I just bought a set of the 91-92 16 inch wheels. I have a couple of questions.

The clear coat is chipping off in some areas. What should I do about this? I thought about polishing the rims. Can I just use the spray can clear coat?

The inserts are painted red. I want them to look all silver. WHats the best way to remove this? Stripper? Would it hurt the rim at all?

I dont have the correct center caps. I have the truck ones. Where can I find the caps for a reasonable price?

Thanks for any advice.

 

should be able to get the caps at your local chevy dealer...i hear that early 4th gen center caps will work to. I dont see why paint stripper would hurt alluminum. I hope you didnt pay to much for them sounds like you have a set of project rims. I about got 91-92 rims but sound my Impulse (paintball gun) and decided to buy TT IIs instead of staying in tournament paintball. the rims are bad***

 

To remove the clearcoat and paint, try Aircraft Remover from Wal-Mart. Spray it on, wait 10 mins and scrape off the clear. You'll probably have to repeat on the painted parts. Then I would polish them but I wouldn't re-clear them cause then they won't look as shiney. Good luck!

 

Yeah, I thought they would rust, but my friend told me alloy or whatever that is doesnt rust. I will try the stripper. Wish me luck. Pics will follow.

 

If funds allow you might want to have the rims balanced and made sure they are sound before mounting tires on them. I bought the same rims a while back. Ends up one of them had a wobble, one was bent, and the other two were relatively okay. Here is a picture of mine before (seller's picture) and after (my picture).

Before:


After:


Tires (Bridgestone Potenza RE730 P245/50ZR-16)


Be sure to show us some pictures when you're done!!

 

Beware... they are on the expensive side. I heard they retail for around $80 or so from Chevy. I bought a brand new set of 4 off E-Bay for $55.00 plus shipping. And they did come on the earlier 4th generation Camaro's, so they won't be hard to find, but the price is the one thing. What I did was search for "Camaro Center Caps" or something like that on EBay.

 

I've had one of my IROC rims polished for a while now, and no rust. The other one has been polished for 2 weeks and no rust.

 

Well I am going to the store for the supplies so I'll post pics along the way. I'll try e-bay. Thanks

 

i checked on the caps for my stock 15x7 rims and the center caps were 19$ a piece. they arent the same tho. Im so glad i got rid of those ugly grey painted 15x7s...with the polished TT IIs it looks like a different car completely.

 

Current generation Impalas and Monte Carlos have center caps that will work also (depending on wheel option, of course). The Impalas have a red bowtie in the middle and the Montes have a silver one.

 

About the center caps, you can search on e-bay but also check
out the classified section on the sight. Search for center caps
and there are always some people selling extras. By the way
good luck polishing them and the stripper will not hurt the
aluminum. Also when you strip the red paint the aluminum
under it will be silver like you want. I am doing the same thing
but don't know if I am going to paint the inserts a charcoal color
or just leave them the color of the aluminum.

I am buying a set of extra caps from Bottledzr28 I think, for $50
dollars for all 4. I think he has a couple other sets of them too.
His e-mail is bottledz28@aol.com, I know that they are used but
if you polish your rims your probably going to want to polish the
center caps as well. I put a center cap on after polishing one of
my 91 z28 rims and it was so much more dull it looked strang.
I then polished the cap with the same process as the rim and
it looks great. Even though the caps are primarily plastic there is
a ring of aluminum around the center "camaro nut" with the
bowtie and chevrolet stickers on it and this is what I polished.
I will be posting some pictures of the finished products soon.
Good luck again with the rims

 

Ok, Thanks for the advice guys. I went out and attempted it. When I sprayed the stripper barely and red came off and I spent about 2 hours just to get about half the red off one rim. Is there a simplier way? But the rest looks like it should clean up pretty well. Thanks guys.