Wheel refinishing

[ForgedCrank]

I'm on another quest with the money pit. I need new tires, and options are slim for 14" stuff now. So I found a set of the alloys that people call "deer print" (I have the same thing on the Ranger now, but they are 14's). they are at a boneyard on a '94 Ranger but are 15x7, just what I need. Problem is the finish is just terrible. So I wanted to ask if anyone here knows how the professional shops refinish these things. Are they painted then sprayed with clear? If so, does anyone have any info they can point me to on the process? I don't know if these things are aluminum or some weird cheap alloy. I can spray pretty decent, but I want to put something on here that will last the test of time and road salt. I'd like for them to just look the same as OEM when i'm done. looking for some general thoughts from you guys. I have the equipment, a good spray gun and proper compressor/dryer setup.
things that are most important to me is durability. I wouldn't want to use a standard clear that is normally sprayed on cars, the stuff is simply too dang soft, but I don't know what options are out there really.
Any thoughts on the proper way to do this and what materials are ideal?

This is another one of those things Iv'e never done before, but am interested in trying to DIY it, so as always, I appreciate any input or advice you all might have on this before I dive in head-first.

 

[racsan]

I have taken factory alloys (ranger rims, ‘88-‘92 era) that were badly salt & brake dust damaged, clear mostly gone. I sandblasted them with a small harbor freight setup & clear coated them with areosol duplicolor & they looked much better. Not sure how they handled time & elements as they were on a truck that later was stolen, but definitely was a improvement over how they were before. Another set of factory rims I had professionally stripped & polished, they looked great, I avoid running alloys in the winter unless they are the only wheels I have.

 

[Brain75]

I watched a ton of videos and then asked the guys at TCP Global (paint warehouse guys who is the parent behind the curtains of Restoration Shop paint. They also are the parent behind House of Kolor). They advised me that getting a "chrome" finish of paint (any type) is a system. You don't just spray some chrome and go "kooool", done.
House of Kolor makes a chrome paint that is part of their system and here it is... 1 prep - duh, prep on everything... 2 paint them GLOSS BLACK, 3 paint GLOSS CLEAR over that, 4 paint "CHROME" over that, 5 paint GLOSS CLEAR over that.

I have 3 sets of wheels to repair right now, my daily driver GM (2 bent rims - need replace), my family's '07 ranger (came with 16" and they are hated, wants to go back to 15's), and my '90 ranger (I am gonna take the 16's off the '07 after - same reason as you 14" shoes are tooo expensive.). So far I have stripped the wheels for my GM down (the junk yard donor had an off white on em - not quite GM white but might just be a faded and discolored)... If you want to sit back and wait I will be able to tell you how they turned out in a couple weeks.

Of course TCP said their paint is the best, but I am gonna try out on the GM set a rattle can enamel for the gloss black, and chrome - I read and watched a ton of videos before picking out which brand, but the clear will be Restoration Shop - I bought extra clear with my big order from TCP for the '90s new paint job.

 

[RobbieD]

I have cleaned up two sets of these same wheels. First set (15") was OK but not great; I only sanded that set.

The second set (14") turned out much better because I used Aircraft Paint Stripper to get the original clearcoat off.

The biggest problem that I found with the deer prints is corrosion spots that eat into the metal (I think that they're aluminum). The small outer rims are smooth polished but the entire dish area has fine lines in the finish, like the wheels were spun. Corrosion that's eaten into these fine lines is really hard to remove and look right afterward. I used a hell of a lot of patience, 60 grit sandpaper and various drill and hand wire brushes to get some semblance of the original lined finish back.

There may be other options with sand blasting; I've never tried that approach (yet).

I used spray-bomb wheel clearcoat on mine; brand escapes me but it was a costlier clear made for wheels.

Before and after pics of my better second set:

Not perfect, but passable for a beater. You can still see where some of the corrosion was, like around the hubcap mounting holes.

Best advice I can offer, is when you're wheel hunting try to get the ones with the least amount of the deep corrosion that spreads under the original clear. You can see what I'm talking about in my before picture.

 

[Brain75]

Sidenote on why I am doing what I am doing (it's relevant I swear)...
I am only doing the one set first (the GM's) because if I hate the way it turns out, I am just going to add a layer of GM white (the car is GM white) as that was one of the various different options they did that year "body colored wheels"... Sooo, if the results suck, I am going to breakdown on the other 2 sets and strip/polish/clear like the factory.

My GM set is a really soft Alu that had a few deep dings that would have required massive material remove so a lick of bondo and paint was really the only option. Plus, I am lazy... a scuff and shoot was going to be a lot faster than hours of polishing.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Wow, some great info. I KNEW some of you guys had probably done this before.

Brian: I think I am going to hold back and see how it worked out for you and learn all of the things you wish you had done, and the stuff you wish you hadn't.

Robbie: If I can get mine to come out looking that good, I'll be very pleased . Seems like the inside is always the worst because no one ever cleans the damned things and either the salt or the brake dust chews it's way through the coating and into the metal. Not much can be done about that so I'll just have to do the best I can with what I've got, as long as I can make the outside look pretty decent, i'll be happy.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Well, road trip today and picked up the wheels. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake, these came off of a 4x4 and I didn't realize that. I'll try to test fit one this weekend beffore I start stripping them. At the very least, i'm going to need 2 center caps without the hub cut-out. they are dirty as sin. Overall, I can't complain for 30 bucks ea

 

[rubydist]

I sanded these down and painted with Eastwood 2k rattle can paint - primer, color, and clear. They turned out pretty well and its decently durable - only one spot chipped when the guy mounted the tires and he was not particularly careful how he did things. No chipping or peeling with normal use.

 

[scotts90ranger]

4x4 doesn't matter, only time it matters is 14" ranger wheels don't fit around 4x4 ranger calipers

I've done the aircraft stripper thing then sanded then spraybombed the wheels on my '97, was a dumb amount of work since I went down to I think 600 grit paper to get the machine marks out... but it paid off, I put wheels from a '09 on my '97 to get into a matching set of 15" tires since I wanted to run 28" tires and the biggest for 14" is 27" and there's only like 2 options...

Apparently only have an after pic, they had peeling and corroding clear issues as well... I kinda wanted the deer hoof wheels but couldn't find any, you did good at that price, I think paid $80 for mine

 

[ForgedCrank]

I think they way to do this is with some sort of rotating system so I can sand them manually and try to maintain the machining pattern. It's simply too much work to remove it and try to keep the surfaces even so it doesn't look like a** when it's done and buffed up. thing is, I don't have anything like that. I'm thinking like one of those spinning tables that people make clay pots on or something.
I have electric motors laying around here, but no welder to make something. This might be a job for harbor freight. I used to be a fitter, so I've avoided those crappy welders because I know how frustrating they can be, but for home use like this, it might suffice. All I really need is to be able to tack stuff together more or less. If I could find an old cement mixer or something, I could probably mod that pretty easily. I dunno, I'm tossing around ideas on how to accomplish this. It'll be cheaper for me to just pay someone 400 bucks to refinish them, but I was really hoping to try this myself and see what I can produce.

 

[SenorNoob]

Would the newer style center caps interest you?

I have these here and am never gonna use them. I'd hate to just toss em. Four are the three clip style and the fifth is the 5 clip style. All the same from the front side.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Would the newer style center caps interest you?



I have these here and am never gonna use them. I'd hate to just toss em. Four are the three clip style and the fifth is the 5 clip style. All the same from the front side.

I'm not sure just yet. I noted that these 15's have the 3 holes with plastic inserts to accept screws so I'm wondering if my current center caps from the 14's will screw right on there. If they do, I'm going to go that route to keep it looking as original as I can. I'll be trying it this weekend when I get some time to see if they fit or not. I'm assuming thats what they are for though... even has 3 holes like the center caps.
I do appreciate the offer!

 

[SenorNoob]

Sounds like you already have what you need. The lug pattern on the wheels is the same so I bet Ford just copied the blueprint for those 3 screws.

 

[Bgunner]

No the center caps you have will not screw on. The center caps you have are meant to clip on to the lug nuts, yes they are a different style lug nut. I have a set of the deer print 14" that came stock on my truck that are the same style you have. I have yet to put the one of the other center caps on there to see if they cover the 3 screw holes but I think they will.

The big question is if the mounting surface of the proper lug nuts to hold those center caps is the same as the rims you have. There are different angles to lug nuts and if you don't have the correct nuts then you can have wheels come loose.

here is a pic of the proper center caps for those rims you have:

Be sure to allow the paint to fully cure/gas out before adding clear coat or you will be stripping the paint and starting over like I had to with my center covers.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Bgunner, he's talking about the center caps from his 14" deer hoof wheels, which will definitely work...

you might be overthinking it a bit, a wire brush on a drill would leave some machining marks, might not be even enough, but combine that with a lazy suzan spinner and a piece of plywood and I bet you could make things happen...

The newer style HFT Titanium welders are a lot nicer than the older ones, littleblueford had a bad experience with one of the flux 125 Titaniums but I've beat the snot out of my 175...