I would like to refinish my 16" IROC wheels and wanted to kno how i could do it here at home... they dont really shine and i think that the grey veins would look better black... how would i do this and how hard would it be? by refinishing would it make them shine again? thanks

 

I had the outer part of the rim polished then I cleaned up the insides and resprayed them charchol grey.

 

so did you take it to a shop to get polished or what? I heard that sos pads will clean up the wheels some... (mine arn't the cleanest) but when i wash the rims it wont come off... mabye if i lightly go over them with SOS pads it might clean off the wheels and make them shiner. you think that would work? if you took them to a shop about how much it run you? thanks man

 

I took them to a shop about 5 years ago and had it done, at the time it cost me 50 a rim to have the outer face polished. I painted the rims myself w/ a HVLP spray gun. I never had mine clear coated afterwards, I just use the buffer and polish them if they are getting dull.
Cleaning up the coating that you have on the outer face is a challenge. I'm not sure what you can do about the stains or if they will come out.

 

I'm in process of polishing mine. I'm going far with it, and it's alot of work, but you don't have to go so far to have nice looking rims.

I'm taking aircraft stripper to each rim - get a gallon can at WalMart for $8. Brush it on, let it sit about 30 minutes, hose it off. Repeat 2-3 times, until you get all the clearcoat off - a toothbrush also comes in handy.

You can stop there, and just polish with a jeweler's rouge and a rag (White Diamond is amazing, $20 a bottle through a local distributor you have to locate, but it goes far, and it's amazing). However, mine have some curb rash, and other scratches, and I want the entire rim to shine like chrome.

So here's the hard work - sanding. Like I said, I'm going full bore, which will take me months to complete - I'm sanding out the machine tool lines on the faces, as well as the sand casting marks inbetween the spokes. I'm starting with 120 on the sand castings, working through 220, 400, 600, 1000, and finally 2000 grit - then the rouge/polish with a rag. You can just sand the flat facings with 400, 600, 1000, and 2000 (which might take a day or two per rim), and polish - and they shine like chrome. It's the "holes" between the spokes that take the big work.

I did one spot, from 120 to 2000 wetsanded, then the rouge polishing, and it was amazing. Another thing - do the job you have time for today, you can always go back later and sand finer and finer as you have time. I'm going back today to just the faces for now, and I'll tackle the rest later - it'll always be there, at whatever stage I leave it at. In other words, you can sand all 4 rims with 400 and polish with metal polish/rouge today, and tomorrow you can redo with the 600 - each sanding just removes the polish, which is only a 30 minute job to do over.

 

thanks man, 2 of my rims have some major crub rash... but i used an sos pad to get some of the grime off and then turtle wax foaming rim cleaner and it looks a little better... but i will have to try that man. thanks a lot

 

please post pictures

 

some aircraft coating remover,600grit wetsand paper..along grooves..meguires hot rims aluminum polish..and black paint...25 mins a rims

 

If the curb rash is really bad you will be better off replacing the wheels. Sanding will only take material off, you can't add it back once it's gone, so you will have noticeable low spots where the curb rash was.

 

They look good - wish I had the easy ones - mine are the double slotted rims. And I'm sanding out the machining grooves and I want the triangles inbetween spokes smooth too - so I have alot of work ahead of me. I finished one today - just the flat areas and the outer edges - looks great except where I started to do one triangle hole and didn't finish, and the rest still have the sand cast lol. I'll finish the other three like the first in time to go to Carlisle - the rest will still be there when I have time.