Brushed aluminium A8 wheels on the Audi TT

Wheels make a real difference in appearance and the 17" ones that came with my TT (two sets, really) are not up to par.

The 3.2 V6 came originally with 8x18" wheels and I feel that size is the one that looks best on the car. Although you could claim bigger is better, I did not want to go higher than that at this point. In the future, we'll see.

Since the idea of this project is about restoration, I sourced a set of used wheels for refinishing. You could easily go ahead and buy new ones, but that would defeat the purpose somewhat.

The project wheels are Audi A8 replicas, German Tomason TN2 with dual bolt pattern, 112/100x5 and an offset of roughly 35. The wheels sit rather tight with only about 4mm clearance between the inside of the rim and the suspension.

The used wheels are straight but with the usual amount of curb rash and the original paint flaking severely (see closeup). Also, the original tone of Antrazit does not match the TT's black theme. So I'm thinking we need to paint these over.

Having painted wheels in the past, it can be difficult to make the paint stick on alloys in actual use. When you have wheels professionally refinished, they are powder painted at high temperatures. This results in a harder surface. Painting wheels with traditional aerosol paint cans easy but can also flake more easily in case of contact or rock chips etc.

So this has me thinking. Since the Audi is almost completely black paint or brushed aluminium, why not make the wheels like that as well. Even though the aluminium parts of the wheels originally had a paint coat over them, underneath the paint is a smooth aluminium surface. Decided to let that show.

I sanded the wheels and center covers all over to remove any clear coat and paint from the surface. The two-tone parts I painted with semi-glossy black paint. The silver parts are plain aluminium, brushed with steel wool, with everything clear coated to protect the surface from oxidation.

The paint came off fairly easily with the small sander I have. Quite a bit of time and a number of sanding paper sheet were needed though. I did the sanding in phases, using 80, 120, 240, 320, and 800 grit sand paper and finally grade #000 steel wool.

The end result is nice I think. The wheels look nice in proportion with the car and the two tone color scheme is looking smooth.

The amount of sanding was enormous as I wanted to even out any scuff marks and substantial scratches from the surface. You cannot fill them with putty if there is no paint to cover that. On the upside, if the wheels do get scratched again, there is no paint to flake.

This is the end result with center caps in place.