mhackney
New member
The Fuchs wheels on my 83 Porsche 911 SC Cabriolet have been faded and blasé for the eight years I`ve owned her. Over the years I`ve sorted a myriad of mechanical issues (all simple mostly basic maintenance) and I`m now working on the exterior and interior. This weekend I decided to tackle the wheels since I was "in there" replacing brake pads on the rear. Here`s a before photo:
This is a typical "tired" Fuchs as you can see in the added black petals. Also, the shine cap is not correct. Porsche typically match the cap to the spoke color. And my car is a fairly rare first year cab/last year SC that was outfitted from the factory with a lot of options, one of which was the Fuchs with black petals and background and black caps. The Porsche crew recommend Rustoleum 7777 satin black as a very good match to the original satin on these wheels. I started by bead blasting, prepping and painting the caps. Here`s a before and after of a cap:
Quite a difference. Next I moved on to the wheel itself. I removed the wheel and cleaned inside and out with Maguiar`s APC. They were filthy! Next I hand polished with Noxol Metal Polish. I cleaned the wheel with dilute APC and let it dry. The final step was to apply a liberal coating of Vaseline (petroleum jelly), allowing it to sit in the sun for and hour, and then hand buffing it off. Petroleum jelly is Porsche`s recommendation in my owner`s manual. Here`s the after photo:
Now I need to figure out what to do about the faded anodized aluminum lug nuts! I`m thinking about bead blasting them and painting with the satin Rustoleum too. I came across a tip to use a thin plastic bag over the lug nut and then placing a socket on it to minimize/prevent marring painted lugs. Worth a shot I think.
This is a typical "tired" Fuchs as you can see in the added black petals. Also, the shine cap is not correct. Porsche typically match the cap to the spoke color. And my car is a fairly rare first year cab/last year SC that was outfitted from the factory with a lot of options, one of which was the Fuchs with black petals and background and black caps. The Porsche crew recommend Rustoleum 7777 satin black as a very good match to the original satin on these wheels. I started by bead blasting, prepping and painting the caps. Here`s a before and after of a cap:
Quite a difference. Next I moved on to the wheel itself. I removed the wheel and cleaned inside and out with Maguiar`s APC. They were filthy! Next I hand polished with Noxol Metal Polish. I cleaned the wheel with dilute APC and let it dry. The final step was to apply a liberal coating of Vaseline (petroleum jelly), allowing it to sit in the sun for and hour, and then hand buffing it off. Petroleum jelly is Porsche`s recommendation in my owner`s manual. Here`s the after photo:
Now I need to figure out what to do about the faded anodized aluminum lug nuts! I`m thinking about bead blasting them and painting with the satin Rustoleum too. I came across a tip to use a thin plastic bag over the lug nut and then placing a socket on it to minimize/prevent marring painted lugs. Worth a shot I think.
h34r:
If it were mine, I`d track down a set of new ones that have the correct finish and have those around for the times when it might matter, and then DIY the current ones (since you have the products and know-how). When I need nice-looking lugs, I *always* get the best satisfaction from brand new ones. (Use the plastic bag/etc. method to prevent edge wear on the new ones. Seldom 100% perfect forever IME, but awfully close most of the time.)