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AkronSi

New member
My friend just got a truck with some pretty pathetic wheels. (I'm attaching a picture so you can see for yourself).



They are aluminum alloy (he thinks) with some pretty bad clear coat failure. He said that the surface is very ruff and has already used some stuff designed to remove corrosion from aluminum before he realized that it was a clear coat finish.



I thought he could stirp the clear and re-clear it with some of that Wurth stuff, or even paint the wheels silver and then add the clear.



Is this something that he can fix, or is it a lost cause and he'll have to take it to a professional?



Thanks for any info.
 

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Just get new wheels. Those wheels are not that expensive at all. We used to use those wheels when I worked for Eagle trailer making custom boat trailers.
 
*IF* he really wants to stick with those, he should get them media blasted before using the Wurth paint. IMO doing it at home (without blasting, using some kind of buffing compound instead) would take FOREVER.
 
I am the friend with the wheels :)



These are some wheels that my Dad found off an 89 Toyota truck in a junk yard. Right now I've got them on a 94 Toyota truck. The finish is really bad, and I was hoping I could just hide the fallout with some silver wheel paint from Griots. Sounds like it might be too much of a hassle, thanks for the feedback!
 
If you're not interested in polishing them and just want to paint them that's easy. Go to Wal*Mart and buy a couple cans of Aircraft paint stripper, whatever paint you want, and some steel wool. I would take the tires off before using the paint stripper as it may melt the rubber. Spray the wheels with the stripper and let it disolve the clear coat, spray off with high pressure water, use the steel wool to scuff the surface and remove left over clear. Repeat as needed.



Clean the rims very good with a degreaser or even a brake cleaner. Dry them well, this is very important for abviouse reasons. Now you are ready to paint. If you have areas you would like to mask of now is the time to do so. Paint the wheels in layers, 2-4 light coats is better then 1 heavy coat. I would lay all 4 wheels out, spray a light coat on each, let dry, and repeat untill i was happy with the results. Tip try not to load the lug holes with paint. This will cause problems when torqueing the lug nuts down. Good luck.
 
Wow thanks for the advice! Sounds pretty involved, but in the end it sounds like that would be a really effective solution.



Also what is "media blasted", I'm not familar with that term?
 
Media blasting has taken the place of sand blasting. Instead of using silica sand, stuff like walnut shells, plastic granules, glass beads, even baking soda is used. It's a lot gentler on the items being blasted and unlike sand, most of this stuff is recycleable.
 
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