i recently received my gold crosslace rims (which i found out were not GTAs)... i have a black firebird. I want to polish and repaint them black to match my car. but, the wheel weights (little metal clips are in the way. how do i get rid of them. and, does this sound like a good process to polish the outer lip:

stripper
180 dry
320 wet
400 wet
tripoli
wax

how do you think this process will work on polishing the outer lip

 

those look like second gen wheels....

 

i believe you can just grip them with plyers and pull them off. after your done, i would have the tire shop put on some polished valve stems and have them mount the weights on the inside when they balance them.

 

whats the point of wheel weights, and are you sure i can take them off with pliers?

 

The weight will come off with pliers.The weights balance the tire/wheel combo.Just get the shop to put the weights on the inside.Those are 15X7 wheels arent they?

 

If your going to redo the entire wheel I would do the polishing last.


When sanding the outer lip, you could jack up the rear of the car, and put the wheel on. Start the car and put it in drive. Sanding made easy.

 

if you do that, make sure you take the weights and valve stems first. catching a finger on one of those would suck.

 

its called static balancing when the weight are on the inside. i worked in the tire/rim business for a long while.

 

Wouldn't they have to break the bead just to apply weights, and carefully reseat the tire in exactly the same position on the rim?

As for using the car to rotate the tires while you sand, I'd be more worried about sticking a finger into one of the crosslace openings rather than forgetting to remove a valvestem or a weight...

 

I bet they are 14X7s they look just like the ones i have only they are gold

 

Yeah i got those 14x7 crosslace rims too but those look like the optional 15x7 t/a rims

 

no, they are definetly 15x7's.... that's what is imprinted on the inside of the rim...

anyways, back to my original question.... is that process for sanding/polishing going to be good enough?

 

all they do is use a small hammer to put the weights on the rim simple as that. i worked in the tire and rim business for about 5 years so i know what im talking about.

 

You NEED to balance your wheel/tire combo. If not, you'll wear out the tires prematurely and the car will shake itself apart. The tire is mounted, then put on a balance machine. Then a small hammer is used to tap the appropriate weight onto the lip of the wheel. The bead is not broken to do this.

 

I wouldnt just put weights on the inside only. If you dont want clip-ons on the outside, use sticky weights. Static balancing isnt a very good method, both the shops Ive worked at in the last couple years dont even allow it because it doesnt take all the vibration out of the tire. If you MUST use just weights on the inside, at least find a shop with a really good balancer and get the rim/tire force matched. It may cost a little more, but its worth it.

 

I meant that you'd have to break the bead and put the tire back on in exactly the same position if you were trying to weight it on the inside. Hardly an efficient way to balance a tire.

Otherwise yes, they get hammered on along the outside. I did that countless times back in highschool. Nailing the end of your finger with one of those wheel weight hammers sure leaves a pretty mark....

 

to bad they arn't bead locks