Tyres are off the rims so I can clean them up. They look heaps wider with no rubber!
Glad I went with 7" wide rims as they fill the guard without shitty offset, but yeah I was a bit surprised how much bigger they look.

Kinda wishing I hadn't put the black paint on the one rim though- nightmare to get it off properly before a proper coat of paint!

Okay started cleaning up the gutter rash.
Factory paint on the wheels is hella thick too. Took some mean sanding to smooth out the deep scratches and remove all the paint off the outer lip (which will be polished with the rest of the wheel gloss black as I said).

Couple of pics

Looks like you did a great job sanding back the rims did you do it all by hand or start with a sander and finishing touches by hand?

Did most of one rim by hand, starting with 120 paper, then 180 then 400 wet'n'dry. Don't think I can be fucked finishing it with 600/800, it's good enough as is I reckon.
Only had time to do one wheel before going out last night, I'm hoping to get a bit of time to start the other three today. The factory paint is so thick I'll use my mouse sander to rub most of it off first.

So I'll make my own decision, but yay or nay for this look?

Nay.

One problem is that they bonnet protector has left bad ass marks where it's worn through the paint.
Plus it hides a deep scratch on the bonnet too.

Wait till the wheels are finished and on the car

Paint the bonnet black instead

Oh and pinched this off an n14 wooo

(it was originally missing the cap)
Small things.

Matt black bonnet.

I'll think about the bonnet haha.

Finally finished prepping all 4 rims and cleaned/polished the lip. They've come up pretty good.
Will wait till the centres are polished to decide if I want to go for 800 wet'n'dry.

lookin nice.. +1 for matte black bonnet.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Keep having to remind myself that this is a shit tin, and te whole car is rough-ish, but jeez it shits me when stuff goes wrong.

After spending a bit of time cleaning up the rims and priming them for painting, I've thrown a coat of black on this morning and it's gone a bit pear shaped.
The face of the spokes (which I could sand lightly) have come up reasonable off the can, but the insides of the spokes (too fiddly to sand) hasn't taken the paint well at all. Maybe I didn't prime them well enough but I'm getting a shitty hammertone effect. They look okay from a distance but up close leaves a bit to be desired.

Should've had them sandblasted as part of the prep, but was too lazy to be bothered and didn't think it would matter too much. Now I'm undecided what to do. I'm also out of paint after doing two light coats on three of the wheels.

Might try sanding the spokes lightly again once the paint has dried and see if I can get the paint to take. Or just keep caking on the paint till it gets full coverage, which will probably leave a mean orange peal appearance.
Oh well, they're not 19's on a 35GTR, guess I'll just get over it.

set it on fire

I know how anal you are graham, so do it properly now. Or. Just go and scratch the fuckers now and deal with the fact that cars are never perfect.

19's on a 35 GTR? Didnt think that was possible.

Haha don't be a smartass.

I was just making an example.

And I'm not anal.

One rim to go.

Reckon I clear coat over the polished rim? Or keep it masked till after clear coat is done?

Depending what you used to bring out the lip, the clear may not stick.

Ran out of time to get the tyres refitted, but the wheels are pretty much done now.
Average job but looks good enough for me.

And clear indicators now.