4: Remove Centers
Once all of the bolts are removed, it is time to start splitting each wheel into three pieces. If you are lucky like me, this won't be as hard it normally is. Depending on the type of wheel (sandwiched face or no sandwiched face) this may take only a few minutes or it could take an additional step or two. For this style of wheel, you should be able to pound the centers down and out with the rubber mallet. However, make sure that you have a soft pad beneath the wheel to catch it when it hits the ground, do NOT do this on concrete, wheel faces are heavy and they WILL be damaged if they hit a hard surface at the right angle. The faces may take a few blows from the mallet before they fall, but once they do you can set them aside.
Step 5: Split Barrels and Lips
Now that the faces are out, the lips and barrels need to be split. The difficulty of this task will depend on how long the wheels have been together, as well as the type of sealant that was used prior to your rebuild. In this case, a flexible silicone sealant was used, and it can be sliced with a razor blade or a craft knife, such as the one that I purchased for this project. Insert the blade into the sealant and slowly work your way around the wheel. I needed to do this about 3-4 times per wheel before I had a clean cut in all areas.
If you cut all of the sealant thoroughly and you still cannot get the pieces apart by hand, use the rubber mallet and pound them apart. Some will use a piece of wood and jam it against the lip or the edge of the barrel and instead hit that with the mallet. Use your own discretion in this step and whatever you feel safe doing, just be careful not to send a piece flying across the room. Also, Tracer wheels have stainless steel lips, so they are far more durable than the more standard aluminum lips, so again, please use your own discretion when pounding them apart.
**If you cannot get the pieces apart with the mallet, heat your oven to 350 degrees and place the lip/barrel combo in the oven for 3-5 minutes. This will soften any stubborn sealant without risking damage to the wheel, again try to split the pieces. Also, WD-40 or some sort of lubricant such as Deep Creep or Permatex can be sprayed into the slice that you have made, softening and loosening the sealant (this method can be very messy).
Step 6: Remove Old Sealant
Once the wheels are split, you will have 12 separate pieces in which you can do whatever you like with! Be sure before any refinishing takes place, that you scrape off any remaining sealant with the craft knife and a scotch pad. This part is time consuming, and also messy!
Step 7: Refinish/Clean Desired Pieces
As I stated before, the lips of these wheels are MINT, so I will not be touching them aside from scraping off the old sealant. Also, the valve stems are still properly sealed and there is no residue around them, so they are staying in as well. However, in your rebuild, if you wish you may take the stems out and replace with new ones, or simply clean the area and install the old ones again.
The centers I brought to a local, yet very reputable powder coating facility, All Pro. I had attempted to remove the old powder coat with industrial aircraft paint remover, but it was simply not working. Luckily, All Pro also acid dips delicate metals if needed. For my wheels they used a combination of both sandblasting and acid dipping to remove the old finish. As far as I'm concerned they are the best in central MN. The color that I chose was a special order made by Prismatic Powders called Dusted Black. It took over a week to make and be shipped, but it was worth it because they turned out AMAZING! I cant wait to see them on the car and out in the sun!
**Before powder coating, make sure you remove any hardware that you don't wish to be powdered, and make sure that they are fully aware of what you are looking to have done; point out any tape marks needed, or areas that should not be powder coated. If your wheel faces are sandwich mounted, do NOT powder coat either side of the mating surface.
With the faces set aside I could now focus on cleaning up the barrels and lips and get them ready for a polish.
This should do the trick for all 4:
I did one wheel first just to see how much of a different I could make. Although it looks super shiny, it's sort of a dull shine. I did read somewhere that the type of alloy that Tracer uses doesn't really buff out to a brilliant shine. So this is the best they are going to look without sanding them down, etc... I like the all natural shine though.
I left off with a rather dull polish on the the barrel, so first I decided to do another pass with the buffing wheel and got the raw aluminum to shine a little bit better.
While at work this week I found a wire stripping wheel and decided to take that home use it to remove the rest of the old sealant instead of using the blade, which would have been very time consuming. This worked FLAWLESSLY!
When you are done stripping both the lips and the barrels with the wire wheel or something similar, you should have something that looks like this:
**There must not be ANY sealant remaining if you want any hopes of the new sealant bonding to the wheel and lip.
Consequently, stripping the sealant is very messy, and it will end up all over your shiny lips, so the best way to remove it is to wash them off with water (I used the bath tub and a rag). I then did a quick and final polish on the lip before I set it aside for assembly. First I rubbed a layer of polish on with my fingers and then wiped it off with a clean polishing cloth. There was still plenty of cloudiness still so I used a fresh and dry polishing wheel and at a medium speed, worked it back and forth across the lip until it looked brand new again.
As you can imagine, the hardware (at least the nuts) are going to be quite dirty. So I soaked them in some simple green and water for a few hours, then I shook them around with my hands until the majority of the brake dust and residue was off. The best way to dry them is to simply set them out on the table for a few minutes.
I wasn't quite satisfied with the cleanliness of the nuts so I used the smallest of the three polishing wheels and while securely holding the drill with one hand, I ran each nut and bolt across the wheel until the were shiny enough to put back on the wheel. I would recommend doing this at a medium to low drill speed so you don't send nuts and bolts flying all over the place. Granted, if you have a bench grinder, this would be much easier.
Now that all the pieces and hardware are clean, I was ready to assemble a wheel. So first I gave each piece a quick wipedown, and then set them up so I could drop the face in from the back.
This style of wheel requires no sealant or sealing rings between the pieces because the face mounts from the back. So I aligned the lip and the barrel using the previously made marks (or close to it) and set them on top of each other, I would suggest doing the same. Because these wheels are such a snug fit, I was able to flip the wheel on the side to make sure everything looked proper. Then I VERY carefully flipped the assembly over so the faces were up and I could insert a couple rim bolts to hold everything together.
I chose to use blue threadlock because it is the most popular for 3-piece wheels, you may choose whatever you like but keep in mind the bolts will only be torqued to 20-30 ft/lbs. Furthermore, only a small amount is necessary to achieve what you need, there is no need to drown the bolt. After you have 4-5 bolts with threadlock on them, insert them carefully into holes on opposite sides of the wheel. I chose to use 5 holes, one for each spoke of the wheel. Using the same saran wrap method I used before, I tightened each bolt down in a star pattern to what I felt was "tight".
Continue the steps above for the rest of the rim screws. Although not pictured, I used a 250 in/lb torque wrench (3/8") and maxed it out to about 21 ft/lbs for each screw. In the end I only had one casualty with a locking nut, unfortunately M7 flange nuts are not available anywhere in my area, and most places only sell them in quantities of 50 or more. Luckily, BFI is going to send me what I need.
The last step before having the tires mounted was to seal the barrels. For this I used GE window/door/attic/basement waterproof silicone. Use a caulking gun and apply a generous amount of sealant into the space between the barrels, then work it in with your finger, then repeat.
I am speechless at how well these came out, and I cannot wait to put them on the car come spring. I even bought some genuine German-made air caps to spice them up a bit. They are currently sitting in my apartment collecting dust while I wait for the rest of my new air management to show up. I won't be mounting the tires until sometime in April or May. I will give them a good polish again before they go on the car, just to get all of the dust off.
Here is how they sit right now (don't mind the dust in some of the photos):
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