stripping clearcoat and polishing

[4play]

my rims are looking pitted and I was wondering if anyone has ever stripped the clearcoat off, sanded te rims down and did a gloss polish, how would this turn out?

[guspech750]

I would think one would have to strip the rim of its finish and then have it highly polished for that mirror like shine.

I have never done it.
Good luck

[4play]

found a guy that would strip and polish for 50 bucks per rim.

[bob6364]

thats cheap....wicked cheap

[johnnyrauder]

i would have it done in a ny minute for that price

[ImpalaSlayer]

yeah very cheap, that seems like it would be a huge pita

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

The problem is that doing this will require a LOT of maintenance unless this is a sunny-day only, garaged car. I have had bare aluminum wheels and they are a huge pain to keep up with. If you are ever going to drive in salt especially, I would think this would be a really bad idea.

[courtmarshall]

I have had it done. I will see if I can post some pics. Maintenance is not bad. I have unlimited car wash pass so the rims are cleaned 2 times per week minimum. The other pictures in the gallery have a side by side comparision. The one on the right is the stripped and plished one.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/showimage.php?i=14904&catid=member&imageuser=6778

[CRUZTAKER]

The problem is that doing this will require a LOT of maintenance unless this is a sunny-day only, garaged car. I have had bare aluminum wheels and they are a huge pain to keep up with. If you are ever going to drive in salt especially, I would think this would be a really bad idea.

Agreed.

Once the clear coat is removed and NOT replaced, the finish will never hold.

[4play]

I have had it done. I will see if I can post some pics. Maintenance is not bad. I have unlimited car wash pass so the rims are cleaned 2 times per week minimum. The other pictures in the gallery have a side by side comparision. The one on the right is the stripped and plished one.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/showimage.php?i=14904&catid=member&imageuser=6778 wow that looks really good. the guy that would do it he has a company, "Ace polishing" and his service is actually mobile, so thats 50 per rim to come to my place while I sit on my ass and drink beer watching him from my porch lol he also told me that he's not a fan of clearcoat aslong as every month or so run some aluminum spray on wheel cleaner they should look good for up to 2 years aslong as I dont use them in the winter. which I dont since I have steelies and snow tires. also there are wheel clearcoat sprays I cold buy but i'm not sure how long it woud last.

[Stoneblue]

A member recently inquired about outfits in Central Florida that could (hard?) anodize wheels for him. I wonder how they turned out and if he would be kind enough to post a photo or two?

[4play]

also I heard if you keep a good coat of wax on them tha helps too.

[omarauder]

Clearcoating would work if you could find out what stuff the OEM uses, that stuff seems to be very durable to daily driver use. Except for scratches obviously. It also does not seem to react to Ultaviolet light (turn yellow or disintegrate).

[Big Black Beast]

If you just polished the regular ones, wouldn't it almost look as good?
IMHO, I don't think the difference is worth the hassle & upkeep.

[4play]

nope, once you get rock chips in the clearcoat or like mine from gravel roads "roadrash" th starts corroding under the clearcoat and turns dull and *****y looking. the spokes and center of the rim looks pretty good, but around the outside rim and the corners where the spokes meet the outside of the rim is quite pitted. I tryed alot of different products but it still looks crapy. so i'm going to strip the clearcoat off, sand down the the rough parts of the rim annd do a high gloss polish with a highspeed buffer. I called wheelworks here and they told me for those king of rims theydo a clear powder coat that is just as good if not better then the factory coating. but he wants 130 bucks per rim to do that. so i'm just going to strip and polish as long as i keep my car clean and dont run the alloy's in the winter I should be good for 2 years if i keep a coat of way on them. then just run the highspeed buffer over them again and they will be good for another 2 years. plus like in that picture that courtmarcial posted, they look alot better unclear coated then clear coated

[4play]

just an update. sanded one of my rims down, actually half of one, took like 2 hours, but anyway sanded it down got rid of the pits, finnished the sanding with 2000 grit then polished it with mothers alloy polish, and all I have to say is wow, it is a mirror a super dark shine like no other lol even compared to a brand new marauder rim it makes the new rim look milky i cant believe how good it looks... but i'm going to get some aluminun paint stripper tommrow, way too much work sanding. i'm not going to get them clear coated, their summer only rims and aslong as you keep them clean and waxed i should only have to polish them once a year.

[markilla]

I am doing something similar with my marauder wheels, but mine are alot more work. Mine are a full set of factory spares that are painted black. Since the finish on the spares is coarse there is alot more sanding involed, i've got one pretty much done now. I also used that mothers aluminum wheel polish and WOW! I'm going to clear coat them once the warmer weather arives. I'll post some pics when i'm not busy.

[markilla]

here are some pics of mine so far, they aren't great quality.
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt290/GGG_/101_2502.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt290/GGG_/101_2506.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt290/GGG_/101_2509.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt290/GGG_/101_2513.jpg

[4play]

dont clearcoat them! it will look like Shiot in no time. get them clear powder coated it will last forever...almost.i just stripped and cleaned the inside of the rim and sprayed clearcoat on that. it's rough so clearcoat will hold. the shiney polished surface wonthold a clearcoat for long.

[markilla]

Alright thanks