Hey all, just finished a quick restore of a set of metal wheels and thought I would share some before and after pics.
First off a big shout out to
@AZ2FL for sorting me out with these... steel wheels are getting harder to find these days so I really appreciate the help!
Most of the restore steps are detailed in
@Cellar2ful 's great write-up on the blog from a couple years back:
https://weberkettleclub.com/blog/2020/09/14/restoring-original-weber-metal-wheels/Really the only difference here is that I opted to sandblast the wheels prior to painting. This CAN work fantastic (and did on this particular set) but you need to be very careful as many of the old steel wheels have grown thin over the years and you can end up doing a lot more harm than good. Just have a good look at what's in front of you and make an informed choice if the material is solid enough. I ended up having to do a couple tiny pinhole patches but I feel quite happy with the results in the end.
Here are the wheels prior to restoration:
After sandblasting there were 2 or 3 pinholes in the steel so I patched it up with some Bondo metal filler. Sandblasting works really well at stripping the wheel, but again use with caution!:
Here you can see one of the tiny repairs at right about 3 o'clock on the wheel. This filler worked extremely well - hardened up quickly and was easily sandable:
Another close-up of the sanded repair. The rough lower edges on the inside lip will not be visible once the rubber tread is re-installed onto the wheels:
Next up both sides were sprayed in multiple coats of Satin black spray paint. Note that both sides of the wheels are identical, so choose the better looking side to be facing outwards (The side you will paint the whitewall on):
I opted to mask over the entire wheel and then very carefully used a hobby knife to trim directly around the small raised metal lip. You can see I've pressed the masking tape in tight with a fingernail, then use the edge to guide your blade:
If you use a sharp blade (hobby kits work best) the stencil will come out nice and clean. Just peel back the outer ring to expose the edge you want to paint white:
I chose to tape the wheels down to some cardboard to both mask the entire lower part of the wheel I didn't want to overspray - and also to hold them in place while allowing me to turn the box for better painting angles:
Here they are over sprayed with the whitewall:
After allowing paint to dry carefully remove the mask:
And hopefully you are left with a nicely refreshed set of wheels!
Thanks again to those who helped me out with sourcing some of these older parts. They are destined for a really special grill that I hope to finally have in my hands in about 3 weeks. Full post and details to follow!
Take care,
Matt
Topic: Weber 1962-1968 Steel Wheel Restoration (Read 823 times)