How to paint fake splits

[cwspellowe]

Hi fellas, will be updating this as I go along, but here's a quick guide for how to PROPERLY refurb fake split wheels and try and make them look half decent!

Right, the problem with fake splits is that the bolts can't be removed, so to paint them you have to pick a masking line away from the bolts. Or paint the bolts too. And that would look crap. Or you could always mask up each of the 30 fake bolts PER WHEEL which, unless you spend years doing it, would also look crap.

If only there was a way to paint the centres as if they were actual two or three piece splits?

Here's the wheel in question. That cheap knock off basterd.





I got a bit carried away today, picked up an 8mm 12 sided socket and thought "hmm, wonder if these are plastic lugs screwed in?"

They aren't.



Snap, dead. Superglue the head back on? Wait a minute..

Turns out that yes, as suspected, they're plastic lugs that are supposed to look like real bolts. And they seem to be glued in pretty well, so they don't pull out and as soon as they twist they snap. But if you take a 6mm drill bit to what's left after snapping the head off...





Here's the wheels all drilled out. Really soft plastic so was a piece of piss removing them all, some even pulled out whole! Loads of plastic swarf everywhere though!

Here's a tip too - use a drill bit for wood, the ones with the bayonet like part at the end of the bit. Helps to centre the drill on the lugs so you don't skew off and destroy the edge of the alloy.





Now start masking up. I found the easiest way for these was to mask all round the edge, then CAREFULLY running a craft knife around the edge of the "barrel" and peeling off the unwanted masking tape. Then just battered bin bags over them to cover the lips and tyres.

Here they are with primer already misted onto them





Then we start adding some colour. I'm using Halfords' own "Diablo Red", apparently, but I've found with a white primer instead of red it looks even LESS like Diablo, and more candy. Result.

Bit of basecoat





Aaaaand then start adding the clear. Lots of clear. Lots of clear is good for two reasons - depth, and flattening. Means if you get any runs you can sand and polish them back, and when shiny they give a HUGE amount of depth to the colour







Then when you're all done, like with my 8 coats or so of clear, off with the masking and look at your nowhere near finished yet a different colour already wheels!





Sorry about the photo quality, camera was set to auto and I had f*ck all natural light left so they've come out pinky. Will get some decent pics in the sun (if it even exists any more?) and post them up.

Now to wait for the bolts...

[4WayDiablo]

Bloody good idea! Will look the shiz too!

[cully]

why dont you blind tap the hole and locktite some anodised alloy cap head screws in there
which is sorta what you said lol

[Matt]

Hmmm wonder if my lensos are they same. If its a plastic cap I'll whip them off. What to replace with though. And where to get them from haha

[cwspellowe]

I'm looking into plating now. If I get proper bolts for BBS' etc, they're about £1+ each. So for 120 bolts that's a bit more than I fancy spending!

Can get 150 stainless M6x10 bolts on eBay for about £18. Stainless will look good but would rather have gold, or even yellow zinc + oil for that rainbow look...

[Seid']

yellow bolts with the center in candy red <3

[kingy]

never thought of doing this. suppose you could even fill the somehow and spray over the lot. good idea though mate.

[tomcannon]

There going to look proper nice! I look forward to seeing the estate come together.

[cwspellowe]

Gah not enough natural light so struggling to get a good picture of the colour

Anyway just updating the first post with more pics and stuff

[cwspellowe]

First post updated

[Foxy-jim]

Looks decent mate! Would be good to see the results!

[kingy]

done a sound job their mate. gonna look mint.

[Fozzy]

Doing a good job there, i would have been tempted to fill the holes in.

Do the holes go all the way through?

[Kezzieboy]

Now, stop me if I'm wrong, but surely you've painted too much?

i.e.



The bit where the bots go through is part of the outer lip and so would stay polished?

Look awesome nonetheless, need some fancy bolts to finish them off, I'm saying gold FTW

[Foxy-jim]

The original colour has the bit where the holes are painted too!

[Dan!]

Now, stop me if I'm wrong, but surely you've painted too much?

i.e.



The bit where the bots go through is part of the outer lip and so would stay polished?

Look awesome nonetheless, need some fancy bolts to finish them off, I'm saying gold FTW

Depends if they are 2 or 3 piece splits. The ones you posted are 3pc

[Toms306]

Never understood the point of splits lol, why would you want a load of bolts spoiling your nice smooth wheels!? :?

Anyway, the paint looks good so far mate.

[Foxy-jim]

Split rims are amazing! End of!

[Connor]

Split rims are amazing! End of!

Theyre really not, but each to their own lol

[Chris]

Depends if they are 2 or 3 piece splits. The ones you posted are 3pc

Not completely accurate that, it depends if the centers are sandwich or face mounted.
But as a rule, most 3pc are sandwich mounted and most 2pc are face mounted.

[Dan!]

Depends if they are 2 or 3 piece splits. The ones you posted are 3pc

Not completely accurate that, it depends if the centers are sandwich or face mounted.
But as a rule, most 3pc are sandwich mounted and most 2pc are face mounted.

Yeah I know, didnt want to get too detailed though considering most people on this forum dont go any further than cyclones

[Kezzieboy]

I see, fair enough, looks better sandwich mounted then

[Toms306]

Split rims are amazing! End of!

Theyre really not, but each to their own lol

Haha, agreed!

[Foxy-jim]

Hmmm...

[cwspellowe]

Kezzie, cheers for pointing that out

As said, 3-piece splits tend to have the polished lip as the outermost piece so would be coloured differently to mine. TBH going off the detail on the wheels it looks like they're 2-piece style reps as the part i've painted red has been made to look like one piece, with the lip appearing to bolt behind it.

Don't get me wrong, genuine splits are full of win but also major $$$$. This isn't a guide to make fake splits look like real splits, it's a guide to strip down a fake split so you can make it a little more presentable. Just highlighting things like that the bolts can be removed so you can paint easier and/or customise more, a lot of people would be reluctant to rip off the bolts if they couldn't be replaced

[cwspellowe]

Bolts are here, all 140 of them. They're stainless steel, but do I keep them silver or paint them gold?

[kingy]

silver has win written all over it.

[Curt]

These look awesome, I think gold would look sweeeet . I'm tempted to refurb my centres gold at some point, I'll have to see if my "bolts" are the same... Will come in handy if that's the case

[Foxy-jim]

Silver bolts and polished lip!

[cwspellowe]

Hmm think am swaying towards gold bolts and gold callipers. Hammerite smooth gold looks lovely, durable too!