I've got an 86 IROC with the stock wheels on it. They are in good shape except the clearcoat on the wheels could use a little tlc. Is there any way to redo the clearcoat on the wheels without completely stripping off all the clear and colored paint on them? Thanks for the help,
Jason

 

I justed stripped the clear off my wheels today. They had minor chips and stuff. Stripping them was really easy with stripper and I was careful not to get any on the gold (I have GTA wheels) now the problems have started. Everywhere there was a chip the rim is discolored. I read posts on here how you wet sand them then recoat the clear. I started with 400 grit then 800 grit and finished with 1000 grit .They look like crap. They are bright but some spots are alot different then others.I am can't clear them like this. I hope someone has some suggestions.

 

Sorry to hear it went bad when you tried it. Would you happen to know where, and how much it would cost to have a set of rims redone? I am going to look around, if I find any ideas I'll let ya know,
Jason

 

I have no real idea what it would cost. The guy at third gen resource told me once he had a guy who reworked rims and they came back like new. 75.00 ea. I am going to show my brother-in -law the wheels . He is a body man. I will advise.

 

I had a set of enkei 92s I wanted to get redone. They had a machined finish. They would have to be stripped and remachined witha special machine and then reclear coated. The cost fro me was $150.00 per. That was as much as they were new.

You said areas look different than other areas, how?

If the discoloration is really deep. you may have to sand deeper with a harsher grit. I have been polishing alot of items in my engine compartment lately. Some stuff took a crap load of hours to get looking good. Polishing is not easy and takes tons of time. You may just have to work them more.

 

I am also trying to fins a way to clear my rims of thier clear coat.....and get them polished

 

Alota methods for the gta rims never seem to work good. Thats why Im experimenting with 2 extra front rims I have... Im takin pics along the way, and will post any good progress!

 

Paint stripper, sandblast, Dual action air sander, 80 grit, 180 grit, paint, 180 grit, 400 grit, 1500 grit wetsand by hand, clearcoat. Repeat 3 more times.

 

Before:

 

mtccl,
Man that looks great!

 

hey mtccl, I have those wheels too! How did you paint the low spots? Did you mask the high areas and the paint, or did you paint the whole wheel, and then sand the top off? They look sweet BTW.

 

I am finally starting to get somewhere with this project. A few things I have learned the hard way.
From what I can see the stripper from Wal Marts takes clear coat off in minutes. Just brush it on and pressure wash the coating right off. Next do not wet sand. it takes forever to get any where.
My best results are to start with 400 grit paper and lightly sand around the wheel , wipping it off with a dry cloth alot. Stop and wash the wheel off with soapy water offen. This seems to clean away the sanding dust and makes it easier to sand. Next I went to 800 grit same thing sand and wash, Next I used 1000 grit. This time I used a cleaner from NAPA called wheel bright. This is an acid but it brightens up the wheel and cleans it fully. I sanded it with 1500 last. Once again I used the wheel bright ckleaner. After I washed the wheel and dried it good I used Mothers wheel polish by hand and buffed the wheel to a pretty good shine. Then I used a new buffing wheel on a drill with no polish and this really brought out the shine. It takes hours to do one wheel. Everytime I tried to use power tools (I have alot to choose from) I got into trouble. The key is time to do it right. There is no fast way from what I see. GOOD LUCK