I just sent a set of wheels to a shop to be polished out and was notified that the rims were anodized. I used aircraft paint stripper on them and except for the center section paint coming off(GTA style wheels)everything else stayed the same. Is there a chemical out there that will remove anodizing? Could it possibly be sanded off without damaging the wheels? Someone help!

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Mongoose-NCTGA-1990 Pontiac Formula/305 TBI-700R4 with Edelbrock Performer TBI intake,TES headers,and STB,K&N,MSD-6AL,Holley laser shot coil,Accel Extreme 9000 wires,Jet Stage 2 chip,TCI shift kit with corvette servo,Richmond 3.73 gear with Auburn 3 series posi,high flow cat,SLP 3" cat back,Eibach sportline springs,Energy Suspension poly throughout,Lakewood LCA and adjustable panhard bar package,SSM subframe connectors,IROC wonder bar,Tokico 5 way adjustable struts and shocks,Autometer electric fuel pressure gauge,Alpine,JL Audio,MB Quart,92 GTA taillights,92 GTA aero wing and hatch,Steve Spohn LCA relocater kit and torque arm,MacEwen White face gauges,84 T/A cold air induction air cleaner,Grant Formula GT wheel.

 

http://www.caswellplating.com/frames...=/aluminum.htm

check there. if you see at the bottom they have a solution to remove it for 38.00

Not sure how it works. You'd think a company that does things to wheels would know how to remove that stuff.

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If you check around, a lot of guys have polished their own rims, but I've never heard any mention of them being anodized. Maybe these guys don't know what they are talking about. Even if they are anodized, I don't see why they don't just polish it off.
Anodizing is just a coating and will wear off.

 

I don't understand the whole concept behind anodizing but I have talked with several metal finishing companies and they all say that it must be removed before polishing and chemically seems to be the only method worth the effort. I checked with Caswell from the links above and I'll be using their products for this.


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Mongoose-NCTGA-1990 Pontiac Formula/305 TBI-700R4 with Edelbrock Performer TBI intake,TES headers,and STB,K&N,MSD-6AL,Holley laser shot coil,Accel Extreme 9000 wires,Jet Stage 2 chip,TCI shift kit with corvette servo,Richmond 3.73 gear with Auburn 3 series posi,high flow cat,SLP 3" cat back,Eibach sportline springs,Energy Suspension poly throughout,Lakewood LCA and adjustable panhard bar package,SSM subframe connectors,IROC wonder bar,Tokico 5 way adjustable struts and shocks,Autometer electric fuel pressure gauge,Alpine,JL Audio,MB Quart,92 GTA taillights,92 GTA aero wing and hatch,Steve Spohn LCA relocater kit and torque arm,MacEwen White face gauges,84 T/A cold air induction air cleaner,Grant Formula GT wheel.

 

Jestco Products, 1 888 581 1655 / 864 845 6311 has an anodize remover in their catalog, 16 oz, $8.00, gal, $32.00.
It's a powder you mix with warm water.
I haven't used it, just passing the info, but I have used & been well satisfied with their other products.

 

I just did a search on anodizing and ended up finding this really old post..so I figured I would give some info. Anodizing can be removed with "Easy-Off" brand oven cleaner. It is a very strong acid (sodium hydroxide I think) and eats away the oxidation on the surface of the aluminum. Anodizing is actually a process that "dyes" the oxidation on the surface of the aluminum. It is a PITA to sand off because the anodizing is actually harder than the aluminum itself. So like I said, to get it off you can buy a can of Easy-Off for $2, spray it on, let it sit for about half hour and then rinse it off and hit it with some steel wool, it may take a couple of repeats to remove it all but it will be ok. Just a word of warning, when you let the oven cleaner sit on the aluminum it will turn it an ugly grey color, but that sands/polishes right out. Hope this helped a little.

 

yeah just use over cleaner, dosent even have to be a certain brand