I know this has been kicked around but with so much info. out there it may be easier to ask. I have the OEM 92 z28 wheels with white inserts. My biggest concern is the the white ring on the lip of the wheel. It's tiny, maybe 8th of an inch. The airplane stripper will most likey remove that paint when I try to remove the clear coat. My question is... how the hell do I paint it, once the polishing is completed? Any alternatives?? BTW... how do you polish the plastic center caps.. same as wheel?

 

You could tape off that section, just put tape over the whole area, then get a small razor blade and cut out the groove. Or perhaps you could try hand painting it with a little brush, but that might not look too good.

 

Are you concerned about removing the paint from the groove in between the lip and the spokes? If your painting again just sand it down a little and then tape off the polished part and paint... hmm Ill see if I can find any pics of mine taped up. As far as the center cap yes you just polish it lick the rest, watch out for the middle "lug" piece its plastic and can scratch kind of easily

 

I dunno if this helps but.. Primered

 

Doh! Primered..

 

Removing Tape

 

Done

 

Daddy LIKE!!
What you have completed is my goal. I may end up changing the inserts from white, to maybe gunmetal(if I can find that color of paint). BTW... what type of paint are you using??

 

Thanks for the pics... really looks good.
What type of tools did you use to get those results? I have a polishing wheel, bench grinder type. It seems I could use it for the center caps... but what about the rim? I would think a drill is better... but since you done this already, your a better source of info. What kind of sanding equipmnt did you use?
Sorry, but now that I see your pics.. I really want to get my wheels done soon.
thanks again.

 

I used a cotton polishing wheel on a drill people have used bench grinder types but I couldn't really tell you the diff since I've never used one but why polishing wheels did end up falling apart so bench grinder might be a better tool.. couldn't really say. As far as sanding equip lol, uhmm I used a 3M pad for the drill which worked good, and I also used a black and decker mouse and regular sandpaper for the crevices and the wetsanded. I think the actual sanding down of the wheel is alot harder to get it real smooth than actually polishing. Take your time on sanding at each step and you'll come out with a good product. Don't get too anctious or you'll try to go to the next step too quickly and dont realize it til further down the line and then have to go through all the steps again

 

of sand paper did you use to get the machine lines out? I have 800, 1000, and 1500. I assume this would be for the final wet sand finish. If using a heavy grit paper, do you still need the airplane stripper?

 

you can just sand it off but it takes longer, I had to do this cause my stripper didnt work so well. Use like 120 grit, then I did 320 dry and 400 wet and then emery tripoli and white rouge, if you go past 400 wet it apparently produces a cloudy effect, check out the polishing q's sticky at the top of the page theres some good post links there

 

nice verry nice



I need to repolish mine

 

Whatta ya mean re-polish??? That looks way nice
You should see mine... looks like an alcoholic with bad kidney and liver pissed all over them. My wheels look cloudy and dingy with clear coat peeling off.

 

so do mine..... That was a befor shot. this is a Now. Car sat in the snow for a yr befor we got a house with a 2car garage

 

Chris, next time you polish them bad boys up I suggest using Zoopseal on them. Then you wont have to worry about them oxidizing on ya again

 

I know this now man. back when I polished them I didnt know about zoop.

Hey hit me with a e-mail on a price to repolish and zoop em for me. I started to hit one with my 5incg pad and some white rouge and said **** this.. once was enough. I have other priorities to get done 1st but need my rims redone.