I sold my 18" Enkei Rp02's to Gregg aka tripleGmax who installed him on his civic. I picked these up locally and all four of them had some form of curb rash or rock chips throughout the wheel. Two of the tires were damn near completely bald and someone decided to take a grinding wheel to the inside portion to remove the old weights.

During the scuffing up phase:



Here you can see where the repairs began on the damaged areas:



3 of them still have a few spots that I'm working on, but one is now primered and ready for paint. I will painting them to match the original color.



Along with installing the new wheels & tires, I will be doing quite a major install this Saturday with 3G's help installing a new full suspension since my current setup has at least 3 struts that are blown. This will be suspension setup #3 since I've owned the car and this time around I went with quality parts. I've also purchased new top hats, strut bearings/mounts as well as new front sway bar end links which will aid in keeping the car tracking better.

Tokico 5-way Illumina Struts / H&R Sport Springs



EDIT:

Some people on another forum were asking me what process I used to restore the wheels, so here it is in a nutshell. I will update as the project nears completion.

1) I used regular Bondo body filler to repair the curb damage and on the rock chips that were here and there on the wheel surfaces.
2) I used a variation of sand papers, starting with 60 to knock down the Bondo'd areas. I used 180, 220 & 400 to prep the wheel surface before primer. Used 1000 to quickly sand down the primer (sandable primer). Using 1000 & 1500 to wet sand the paint. Once I clear them, I'll probably use 1500 & 2000 grit to wet sand the clear. All sanding was by hand other than the lug nut holes where I used a dremel sanding wheel to get in the holes.

 

I've gone through the OEM setup, a set of iRotors cross-drilled & slotted rotors as well as Brembo Blanks and they all last right around 30-35k miles before the shaking symptoms return. Knowing this, I decided to go to a larger setup in using the calipers & rotors from the 6th gen. Picked up a set of 2007 rotors and calipers from a MDeezy with only 18k miles. Had the rotors turned and have cleaned up the calipers prior to installing Saturday along with the suspension.

Caliper before:


After:


Pretty much my car looks like this with my kayak rack on top, so hopefully by the end of the weekend, it'll be looking, riding and braking much better. I'll keep it updated as progress continues.

 

Nice! BTW, whatever happen to the Axis rims you got from triple8sol?

S

 

Sold those to Jason aka 00MaxSE who ended up selling them to PaulPearl or something like that.

 

That's a good change.

 

Nice work so far.

I wish I had done the Illumina/HR setup intially, the eibachs really are a rough ride

 

i had the illumina/h&r setup, bought new, still was very rough even on the softer settings. I got rid of it soon after. I cant imagine eibachs being much worse in the comfort section. My tein SS have been by far the most comfy setup by far. Atleast the H&R/illumina setup handled nice

 

Sounds like fun weekend to come

What pads are you going to use? If you haven't bought any steer away from Axxis, yes they don't dust much but their bite is pitiful compared to HPS when hot.

 

I'm on the H&R / Illumina setup now, rides quite nicely.

Looks as though you and I are in the same boat, I've got hella maintenance to do in a few weeks as well. Looks good, Tim.

 

I need to refinish my wheels, but i don't think i'm going with the same color

 

Nice work Tim! You're going to like everything about your new setup.

 

Will your winter steelies clear the 6th gen brakes?

 

How are you fixing your rims, what products r u using? Does anyone knows where to find a matching or close color for the G35's.. I have to do the same with my G35 ones... too many scratches.... nice set up going to your car... goos luck

 

 

No, 17" wheels barely clear the calipers, so my steelies/blizzaks will be up for sale before long and I'm shopping for 18" wheels with some winter tires.

 

Making some progress on the wheels.

First coat:





Worked on the other three while the first one is drying. There was a bit of damage in the lug holes as well.



Trusty DeWalt with dremel attachment

 

2nd Coat:



3rd Coat:

 

 

niceee

 

cant wait to see finished product looks awesome.

 

Just a few more pics.

 

nice job!

 

You want to recondition my rims, Timmah?

 

What did you use to fill the spots with?

 

Sure, I'd be happy to. When you coming to town?

 

This has inspired me to fix and recoat my wheels tomorrow lol

 

Now make it shiny!

 

Come to think of it, I don't know that it is ever safe for someone from "that school up north" to come into your town. Ever.

 

OMG fight!

 

 

what is the jb weld for?

 

I thought about using that first to repair the damage before I found that using the Bondo would do the same job.

 

Looks fuzzy

 

just did the same process to my g35 spokes, should have some pictures posted soon. went with the "bronze" color...

 

Nice job Tim. It seems many of us 5th gen owners are entering that second stage of mass maintenance that is required at the 125k-150k mark. My laundry list grows every week or so.

 

I'm working on it. Needs a few more coats, wet sanded, then cleared.

Agreed. Coming soon is the plug/coil change. I also have a REALLY rusted fuel filler neck which has been throwing evap codes for a while. I have a new neck to install, just have to find time to do it.

118k and still going strong though. Figure that's why you hold on to a car with no payments, so you can invest that money into upkeep and repairs

 

Sorry, I missed this one.

Not sure which I'm going to use, but I've had pretty good luck with OEM pads. I may just go that route.

 

Get some ceramic pads.

 

everything looks good....

..time to get NWP spacers!!

 

Now that the suspension is done, I can get back to work on the wheels. The other 3 are finally done with touch-ups and I have moved on to the primer coats.