I was on tour from one salvageyard to another in search of some parts for my cars, mainly for the Renault 21, when I spotted these Baccara wheels. They were mounted on a Clio I and since I could only see one side of the car, I didn’t knew if the set was complete.
Luckily, the car wasn’t involved in any accidents or, at least, that was not the reason which led it there, so the other two alloys were fine and I made a great deal!
By looking at these pictures, “fine” might not be the best word to describe them, but there were no cracks and apart from the old and worn rubber they were mounted on – which I will not use anyway – after a good cleaning, it will be a great period correct wheel set for the 21.
Soon after arriving home, first thing I did was to wash and scrub the best I could, but with all that encrusted brake dust and oxidation, it made almost no difference at all, so I decided to have a quote to get this problem solved all at once. Unfortunately, it turned out to be not that easy…
From a “very difficult task” to ridiculous amounts for “maybe” get the four rims in good shape again, I quickly spotted what was going on and decided to take the job myself instead. How hard could that really be?…
The journey began by placing an order for a cabinet and some abrasive compound. The cabinet was not that big, but I just wanted enough space to work one 14 inch wheel at a time and I managed to get that. Living in a remote place in the middle of Atlantic Ocean means I had to wait a couple of days, but when the package arrived, it was time to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I was very excited to try the new toys and, to my surprise, the kit was very easy to assemble, so in less than an hour I was ready to begin blasting the first one!
I was about to get surprised again, because with the right tools this is such an easy task and the wheels were becoming VERY CLEAN effortlessly! I’m glad that everyone rejected this job and some people managed to do it in a very creative way, because thanks to them I got some new toys to play with, learned something new and had a lot of fun in the process.
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