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I got some aircraft paint stripper,a wire brush,and a paint scraper and started stripping my rims and the first one turned out pretty nice. I kinda like the plain aluminum look of the wheels I was wondering if they can be polished if so has anyone done this before to give some pointers? The reason i stripped them is because rats got into the box they were stored away in and peed all over them and ruined the finish so some spots need to be sanded down.
Most new car dealers use the services of a mobile wheel repair truck, that can straighten and polish aluminum wheels. An idea would be to paint the wheels with the aluminum finish they came with and then have the wheels put on a lathe and then use a fine cut across the lip and all the flat surfaces on the five blades. When finished just get some clear coat spray paint and go over the wheels before you remount them. Use a new tire valve and chrome lug nuts and these babies will look factory new.
Edpontiac91, Thanks for the input ill have to look into that.
Fireinme17, If you decide to to this with your wheels it does take some time. What I did was coated the whole rim with the paint stripper and the clear coat bubbled up. Scraped it off with a paint scraper got as much as I could off then I brushed another coat on and the paint started coming up that's when I used the wire brush to get as much as I could off that way.Once i worked my way around the rim with the wire brush i hosed it off to get all the junk off it and let it dry. After it dried I applied another coat of paint stripper and the rest of the old paint came off. It is time consuming but worth it once your finished but be careful with that paint stripper got some on my arm and started burning like a ****.
Thanks for the advice, and yeah I know first hand how these caustic products can be, I got some all over me at work cleaning the commercial ovens we have, I work as a cook, so yeah...haha.
Next you should start working with sand paper, start low grit and work your way up until you have them to a nice polish, and then you can either spray then with a clear, or paint them to match your car, either way they would look really really nice!
