The only disappointment with the spider were the 2 right side wheels. When talking to the owner by phone, I asked if there was any curb rash on the wheels. He said no. Technically he was correct but I discovered both rt side wheels had clear coat that was chipping off when I got there. Surprise! When I buy a Wheeler Dealer car, I estimate and budget the known items. But I've learned to expect a $1K surprise. These wheels would chip away at the surprise est.
Normally I take my wheels with curb rash to the shop in Benson (a community in north Omaha) for refurb. Been about 5 yrs since I last visited them, but usually it was $120 to fix and clear the curb rash on a wheel. These should be simple since they just needed clearing. Put both wheels in the back of my Cayman and took them down to hopefully drop them off for repair.
They said they could fix them for $350 per wheel! Holy crap! I know it's been a few yrs but that was ridiculous. They said the wheels were 'diamond cut' and that's why they were expensive. I loaded them back up into the Cayman and brought them home. Not going to spend $700 on a pair of wheels.
So I ask a few friends for other options. One suggestion is a guy who's business is to travel to dealerships and fix their wheels. I send him some pics and he immediately comes back saying those are diamond cut and he doesn't do them, contact the Benson shop. When I told him the price they wanted, he was shocked.
Next I do some youtube research. There are plenty of vids by British guys fixing diamond cut wheels with a dual action sander and then a rattle can of clear coat. The wheels all turned out looking great. If the Brits can do it, so can I.
I spent the better part of 10 days trying to find the right combination of sand paper that was rough enough to get the 2 layers of clear off w/o putting deep scratches in the wheels. Then follow with finer and finer grit paper. Very time consuming and pushes your patience but I got a wheel finally done and ready to hit with clear. Figured I better work on 1 wheel and see how it goes before tearing into the 2nd. Here it is, ready for clearing.
Had an idea to call an air brush painter and see if he would be interested in applying the clear coat. Nope. He doesn't do diamond cut wheels, call Benson. He too was shocked at their price est.
So I set up a 'paint booth' in the tool room of my basement.
Put light coats on with 5-10 min between coats. Probably put 8-10 coats on. Doesn't look great, but maybe will look better after drying overnight. Nope. The clear seemed too thin and didn't seem to create any shine. Defn not the results the Brits got. And it took 2 days to get the smell out of my house.
Close up. Not easy to see, but not up to standards.
I packed them back into the Cayman and headed to Benson with hat in hand. That was last Thu and they est having them done Tue or Wed. Both of those days came and went, but they called today saying the wheels were done. Headed to Benson and picked them up. Yes indeed, they look like new and have an excellent shine.
With the conv top done on Mon and the wheels done today, I should be done with any big ticket items left on the spider. Now just need to polish and detail, then stick a For Sale sign on her.
But first, I signed up for the DE side of the Club Race / DE at COTA on the 24th & 25th. Gotta put the spyder aside and get Sydney ready for the trip and track. Can't wait to drive there again - my fav track and haven't been there since 2017.
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