BBS RIM refurb

[GavG60]

Right,

there's nothing I like more than rolling my sleeves up and getting dirty trying to do stuff to my vdub....

I'm going to have a go and changing the rims and putting the new 2inch ones on myself. So, what do I need?

some form of glue type stuff to seal the new rims?
a special tool for taking the bolts out?
Anyone recommend anything good for sanding the centres to respray?

Anyone done this before? know anyone who has?

help!!!!

Gav

[...joe]

here's my step by step guide to doing these wheels!!!

1. obviously get the tyres removed!
2. mine are 3 piece so yours should be easier, get a spanner to match up with your bolts, it should be either 8 or 10mm and just get whichever as long as it is a 12 sided spanner or socket instead of 6 sides, does that make sense?
3. undo all the bolts
4. carefully split the rim from the rest of the wheel without damageing the faces, no real tips just take your time.
i tried to paint my centres but found it hard to get a nice even coating with the new colour so in the end after phoning around a few wheel refurbers i found the nearest bead blaster who did the centres, caps and centre nut for ?10 a wheel.
5. took nice clean wheels to local powder coater
6. picked them up the next day all done ?10 a wheel again.
7.got a tube of silicone sealer from auto factors, dont be tight with this stuff but also don't put too much near the centre as when you press the rim on it can be forced out onto your fresh centres.
8. i put every other bolt in and tighened them in stages an opposites to get an even tension around the rim before tightening them down.
9. wet your finger or get a tool to push all the overspill silicone into a nice flush strip round the wheel
10. tyres back on!
if i knew how to put pics on here i'd show you mine!

hope that helps 

[GavG60]

Brilliant!

thanks mate. Sounds very straightforward.....

do you need a spanner to hold the chrome outer side of the bolt while you undo the inner nut?

[...joe]

are yours 2 or 3 piece? i've only ever done mine which are 3 and yes you need to hold the nut while you turn the bolt. they give off a good crack when they start to undo!!
if yours are 2 piece i think they just screw into the rest of the wheel, could be wrong but you'll know when you have a look.
oh and i forgot, probably best to put some threadlock on when tightening them back up.

[jon_hgv]

gav your BBS are 2 peice like mine mate, to take the rims of you need a 8mm hex socket halfords do them,

you have pm.

as you now ive just refurbed mine my self from start to fiinsh that incloded rim split and reasembly.
powder coating is good but not as good as a spray finish.

[VeeDubGTI16v]

gti joe you put the sealant on wrong mate. you have got to do the wheels up dry and then seal the join, that way they dont ever leak

[jon_hgv]

ha veedubgti i think you will find ur the 1 thats got it wrong.


you put the selant on the inner rim all the way round so it covers the holes were the bolts go through then you put the outter rim on and bolt them together, then u seal the outter and iner rim with the sealant. if you only seal the outer the air will leak through the gaps. belive me ive done plenty of them.  ring any BBS specalist and they will tell you the same. ps only trying to help cheers jon.

[VeeDubGTI16v]

well you definately bolt them up dry, i have read it in loads of different places. i bought some rm,s and tey had been sealed as they were being done up and i had to fill one of them every day. what you are doing is sealing them, doing them up and sealing them again yes? so making the sealing before bolting up pointless? you dont use sealant like that its not for putting between two bits of metal and clamping. trust me do them up dry and seal the join inside the rim

if you only seal the outer the air will leak through the gaps.

  errr if you seal them properly there wont be any gaps will there

[VeeDubGTI16v]

heres one source

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1022742

i copy pasted the inportant bit

Sealing Wheel Shells:
1. Clean the mating surfaces with laquer thinner and let dry.
2. Bolt the two shells together "DRY" and torque to spec.
3. Lay thin bead of silicone in the crack between the mating surfaces and smooth. Let it dry overnight.
4. Re-apply a bead over the first and smooth out to about a 1.0" bead width and smooth.

If you follow this procedure your wheels will never leak. The reason you don't want silicone between the halves is because all silicone shrinks as it cures. As is shrinks the pressure between the shells changes and your torque changes.

[...joe]

i stand corrected! i can only go on how i did mine and they are fine, don't leak or anything. the only reason why i said to do it this way was because when i split mine there was a layer of silicon between the faces and in the bolt holes from overspill, so i assumed if thats how bbs did it, thats how i would do it!

good luck either way, its a very satisfying job!