Polycast Wheel Restoration Tips

Last winter I got a '78 AMX parts car which had a set of 4 of the polycast wheels on it.  I am not entirely sure if they are correct for the '78 but I like the looks of them so they are what I wanted to put on my car.  The issue is they needed blasted and re-painted.

I'll save the boring details but basically I took them in the sand blasting cabinet, one at a time and blasted the metal bare and the polycast to get all the loose paint off.  A coat of primer and a coat of black got me to this point.

Now, the reason I'm writing all of this is because the next step is taping off those "petals" in every wheel.  16 per wheel, 64 total.  I looked at them for days trying to find the best way to tape them so I could paint the silver over top.  I'll save you all the details of the different thoughts I had and jump right to what might have been the best "tool" purchase I've made in a long time.

This is a Silhouette Portrait cutting tool.  It cost about $130 on Amazon and is made for crafters.

I started by cutting some masking tape until I got it to fit on one side perfectly.  Once I had a perfect template of one side I scanned it into the computer and flipped it to get the other side.  Then I made another template for the top / back of the petal, and finally just a small square to cover where everything came together.  Using the software that came with the Silhouette Portrait I was able to print out perfect pieces of masking tape which made taping off these wheels a breeze!

Masking tape laid out on the mat:

Left side cuts:

Left side applied:

Right side cuts (a mirror image of the left side):

Right side applied:

Back / center cuts:

Back / center applied (finished):

Now I'm sure this product could be used to mask off anything that has to be repeated over and over.. it saved me a TON of time.  Once I had the templates set up I could mask off a wheel in about 30-45 minutes (including "printing" time).

Finished masking:

Ready for paint:

Paint:

Finished product:

Let me know if anyone has any questions on the cutting printer or the process or wants any other pictures or details.  I'll be happy to try to help.  I know there are not a ton of these polycast wheels around anymore but hopefully someone can use the method on some other project to make their life easier!

Tom