Removing wheel paint

[Danin Re]

Sooo.... the ******* who owned my car before me had the stock wheels painted black. While I like them black, he, or whoever he paid to do it, did a really bad job. Where the paint is coming off, you can see that the wheels were not sanded or primered. Not only that, but they painted over the balancing weights and then the wheels were re-balanced somewhere along the line, so there are nice silver weight shaped marks on all four wheels as well.



I'd like to get the paint off, but I'd prefer not to sand as I'd like to return them to stock without ruining the finish. Is there something that I can use to remove the paint? Will paint thinner do it without being too harsh on the wheel itself? Anything else that would work without ruining the wheels?



Thanks for any suggestions.



Kevin

 

[MikeN]

Media blast perhaps? Do you know if they are painted, powder coated, polished, etc under the paint?

 

[kompressornsc]

I assume they are either painted or cleared underneath the black paint? Aircraft stripper will take paint off, but down to bare metal. No way to stop at the factory finish. And it's nasty stuff!

Having attempted to strip painted wheels myself-don't. Find some place to strip them for you. Then you can have them cleared if they're bare aluminum, or powdercoated the color of your choice.

Factory wheel paint is very, very thick. Even using aircraft stripper, it probably took me 50+ hours to do a wheel. Take them and have them dipped.



Wait-did I mention to not try to do this yourself?

 

[Danin Re]

Thanks for the reply guys... I think it's just cleared aluminum under the paint.



Perhaps it'd be better to just buy a new set of wheels.

 

[AuAltima3.5]

You can get them redone, but will you need an extra set of wheels?



If you don't mind me asking, what wheel is it? I am trying to get an idea of the design. I would strip them myself if they are simple. If you have a multispoke (ala BMW anything design, alot of BBS styles, etc. etc) I would go pro.



Price out cost of refinishing vs. new wheels

 

[Danin Re]

It's the stock Hyundai Tiburon wheels...

I don't think they'd be too hard to do, it's just a matter of the time involved, and a place to do them.



You can see around the lip where there is silver showing... that's where the paint is flaking off. And, on the back wheel at the bottom and the front wheel on the left side... those are where balancing weights used to be.



An extra set of wheels and tires wouldn't be a bad idea anyway... I could set these up for track or autocross and the new ones for daily driving or show.

 

[JashGTP]

why not just send them to a powder-coater in your area. You can choose any color and it is very durable and cost is very reasonable