First of all I want to post this since NOBODY here or anywhere else on the net could seem to help me out with this.

This topic is for you guys that have nice 3-piece wheels, but need to take them apart to polsh the lip, change bolts, refinish the face/spokes of the wheel, etc.

I must say this though:

DO NOT DISSASSEMBLE 3 PIECE WHEELS IF YOU ARE NOT READY FOR A MAJOR PAIN IN THE ***!!!

I have a set of nice Black Racing 3-piece wheels. The spokes were blue on them, so I wanted to repaint them. I at first just wanted to tape the lips of the wheels off and shoot the spokes with a matte black finish myself.

Then my friend kindly pointed out:

"Hey these are 3 piece! Just take them apart and shoot them so we don't have to tape them up!"

Huge mistake.

Luckily for me we only pulled the 32 bolts out per wheel, and only pulled/pryed the lip off of only one wheel. I also polished each and every one of the 128 bolts total because they had dulled over the years.

After prying the lip of the wheel off I realized it would need to be resealed, which sounds easy, but for some reason in Atlanta even rim repair shops would not touch the idea.

One shop pointed me in the direction of a truck supply company that sold high pressure, high temp polyurethane based sealant that they used to reseal old school wire wheels with years ago.

Basically after prepping the lip and wheel face I applied the sealant with a caulking gun, and hand torqued each and every 32 bolt to 22ft-lbs. of torque with a torque wrench on a criss cross pattern - imagine criss cross tightening 32 bolts much like you do the 4 or 5 lug nuts on your wheels, and doing it two-three times to make sure you got them all.

After letting them cure for three days I mounted the tire, and the damn thing laked from one tiny spot where the lip meets the wheel face.

So I took them back apart and tried again.

This time I tried a better way of prepping the surfaces.

I used a wire wheel on a drill to remove any/all sealant residues, 320 grit sand paper and water, and then I used HONDABOND to actually seal the wheel. I applied a pretty fat bead of it and again retorqued the 32 bolts to 22ft-lbs. and let it cure for 24 hours...

GREAT SUCCESS!!!

I would have taken pics of the pocedures, but I did this at work while juggling cars, phones, an customers, plus I was super pissed when the first time didn't seal up.

Basically what I mean from this long-winded post is that it can be done, but unless you absolutely MUST tear 3 piece wheels apart, don't. I'm lucky in that I work at a shop and coould mount and dismount the tires for free each time if the wheel(s) hadn't sealed up, but if you're a regular Joe you might want to just tape the wheels up to paint them.

Oh and a few pics to show the difference:

Before:



After:



I jumped for joy when the wheels held air:



If anyone needs some assistance in resealing 3-piece wheels feel free to ask. I'm no "expert" but I feel now that I know a lot more than I did before having successfully pulled this off myself.

BTW:

The one wheel shop in ATL that said they could do it wanted $150.00 per wheel!!! to reseal them.

 

wheels look great, as does the wagovan

 

Great work. I like your ride.

 

Hondabond? Smart thinking.

Glad it all worked out for you.

 

that color of wheel looks a ton better! good job.

car looks like its in great shape!

 

wow...nice.

 

looks alot better then blue.

 

ha ha, that jump is INSANE!

 

I am not critizing but I am curious as to where you go the 22ft-lbs figure.

 

wow thank god someone knows who do reseal them im been look forever...great post