Hey guys...run into a little trouble here, wondering if anyone can help me out. I've got a set of 5 star Camaro wheels I'm stripping the paint from because they were really looking horrible. ...Now I don't know what I should do. I am going to leave them polished, not painted. But I'm polishing the WHOLE wheel. Not just the spoke faces. I'm progressively wet-sanding then polishing the wheels...but is that good enough to seal the aluminum?

I know that the areas that are cast and not machined (old painted areas) will oxidize fairly quickly without a clear coat on them. But what about after those areas are polished? Will the smooth and polished surface give enough seal to keep the wheels protected? Or do I need to apply clear coat to the wheels...and if I do...will the clear coat stick properly to a polished surface? What kind should I use?

Probably sound like stupid questions...but this is the first pair of wheels I've done this to. I have read many posts on polishing wheels...but everyone seems to be different. I have heard that you don't need to clear coat the wheels...but I'm not sure. Here's my progress so far.
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After. WOW. This is After cleaning them up, but BEFORE the actual polish. So they will look even better after I'm done. Should I leave them like this and clearcoat them, polish them more then clearcoat them, or just polish them and leave the clearcoat off? Thanks in advance guys!

 

I dont know what to tell you, but i just wanna say nice car man!!! haha check mine out!!!

 

polish will keep em shiney if you keep em cleaned and wax them. or you can get a product like zoop seal. its not cheap but it will seal the wheel after polishing. i hear it lasts about a year..

jeff

 

wait, so that second pic is after you use aircraft stripper, but nothing else!? *runs out the door to get some aircraft stripper*

i need to ditch the gold in my wheels in the worst way! then i wanna paint the center stripe black, but just leave everything else aluminum (im not patience enough to polish them)

 

I wonder if they used different paint on different rims/years... cause some pple seem to get it all off with aircraft stripper and some have to sand it away..

 

I think so man. The paint that was on the wheels was a real PITA to remove. Yes, that picture is after 3 coats of aircraft stripper, but nothing else. No polishing or anything. They look excellent, the areas where paint was are cast, not machined...so they have a slightly grey look...I will post another picture after I finish polishing them. Then they'll be REALLY Shiny.

Painting the center stripe black might look pretty good. That's a good Idea man. I might play around in photoshop later and figure out what that would look like.

"a mack6" That's nice dude. VERY nice looking car. Mine has changed a little since the pic. lowered 1 1/2" and going bra-less now, but man that's clean.

About the Zoop Seal. Thanks for that, I will look into that. You say it's not cheap...but in what respect. $50?

 

I've recoated a couple sets of aluminum wheels. Wash really good, use a brillo/sos pad to clean and score the finish, then I use duplicolor clear top coat. Get wheels in sun and warm, couple good coats and they look pretty good, sometimes really good. Any real discolored areas such as wheel weight contact areas or road rash will still show up though.

 

i just got around to stripping my wheels. heres the first one so far.



so far so good!

 

Your car is looking good...do you have a cardomain site or anything?? Im alittle envious of your car...you've got 2 things that i dont... a 5speed and t-tops!!!!!

 

Ahh Man! It might just be me...but the picture didn't come in. Good to hear you were serious about doing it, lol. Try to put the pic back up, I'm really interested to see how they are coming around. Sounds like they look good though.

Hey, thanks Mack. I'm Flattered, lol. True, I have T-Tops and a 5-Speed...but dude! You have a car that is well over 10 years old with less than 50,000 miles on it! That's Awesome! I've put that many miles on mine since 2003! lol. I'd kill to have that, lol. You've got a cherry, be proud of that.

Well, I took your idea and I'm making a Cardomain site right now. Saw your's, I'm jealous. lol. It's been a long time since I've gotten on here, so I have to play catch up. I'll give you the URL to it when I'm finished.

Advice taken Tom. Thanks. But the discolorations, etc. aren't a problem for me b/c the entire wheel is going to be polished to a mirror finish. I have the first one done (after over 10 hours in one wheel ) But they look Awesome. I'll post one final pic of them after I'm done.

 

yeah it looks like its down for me too. well heres the link.

http://roclife.perception.cc/black85iroc/stripped_wheel

 

Wow. They cleaned up nice man. You almost can't even compare them to when they were gold...

Looking good. You still painting the center stripe black?

 

well unfortunatly only two wheels came out that good. the other two no matter what i did they stayed gold (almost like the paint absorbed into the aluminum) so i have to paint everything black. im trying out this graphite colored paint i got at autozone just to see what its like. it kinda looks too light but we'll see. im accually in the middle of painting one of the wheels right NOW.

edit: heres a pic
http://roclife.perception.cc/black85...ipped_newPaint

 

YES!! Haha. Done and Done! That took longer than I ever imagined it would. But it was so worth it. Here's the wheel after about 10 hours of working it. I wet-sanded up to 800, then triple polished them (white rouge+rough sewn/ tripoli+loose sewn/ then mother's billet hand polish) They almost have that wet chrome look. most noticable on the old spoke sides where the paint was removed and polished...aftermarket wheels eat your heart out.

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Those wheels look great, both of you. I think this thread has inspired me to want to strip and redo my wheels. I still can't believe that just aircraft stripper made your wheels look as good as they did (in the first post).

92HeritageT~Top, what did yo do to the centercaps, did you just strip and polish them the same way as the wheels? Are you going to clearcoat them or not?

 

Yeah, I knew there would be that initial "Wow" factor when I was stripping them. But when I was finished and stood back...it was actually a WOW! Did I do THAT?!?!

On the center caps you cannot strip them because they are plastic...the stripper would eat them alive. Quite literally, lol. I just sanded them down also until I got them clean and smooth, then polished them just like the rest of the wheel...but you have to watch out for heat build-up with the plastic stuff.

Still doing research on the clear-coat. More than likely, I will just keep them polished and waxed really well until I can get enough dough together to have them powdercoated clear.

 

Yea, i must admit, the rims look really sharp all stripped and clean like that. Definately post pics when you get them on your car. I'm sure it'll look pretty awesome.

 

Doh , should've known that.


Anyway, I'd also love to see pics of the wheels on your car once their done. Looks like I've got some work to do as well: