StevenK

iTrader: (1)

I'm looking for a place in Austin that can strip my 91 Red/Pink rims down to the metal, and possibly reclear, or paint them red and reclear. the only issue is I don't have spare wheels to drive on, so I would prefer it be done in hours, not days. Any ideas?

1bad91Z

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You could do that easily. Take off wheels, clean them VERY well (both sides), dry, then spray air craft paint remover on them and let them sit for a hour. Then spray off the the old paint / clear coat with a pressure sprayer, dry, and repeat process. Eventually, they will be silver and bare. Either leave them silver, or mask off the silver part of the rim and re-paint the red areas, then re-clear coat if you want.

Be sure to wear protective clothing and goggles, that stuff burns skin!

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

The problem is I can't do that in 1 day. I mean I guess I could drive my mom's car, but I figured there has to be a shop that can dip all 4 wheels at once, polish em up and reseal the rim so that I dont have problems with the wheels getting messed up later...

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

If you do it like that, then you have to have the tires taken off and after the rims are done, then the tires have to be remounted and re-balanced. $$$$$

You can do just as good of a job doing it the way I mentioned earlier. Should be able to get it done in a day.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

as far as pulling the tires off, that doesnt bother me too much because the outsides of my fronts are starting to smooth out, and they could use a rotate anyway.

So your saying you can use that aircraft paint stuff on the rim, and not damage the rubber??

plus, on all the threads and whatnot, people talk like you gotta scrub the shiat out of the rims, and it leaves scars if done wrong.....


hmmm......decisions decisions.

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

Or you can do what I'm gonna do.

I'm going to bead blast my wheels in my blast cabinet and have them powdercoated in a powder coat metallic color called mirror-silver. That color almost looks like a polished aluminum (still has the rainbow shine kinda), almost like a new factory wheel.

Or, you can clean the wheels up VERY well and just sand the red off, clean and mask the silver parts of rim and just repaint the red and clear the red only, then remove the masking tape and use a good cleaner wax on the whole wheel after paint has cured.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

so your saying its bad to clear the entire wheel?

I would think that without any sort of clear on it, the wheel will ozadize (sp?) or tend to look dirty?

I guess what I need to do is get a spare wheel that will work on front and rear (is that even possible) so that I can have 1 wheel off at a time.....or maybe do 2 on one day and 2 later, I dunno.

I'd really be willing to pay to get it all done at once.....hmmm.

HM Murdock

If you decide to paint them yourself, instead of using tape on the tires, use vaseline. It comes right off, and it doesn't leech adhesives into your side wall, which can cause dry rot...

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

I'll re-do your wheels for you for a fee, but I cant gaurentee that I can get it all done in one day and no shop that I know of will even have them done in one day. Most if not all shops will tell you to drop the wheels off (with no tires) and they'll have them done in a few days to a week.

I only said to clear the paint because the shake-can spray clear coat dulls and almost yellows the aluminum finish of the wheel.

If you strip the whole wheel and just clear the re-painted area, you can wax the whole wheel and it would look great!

Just a thought.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

What would you recommend I drive on? Know anywhere to get some cheap rims or rims/tires?

I'm leaning towards just doing em one at a time at my parents house and borrowing my uncle's powerwasher (to help with the stripping) and then just leaving em unpainted.

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

Steven, dont you have the factory spare tire/rim? If so, you could do one wheel at a time.

Just strip them to bare aluminum and keep them polished up with a good wax.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

hehe, you talking about that bike tire they put in the fender, yeah, I've got it, its never even been inflated.

I would probably be too embaresed to drive on that thing.....

How about this, is it possible to anodize an aluminum rim.....like have shiny red metal looking.......I think that would look pretty damn cool.

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

yea, it's possible, but you would have to probably anodize the whole rim and a completely red rim would look like **** IMO!

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

Well, I went and bought all the stuff to strip and repolish the rim, I'm heading over to my parents house to try it out, I might not have all the rims done before the meet, but I guess thats how the cookie crumbles.

After the rims, I might pull the rear spoiler off and prep/rattlecan it to see if I can get it closer to the car's non-faded paint. Man, if only I had the money to take it to a paint shop

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

Maaco has paint jobs on sale for 200 bucks.

But I would just leave the car alone and wait till you have the time / money to do it right.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

I've thought about Maaco.......but the horror stories scare me. On the other hand, i'll be that much more pissed when I get the first door ding on a good paintjob......

Either way, paint will have to wait for the $$$

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

Your car looks plenty good to bring to the meet!

It's really not in that bad of shape.

You should have seen my car when I first got it. (What-a-pile)!

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

okay, I took the front 2 rims off and stripped them 3 times each, used scotchbright pads, flat scraper, tire brush, and a pressure washer.

Still got a little work to do around the painted areas, but they look alot better when not a foot away. I'll probably do the rear 2 the day after x-mas and maybe have normal looking rims b4 the meet

i'll take a b4 and after pic sometime tomorow.....really easy since the front are alum, and the rear pink, dont even have to switch sides to take the picture, lol

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

yeah, when I bought mine it looked perfect, no dings, nice and shiny....bought it from older couple. They kept pretty good care of it, but as soon as the older GM paint saw the no garage life......well thats where my car is now.

I think getting the pink off my rims and shining them up, and doing something about the plastic areas of my car will definitly improve my pride in my car.

You shoulda seen me with my 92 Teal RS man, that thing got a bath like every 4 days.