those pesky painted aluminum rims

[IRKillroy]

so I was using some paint stripper on a table I'm trying to clean up and stain... then I look at my nasty rims and ask myself... is that paint or powder coating....

well I spray the stuff on my rims and magically the stuff starts coming off!!! after cleaning the rim all the way with soap and water I bust out the mothers aluminum polish and the mini buffer ball thing and goto town... I have the coolest, shineyist rim on the planet right now!!! I feel so great that I saved money by not having to buy new rims!

 

[RangerRocker]

Very cool, aint it great when things work out. Haha.

 

[Otto]

mother's is great stuff! I use to shine cymbals, as well.

 

[koda6966]

Pics cough cough pics cough.

 

[martin]

I would need to see pictures of this.

 

[IRKillroy]

ok... I'll get them up tomorrow... or today.... crap it's 1:30am.... ok yeah, later today.

 

[Shoeboy]

That was like me this week, Sunday I scuffed a curb and messed up a new rim for the Cruiser. My rims are aluminum, but under the paint is nothing special and its a powder coat pain that is on them. I ended up repainting the one damaged rim and now you can hardly see the difference between the one that was marked up and the ones that are new. I even made a tutorial on it if anyone is interested. Don't you just love it when something works out in your favor.

 

[IRKillroy]

my paint sux and this made them look soo much better... I have scratches in them but those will eventually buff out.... the great news is the shiny new rims I have for next to nothing!!

 

[IRKillroy]

here's what it looks like to start with

then you spray on the paint remover. I used "dad's" and watch it bubble up the paint.

and then wipe it off.

here you can see my little gouges that are oxidized and stuff... but you can clearly see it's down to the aluminum and the old faded crappy looking paint is not an issue anymore... just need to polish up the aluminum now.

 

[IRKillroy]

I've got to get all those rivets off before I start to polish the rim... I did a spot and it looks pretty good for 5 min of sanding and polishing.

I'll post the next set of tires as I can get them done.

 

[RangerRocker]

Looks good. Once all the time is put in you will have some great looking "new" wheels.

 

[IRKillroy]

yeah... unfortunatly I need just one stud to have them all complete.....

and on the backside those holes have a lip on them that needs to get ground down so I can actually polish the inside.... 'cause it'll make cleaning break dust that much easier.

 

[sfwjesse]

Dont you need to reapply a clear coat after? If your taking off the original coat, i think they will corrode very quickly without it.

 

[IRKillroy]

... polished aluminum rims have a clear coat?

besides... aluminum natuarlly develops an oxidation on itself shortly after it's exposed to oxygen... this pretty much protects it (in a sense)... the only way it gets really bad oxidation is if you have it in contact with steel/iron...

 

[sfwjesse]

Not sure about the clear coat, but i assumed there was some sort of laquer finish on them because where mine are ugly looking there are clear flakes coming off.