So as I am waiting on parts I decided that I could attack some of the nitty gritty detail items on the car.. I decided to work on the wheels today. Overall my wheels are in superior condition although the centercaps left much to be desired. I took one off and started to work some magic on it.

Materials:

Duplicolor Aluminum 500 degree paint
Duplicolor Wheel Clear Coat
800 Grit Sandpaper
Metal polish (for the fake lug nut things..)

I really feel that it is the little things that make all the difference.

Here is the cap before I started.



Broken down ready for paint.



Compared to one still on the car..



And now installed..

 

wow nice what a difference!!

 

My friend you really do a good job with it! Vey nice

 

It's crazy how something so simple can really clean up a big area like that

 

It looks great. I'll be doing the same thing on my car soon. I am thinking of having the wheels powder coated while I am at it, as there are some curb rash marks from a PO that are bugging me. To hide the fix, I'll have to either paint or powder coat the wheels, and I'm leaning towards powder coating.

 

Thanks Fellas.

 

Looks great, thanks for the write-up.

 

These little restoration projects are easy to do, and I think alot more guys should consider doing them, like restoring the window trim etc..

Looks good!

 

^Somebody needs to make a How-To for this, as well. My trim is shot.

Great job OP, you inspired me. I'll probably do this tonight.

 

+ infinity

The project in this thread is something we all could do by either spending $10 or using things we probably already have on the shelf. And the details like this really make things shine.

 

I've never been able to figure out if people just overlook the little details, or if they are REALLY just that lazy.

Like when you see a nice, clean S4, and the tails are all scratched up and faded. Or a nice rebuilt engine, all sorts of nice goodies on it, and a raunchy, greasy engine bay.

To me, the small details make or break the car.

 

Yeah, I'm kinda a details guy. When the motor was out of this one I scrubbed the engine bay with a toothbrush (and other brushes) clay bar'd, compounded and waxed it.... I havent done the bottom of the hood yet, but in the bay it is almost eat off of clean... I have also cleaned the fenderwells, and re-coated with undercoating.. Next I will be scrubbing the suspension bits, and painting the calipers..

 

Super clean!

I like that. Working on the small details shows true dedication.

 

I restored my center caps when I still had the stock wheels on. My problem was that the center caps rattled really bad. No amount of tweaking seemed to fix the problem. Drove me bonkers.

 

You got a step by step on this? I too have faded center caps

 

Wow congrats dude, that looks great.

I never knew that the center cap wasn't just the tiny Mazda piece on the center of s5 turbo wheels, just like s4 turbo wheels.

 

Looks good. Never knew the nuts were supposed to be chromed. Might have to get some fake chrome spray for mine. I restored them last year and painted them completely silver. The chrome ads a finishing touch.

A little trick i figured out for those withouth steam cleaners is to fill a paint gun with hot or even boiling hot soapy water. Turn your compressor up to about 75psi and dial thr spray pattern down to a thin beam. Really cleans the engine bay up. I did it with the engine still in the car. Just avoid the alternator etc.

I guess you could use that trick for wheels and other hard to reach places.