Rims and body filler

This may be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway because I'm not sure and I don't want to screw anything up. Can you use body filler to fix the pitting in rims?

Ant

 

i have been told that a little jb weld is bbest

 

That's cool. I never thought to use it. Thanks

 

JB weld???

how bad are the pits?

I have some original 1949 Chevy rims I may use on my car. I will blast them clean inside and out, and spray with high build primer and sand them down. probably have to recote more than once before the pits are gone.

high build primer is available in spray cans if you do not have access to painting equipment. check your local Automotive paint store.

if the pits are bad enough to require body filler I would probably find another rim.

 

agreed, high build primer then wet sand prime again, repeat as necessary. it works for sure.

 

Some flavor of metal epoxy with good adhesion works best. If they are steel rims they will flex and slightly change shape as they deflect when hitting potholes, bridge abutments, neighbors lawn ornaments, liberal tree hugers etc... So to keep your rims looking pristine during these conditions, either flexible epoxy/ metal fuser or dura-glass/kitty hair depending on what you have available.

 

I've seen plenty of guys use it to fix small gouges on aluminum rims during my years in the car business... Had a rim on my OT Jaguar fixed once and they used a little bit of bondo on it. It's been fine for over 2 years now. The car also gets driven in all sorts of weather and lives outside.

 

I've used putty to fill small pits,nicks and scrapes..worked very well for me! But use some quality 2 part putty,not the red spot putty.

 

Is there a particular brand of high build primer you recommend?

 

I'd talk to the guy at your local paint supply store. I believe eastwood also sells it in thier catalog as well. I haven't sprayed any in a long time... it is probably all different now. I don't remember what the brand was I used. you will be sanding 80% of it off anyways, I would think they are all about the same.

they might even have the spray cans at O'rielys or your local Auto Parts store.

 

Sandblast. Powdercoat. Done!

 

If you are repairing the inside bead sealing surface, then I would say to sandblast those areas very clean and use JB Weld. If you are using tubes, there might not be an issue.

If you need to refinish the outside cosmetically for paint, then the hi build primer, or body filler first then primer, if they are really bad.

Or this stuff is a very expensive product that my son uses for industrial applications for filling surface imperfections.

http://www.belzona.com/products.aspx

overspray

 

If you have the money and a place near by you may find getting them blasted first will help see how bad they are and powdercoat covers most things. Did that on some pretty rusty rims and came up great. The powdercoat seemed to fill any pin holes and dry nice and even.
Also did the home blasting/wire wheel cheapo clean up and used high build, sand, high build, sand, way of doing it. Buy the time i finished with, high build, paint etc the costs weren't that far off getting them powder coated and would have saved me a good weekends work doing it. Still came out well though and been on the car over a year without any issues.