Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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if you're saying powdercoating alloy wheels is the work of the devil, then you're mad.
loads of people on here have powdercoated alloys, yet not one has broken yet.
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3CorsaMeal
Member
Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline
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Interesting thread that.
Armchair engineers lol
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I've read about wheel failures post powdercoating before, but it seems to be freak occasions with possible mitigating circumstances. I'll be talking with him before anything goes in an oven, but from what I can gather this particular powdercoater opts for "cold" stripping of old paint with blasting methods, rather than blasting the fuck out of it at 500degrees and/or acid dipping.
My only concern really is the buckled wheel... he's seen it and said it's an easy fix, and he's fixed far worse - but surely it must be marginally weaker than the other wheels.
Luckily none of it is relevant, as my wheels won't be exploding while it's sat on my drive being polished 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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While the car is on stands, I took the opportunity to blast all the crap out of the wheel arches, which in turn exposed a lack of underseal (I blasted most of it off  )
Spent this morning cleaning/sealing as follows:
Before:
Some foam degreaser:
Quick Rinse:
Some more scrubbing with APC, dried off:
My product for the day:
After:
Cleaned the plastics with some APC and then some bumper trim treatment:
I'm missing a fair few clips within the wheel arches, so will try to source some before my wheels come back.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Simon_16v
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I think once it's sorted we'll get the car properly cleaned one weekend 
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I'm mentally penciling in the next BH weekend for my big wash, but that's all weather depending.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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IvIarkgraham
Premium Member
Registered: 27th Mar 04
Location: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
User status: Offline
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what did you use on the inner arches?
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Simon_16v
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
I'm mentally penciling in the next BH weekend for my big wash, but that's all weather depending.
That suits me fine, I'll bring all my AG stuff with me lol
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by IvIarkgraham
what did you use on the inner arches?
I can't remember the brand, but it was an aerosol of foamy degreaser from a local motorfactor. Seems decent stuff!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Simon_16v
quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
I'm mentally penciling in the next BH weekend for my big wash, but that's all weather depending.
That suits me fine, I'll bring all my AG stuff with me lol
It'll be a long day, FN2 took me 10 hours and didn't touch the interior or engine bay 
I'm wondering whether it's worth machine polishing, got a couple of scratches which I reckon I can polish the edge off of but swirl wise it's still mint from the November detail.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Simon_16v
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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It's been driven 6 times since November that's why
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Good one.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Wrighty
Member
Registered: 28th Feb 04
Location: Howden
User status: Offline
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less cleaning, more mods + driving to test them out pls
kthx
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I was hoping to have my wheels back on the car, and car back on the road today - but the town in which my powdercoaters reside had a power cut all day, so now my pickup date is tomorrow 
Oh well, my latest purchase arrived which I reckon will nudge me a little bit closer to the OCD hall of fame
People who have read this thread since November will know of the JDM clocks I fitted to give me a nice red background with a swoop animation on startup. Those dials have been great, but the speedo convertor has been a bit dicky. I sorted that with a new convertor (£20) but I've now gone one step further...
Basically, the transmission outputs speed in KMH. The OEM UK clocks have an internal convertor (essentially a resistor which turns every '1' pulse into '0.62' of a pulse). The JDM clocks I had ofc didn't have that built in convertor so they reported the native speed in KMH.
This is worked around by JDM importers by an external convertor, and by "editing" the speedo dial face by scribbling out the 'K' with a biro so it just reads "MH". What used to represent 180KPH now represents 180MPH, etc.
That little blob of Biro has been pissing me off no end. It's invisible in the night but when the sun catches it, it's quite obvious.
Sooo... I bought a new dial cluster. This time from a UK spec Hawkeye STI which had been exported to Lithuania, and I brought the clocks back to the UK via an eBay purchase
The Hawkeye STI clocks have got the red, the swoop and they natively convert/read in MPH. Yay!
So, here's the before - see the blob on the speedo?
Whilst powered on:
Old vs New:
New - no blob, but a weird subtle difference is that UK clocks "Remember" the fuel level and don't reset to zero, JDM ones drop to zero when car is switched off.
UK Hawk Clocks in, and powered up:
Subtle difference is that DCCD becomes C Diff and the "redline" starts at 7k rather than 8k.
Not so subtle difference is that my car has just gone 9000miles back in time
I got my mileage adjusted in Manchester last time, I really CBA with a one off trip again so for now I'll keep note of my "real" mileage delta and will get it adjusted back up to speed when I find somebody more local.
So thanks to a blob of Biro, I'm now on my third dial cluster:
OEM:
JDM:
UK Hawk:
Simon 16v asked me why I didn't just get UK Hawk clocks in the first place. Valid question, but at the time I wasn't exactly sure what cars got what clocks, and how compatibility worked. When the JDM (quite rare) clocks came up for sale, I jumped on them as I knew they would work. I learned about the Hawk UK ones later, oh well. Luckily since Hawk headgaskets are popping on a weekly basis, these clusters are fairly easy to get hold of 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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AK
Member
Registered: 5th Jul 00
Location: Aberdeen City
User status: Offline
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UK Hawk in Km/h??!?!?!
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Nope, KMH is the smaller inner ring and MPH is the 0-160 round the outside.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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AK
Member
Registered: 5th Jul 00
Location: Aberdeen City
User status: Offline
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na... i'm a spanner and didnt see the MPH bottom right
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I might scribble the KMH bits out with a pen to avoid further confusion
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BeetleGav
Member
Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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Well that gained you a lot haha. New dials are nicer though. Not as empty looking
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Yep well worth it I think I'm going to get a proper auto sparky to redo my wiring where the old convertor was removed. My soldering iron has about had it, and my joins aren't good tbh.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Wrighty
Member
Registered: 28th Feb 04
Location: Howden
User status: Offline
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next time i see you im gonna make sure im armed with a biro
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Jambo
Member
Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline
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Loving this project. Still can't believe how you went from 0-100moddkng miles an hour out of no where lol.
I need some of that foamy degreaser me thinks!
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Thanks Jambo, that degreaser is soon becoming the stuff of legends. I shall make an effort to buy more and photograph it!
I left work a few minutes early today to get over to Midas Touch to collect my wheels
I got there and they were properly busy due to yesterdays powercut, and my tyres weren't on yet! I hung around while he put the rubber on and balanced the wheels. I was dead impressed with my first viewing of the colour, it was exactly what I want and the finish appears to be spot on.
The previously buckled wheel took slightly more weight to balance, but barely - they all required less than 20g which apparently is good.
Total was £195 for the repair, powdercoating and powdercoating of my old ARBs. I handed £200 over and set off on my way, well excited 
Got them home, then inside for a bit of loving before going on the car.
I gave them all a quick wipe down, once over with Autoglym SRP then a couple of coats of Poorboys' with 20mins or so to cure between coats.
Got them on the car with a little bit of drama, I'd left the handbrake off at somepoint so as soon as the car touched down it started rolling away from me, and the door was locked It came to a stop without harm, so went for a shakedown 
Pictures suck as it was getting dark and I needed to rush home to tidy the house, viewing tomorrow
This was my first drive since refurbing my shocks all those months ago in which nothing was "wrong" with the car. I've been waiting for alignment, wheel balance, round wheels, etc - and finally I could go for a blast with confidence.
The car felt great, the Vredestein tyres really are impressive so far. I've got them on the front with my underwhelming Rainsports on the back and the car felt excellent. Just heavy enough to feel sturdy at pace but still feeds back through the wheel nicely in quicker bends.
I only had 10-15 miles in it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd have emptied the tank if I had time I was having so much fun
Clean and photos at the weekend, ofc
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BeetleGav
Member
Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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wheels look fantastic and i love that pic of the car!
im getting some vredestiens for the rear of mine tomorrow. cant wait to ditch the run flats, especially for such a well rated tyre
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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Fresh Looks very clean with the cleaned up arches and fresh paint on the wheels! Nice one buddy
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