It's spelled Shaun, right? lol jk

 

Deshawn?

 

So i got to sand the JB weld down on the lip this afternoon, here are the pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4622875656/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4622269703/
There are a couple spots that need some another pass of JB, probably get at those tonight after work.

For the locals, WTF is up with this weather? It was sunny and hot then it just starts to pour... damn Seattle

 

I just sanded the curb rash on my wheels down with a craftsman sander. You can only tell it's a little "flatter" when you look really close. JB Weld is probably easier than bondo, though.

 

I might try this with my coupe 19s. Sean probably saw my front one. haha. Probably thinking nice driving asian Ray Charles

 

 

lol. Are you referring to when I bought the maxima? I vaguely remember your G.

a couple of my touring 18's have rash. It happened a couple weeks after I got the car, but hasn't happened since.

 

I would think it would be faster and use less sandpaper to use the JB weld instead of just sanding the metal down. Although it takes a little bit if finesse to get the shape of the lip correct, I think it is worth it in the end.

 

Update for tonight:

Went to the Local Auto Body store and talked with the guys there to learn more about painting cars and the products needed. Also picked up some PPG DX330 for cleaning the wheels before and after sanding.

Got 1 wheel sanded completely with 220 grit and ready for first coat of sandable primer.

Finished the JB weld on both the wheels, the remaining 3 wheels are ready to be sanded with 220 grit and all 4 sprayed with primer.

The sanding is slow and tedious but necessary for adhesion and a smooth finish.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4625742217/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4626347786/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4626347750/
-Alex

 

Nice. What color you thinking? You going to spray it with automotive paint and a detail gun? ie.. base/hardener/clear?

 

Lookin' good Alex!

That dusty 350z IM that I told you not to rub the dust off had recently been glazed, sanded, primered, and painted. It's nearly perfect without any pits or sand scratches. That's why I didn't want you to scratch it...

 

I am thinking bronze right now. Just going to rattle can it because it is much easier than using a detail gun, but I am going to take my time and try to do it the right way to practice for painting the whole car.

Not sure if I should go ahead and paint the wheels or get a set of tires on them first.

 

bronze will look good with your green max. I'd paint them after you get some tires on 'em.

 

Those wheels look good. It will be cool with bronze. I had trouble deciding between bronze and the color I picked.

I say paint them first.

You will have less chance of painting the tires bronze and also you will be able to paint all the way around the lip. Plus, you won't spend any time and money taping them up perfectly. That blue painting tape is kind of expensive.

When I did mine, I put several coats of paint and clear around the outer rims on the wheels in hopes that I will have less chipping. I painted the crap out of everything except the outer barrel.

The only pro I can see to putting tires on first is having the tire store chip off paint installing tires. If that happens, it shouldn't be hard to touch up a couple of small chips.

see how I painted the lip all the way around? You probably can't do that with tires mounted.

 

The main thing I am worried about is the chipping. I dont want to have to deal with fixing chipping. I have painted several sets of wheels with tires on them and been able to get the lip covered pretty well. Just a matter of patience I guess

 

I would say paint them with the tires on. All of the painted wheels I've had over the years always get chipped during tire changes, even with good tire shops that are careful. It's one reason I've got polished lips now

 

Because you used JB weld on the lip I'd paint them then have them mounted. A lot easier and they shouldn't be scratched or chipped unless the installer has old machines and is extremely careless. 17" wheel and non run-flat tires, the machine won't touch the wheel.

I'm having my friend at BMW throw new tires on my Cobra wheels when I get home in a month, I can ask him if he'd be willing to do yours and how much he'll want. Otherwise I would use Discount Tire on Bel-Red road, great prices and great service.

 

Tonight's update:

Started the car for the first time in about a month or two. I know, I know, bad Alex... Car ran really rough for a few mins but I think it was just from condensation build up.

Let the car run at idle for about a half hour to charge the battery.

Got to work on installing the window motors i got from chris. We started with the rear window motors, pulled off the door panels, unbolted everything and put the new one in. It goes up but gets stuck with about an inch to go, it wont give. We try putting it up several times with no avail. So I figure the motor might be shot. Take everything apart again and put the one i got from Jeff in. It gets stuck in the same spot and then it stops working all together. So I take that one out and get confused...

My friend turns to me and says, is the battery dead? Sure enough it was, so we just called it a night and put some garbage bags over the open windows. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get all of the window motors swapped and working.

Also got another wheel completely sanded and ready for primer. 2 down, 2 to go!


That would be awesome. Hopefully by then I will have a set of tires. Let me know what he says.

 

check the track rail it slides up into there could be a rip in the rubber guide seal??????

 

Update for today:

Got up this morning and had a nice bowl of cereal before starting on the car

Figured out that in the dark last night we were missing the track that the window was supposed to go into which was causing the window to get stuck. Put the window back into the track and got all the windows fixed and working.

Then I washed the car which was covered in pollen and pine needles. It badly needed a cleaning so I went through it pretty thoroughly to make sure I got all the crap off of it.

Also got a new battery today thanks to the awesome warranty that costco has on their car batteries.

Hopefully ill finish sanding the wheels this week and lay down some primer and sealant.

More to come...

 

Wash the scoobie

 

The rain took care of that for me

 

shoot I find it easier to spray with a detail (or normal) spray gun over rattle can. I can control the flow better. Its a lot more work because you have to mix paints and clean the gun but to me I can get a better finish. Not sure why I have never really been able to use a rattle can very well.

 

Yeah, The wheels are just something I am looking to do inexpensively and I don't want to spend the time or money on spraying them with nice paint.

I did however test out how long my compressor can run my paint gun before it drops below 40psi of pressure. To my pleasant surprise it delivered a constant flow of 40 psi for about 4min 30sec - 4min 50sec of non stop spraying. That should be plenty of time for me to at least finish a panel at a time if not more.

After I lower the rear of the car, I will save up to buy all the paint supplies needed and hopefully have the car painted by the end of july.

 

Hooray!

So today I got some tires for my wheels. OEM 225/45/17 Bridgestone Potenza RE070 off an STi. Will have these mounted this week and hopefully have the wheels painted by the end of this week as well.

Didn't get anything done for the maxima otherwise this week, had mid terms to study for and projects to work on

Tomorrow morning my friend and I are going to attempt to lower the rear of the maxima and then I'll take the car in for an alignment. Hopefully everything goes smoothly

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4648923937/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4649542208/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4649542166/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4648923979/
More to come...

 

Well I am tired as crap right now, been doing things for the max all day.

Woke up and started cleaning up the garage so I could pull the max in to be worked on. Brian shows up to help out. We got the max in and up on stands, wheels off and got the calipers and rotors off. Then we try to take off the huge *** bolt that holds the parallel links on. I figured my Electric Impact gun would be up to the task, no cigar, so I figure the motor is probably dying from using it for the past couple years.

I then start looking around for my breaker bar, can't find it after looking for at least a half an hour. I then called Lowes to see what the warranty is on the impact gun and it turns out it is 3 years. We get to Lowes and they give me $150 cash for the impact gun.

I see a Ingersol Rand air powered Impact gun and air ratchet for $139. I'm like "oh hell yes" and buy that along with the proper fittings. Lowes FTW! We get back home and try out the new impact gun, STILL WILL NOT GET THE DAMN BOLT OFF.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4651653519/
Then I'm like screw it, we are going to do this the right way. While Brian is at work I go on a tool hunting adventure. First stop, Shucks, buy a can of PB blaster. Next stop, Harbor Freight...

I am not really sure what I am looking for other than a breaker bar when I enter the store. I get in the wrench isle and find the breaker bar, nice only $10. Keep browsing the wrench section till I come across this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4651653695/
I was like, "holy ***** this is perfect for getting the gland packing nut off!" WHAT!!! its only $20?!?! In the basket you go. I then grab a 16 piece wrench set since I lost my 17mm and could use the 22mm the set came with, only $20.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4651653827/
Get home and spray the bolts with PB blaster. Go inside and eat a sammich and watch tv for a couple hours. Brian is back from work and marvels at the tools I have purchased and we get back to work.

We got the bolts off with the breaker bar and 22mm wrench that came in the set. W00t! Get both strut assemblies off and swap the struts. The huge wrench really made it easy to get that gland nut off, W00t! Then we put the intrax springs on and got everything installed back in the car. tightened everything up and went for a quick spin, everything was solid and the car rode well.

My favorite tool of the day was most definitely the Impact gun, made life sooo much easier and more fun. Harbor Freight FTW! Lowes FTW! My friend Brian FTW!

Wheels will hopefully be finished this week, and the tires mounted next weekend.

Goodnight...

 

Nice Alex!

This thread,,,, FTW!!

 

alex you should have called the human tourqe wrench/impact gun!!

 

I found tools on my porch

 

haha, you didn't answer your phone and I was in the area so I figured I would leave them for you.

 

Was able to find some time to finish the wheels this weekend. Here are some pics.

Primer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4678146284/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4678146318/
Sealer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4677517589/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4678146462/
Color:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4678146500/
Finished with clear coat:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4677517807/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4678146608/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4678146678/
Products:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4678146730/
They turned out pretty well. I'm happy with how the paint laid down but I wish I had another can of the wheel paint, there are a few spots where it is pretty thin. The JB weld for the curb rash worked very well, can hardly tell where there was any curbage.

Tires will hopefully go on next weekend and then I'll throw them on the car and go for a photo shoot.

If you have any questions about how I did things feel free to ask.

Cheers,
Alex

 

Looks great! Man those look good.

 

That turned out great, good job Alex.
BTW Wilson has those same Potenza RE070 as you, really solid and responsive on dry.

 

nice work alex!

 

Thanks for all the compliments, tires will be mounted this week/weekend and I should have pics of the wheels on the car up by the end of this weekend as well.

 

Wow those wheels really did come out nice. With good prep you can actually pull off a nice finish with rattle can spraying. Good job man can't wait to see them on the car..

 

Just got the wheels back from being mounted, no damage to the lip from mounting.

The wheels look amazing and I am super happy with them. On with the pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4694728338/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdemarnephoto/4694095631/
Cheers,
Alex

 

I like the rear shot. They take away from the fact your spoiler has seen better days. lol! great job.

 

<drool>

 

wheels look really nice.

I am totally liking the bronze. I need to see what mine look like mounted on the car. I might even repaint them that color.