Allright, here's one for those with RPO code PEO, 16" Deep Dish High-Tech Turbo Wheels. AKA---Formula wheels.

Anyone restored the original finish of these? I have an extra set and am experimenting just for fun. I stripped the clearcoat and worked in a few coats of Mother's Metal Polish. I am looking for the brand-new Factory appearance. I don't want them to at all appear high-polished. I got a little carried away, and one part came out to be too polished.

I am wondering if I should reclearcoat them, or just leave them slightly polished.
It's been a while since I've seen Formula wheels that are in perfect shape. Anyone have any real good pictures?

Thanks again,
Mark

 

By all means re-clear them. I'm going to be paying about $500 to have my wheels professionally stripped, cleaned, and re-cleared. I'd also like to get ahold of some of the original barcode stickers with the GM P/N that you stick on the rim just to get that new factory look...

 

I like the barcode sticker idea. Let me know if you find any!
I was planning to pay aaarims, $640 for a refinished set, but then I realized that what they do is what I've already done. Just as professionally.
Are you going to do the wheels on the GTA? Those would be harder than mine, but still could be done. I am actually very impressed by how much better my test wheel looks from just having the discolored clearcoat removed. Underneath is perfect aluminum, I reclearcoat these and I have a perfectly finished set of wheels!
Aircraft Remover is some seious stuff, that's all I got to say.

So why do you think I should reclear them? For appearance or longjevity?(sp?)

 

Most importantly it protects the rim and the finish from the elements, it also gives it a completly factory shine.

Yes I'm having them do my GTA wheels. I'm not having them re-powder coat the gold center but I having them remove ALL of the clear, clean them, and re-clear them. It's going to be $549 w/shipping for me. If I can find an NOS set I would easily pay $800+ and then sell my set to help with costs...

 

I spent a long time working on my 91 Formula wheels... they were black when I got them. Lots of scrubbing with WD40 and 000 steel wool got the brake dust off and gave them their proper luster. I also polished them with nevrdull and mothers aluminum wheel polish. Cleaner Wax also works well. The clearcoat needs to be cared for the same as the paint on the car.

 

You might be able to repro the bar code label yourself. I've never seen the bar code you're talking about, but there is shareware barcode software available and you might be able to make one that looks pretty close.

 

92GTA, if you were to get a NOS set from a dealership, last I checked my cost on Formula wheels was $485ea, and that was about 3 years ago.
I agree with the Mothers metal polish, I've done that to my test wheel and got carried away. I just need to find the right combo of polish and clearcoat to give them the absolute factory appearance.
Not really worried about the clearcoat protecting the wheels because the car never sees any elements. I like the way they look stripped with a few coats of Mothers, but I think that a coat of clear is in order because they just look too high-polished, even after just 2 coats.
I'll get this done in the next few weeks and let you know how it looks, I'll try to post some pics too.