Wheels refinished

[dormat925]

I have a 96 outback wagon that has that terrible plague on the wheels where the clear coat peels. This is a big problem in MN where I live or any where else where they use salt in the winter.

so any way, here's what I did

 

1. I taped the wheels off to expose only the clear coated area.

I also removed the wheel weights. I did not remove the wheel from the car or the tire from the rim however if youreally wanted to go nuts it would make it easier. I didn't have the time and I did not want to pay for mounting and balancing to take the tires off of the rims

 

2. then I took paint stripper put that on left it for a few minutes it crackles and eats at the clear coat its pretty cool.

 

3. after that I started with 80 grit sand paper, to get the rest of the corrosion off, then after I got it all evened out I used 400 grit

then 800 grit than 1600 grit then steel wool.

 

4. after that got the mothers aluminum polish out and hand polished for a few minutes and it looks like new again.

 

It takes about an hour a wheel, I think total time was about 5 hours.

 

You can repaint the clear coat on the wheel, so you won't have to polish frequently. I prefer to polish once a month over the crappy clear coat.

[dormat925]

here is the wheel after.

[99obw]

Very impressive. Mothers is great stuff isn't it!

[gbhrps]

You hit the nail on the head! A little work and anyone can get just as great results. I did a few things differently that may work for other people out there. I took the wheels off the car, marked the centre of the wheel weights with a grease pencil right on the tire, so I knew where to put them back. I even took some steel wool to the weights and then spray bombed them silver. I used furniture stripper and then a power washer to clean everything off the wheel. Just remember goggles and rubber gloves to avoid burns!!! The stripper WILL NOT hurt your tires. I did the various sand paper routine, but polished the wheel with a three inch round buffing pad on my electric drill with aluminum buffing compound. Rather than leave the wheels untreated, I then clear coated them with a spray bomb, masking the tire off with tape and newspaper. When the wheels were reinstalled, with the wheel weights back on, they looked spectacular, just like from the factory. I did one wheel per night and put them right back on the car, so there was no down time. I got so good at it, that by wheel number three, I was doing each of them in less than 2 hours from removal to back on the car.