New Tutorial - Aluminum Wheel Refinishing

[Ronnie]

If you are a Do-It-Yourself type of guy, or gal, you might be interested in the latest tutorial I put on my website. I wrote the tutorial when I refinished my wheels a week or so ago.

Aluminum Wheel Refinishing - Reatta Owners Journal

Refinishing wheels isn't an easy job. It takes a lot of time and effort but the results can be very gratifying. I'm very happy with the way my (2002 Mustang) wheels turned out. The cost involved was minimal. Most people will want to pay the Pros do it but I thought I would share the tutorial in case someone might be like me and have more time than they do money.

[Machiner 55]

Ronnie,

Nice, very nice!

John F.

[Ronnie]

Thanks John.

The lack of response to this thread shows that most people would rather pay someone to do this job. Maybe someone will find the tutorial useful in the future.

[wws944]

I bought a used set of the chrome late-90s Riviera/Park Ave Ultra wheels a while back. Like you, I found that my metal trash can was an ideal platform to hold one while I was cleaning each one up. Fortunately, with the chrome, they cleaned up really well with some wheel cleaners and light use of #0000 steel wool.

Am curious why you didn't use a chemical stripper to remove the clear coat? Did you have bad enough scratches and/or curb rash that you knew they would need heavy sanding in any case?

[Ronnie]

... Am curious why you didn't use a chemical stripper to remove the clear coat? Did you have bad enough scratches and/or curb rash that you knew they would need heavy sanding in any case?

One of the reasons I didn't use stripper was my wheels have sparkle silver paint in the vent holes that is in nice condition. I didn't want to damage it and have to repaint.

It would have been possible to sand and polish inside the vent holes but it would have been a really labor intensive job for me to do it by hand. I don't have a power tool use for the rough sanding in that area. Wet sanding in that area would be hard to do as well.

This DIY tutorial was written with Reatta wheels in mind and in most cases I expect the vent holes in them would be left untouched. Stripper would probably speed up the refinishing process if you needed to repaint the vent hole areas.

The other reason didn't use stripper was because I had several deep nicks and scratches that I knew would need to be sanded out. Some nicks were really deep like they had been bumped by a sharp pointed object. Luckily I didn't have any curb rash on the bead of the wheel. That would probably require removing the tire to be able to sand it out properly.

[Guest my3buicks]

I am doing mine over the winter, so I will certainly be using your idea's

[Ronnie]

I am doing mine over the winter, so I will certainly be using your idea's

Good to hear someone will put the tutorial to good use. I hope it works well for you.

[Guest Kingsley]

Ronnie - very well done and you have outlined appropriate cautions along the way.

[Guest crazytrain2]

Great write up Ronnie. I've seen where they sell various brands of (rattle can) clear coat spray for aluminum wheels. I'm just curious what your take is on it's use. Thanks

[Ronnie]

I don't intend to clear coat my wheels. My Reatta stays in the garage most of the time. It's not a daily driver and seldom is out in bad weather. I think polishing them with Mother's Mag & aluminum polish every now and then is all I will need to protect my wheels finish. The Mother's polish easily removes oxidation that dulls the finish and it leaves a protective finish on the wheel. Only time will tell for sure how long that protective finish is going to last.

The Mother's polish leaves a protective coating on the wheels that is supposed to protect the polished finish for several months. When I washed the car the other day the water on the wheels beaded up as good or better than the waxed surfaces of the car. All I had to do was take an old chamois cloth and soak up the water for them to look great.

If my car was going to be kept outside and exposed to road grime and salts I would probably be looking into the clear coat spray products to protect the finish. My concern with the clear coat would be using the right product that would be compatible with the paint that is in the vent holes. If the two are not compatible the clear coat could turn milky looking or peel off. Then you have to do it all again.

[Roadster90]

Exceptional ! I intend on using this procedure as soon as I get caught up on some priorities. Couldn't ask for a better organized and written tutorial .....even the trash can suggestion is Golden

Thanks,

Nic

[Ronnie]

I hope the tutorial works well for you Nic. If you put the time and effort into it that is needed I think you will be pleased with the results.

[olbuickman]

Ronnie, When I did my stock wheels I used aircraft paint stripper to take off the clear coat and then I had a local plating shop polish the wheels. They charged me $200 for the wheels and center caps. I tried using a clear coat spray but it had a cloudy look so I stripped it off. Like yourself I plan just to polish them as needed. Frank

[Ronnie]

Frank, the polished wheels look real nice on that black car. $200 was a good price for polishing your wheels & center caps. I expect most people would be happy to pay that if their time is worth much to them. Refinishing wheels as described in my tutorial is time consuming and a lot of hard work. I tried to make that clear in the tutorial.

I think my tutorial will come in handy for people like me that have the extra time and enjoy this type of hands on, DIY, project. I got a lot of satisfaction seeing the wheels transformed from being dull and scuffed up to having a nice shiny finish when I got done.

I'm thinking about doing my stock wheels over the Winter. I might give the stripper a try on them.

[Guest Kitskaboodle]

Thanks for the Tutorial Ronnie.

In the Fiero Forum there is a "How-To" section for projects such as this.

Just a few comments & random thoughts I would like to make:

1) Someone mentioned above about getting all 4 wheels done for $200

This is an exception and is NOT the normal rate! That is why I did my own.

Wheels America wanted $125.00 per wheel! (and they were highly recommended)

Believe me, in today's economy a thread like this is a great idea. Geez, for $500 I

could buy some nice aftermarket wheels from the Tire Rack! Even if I had the money

to pay a shop, paying $100-125 per wheel is simply rediculous. Heck, that was part of

the motivation that spurned me on to do it myself!

2) I saw some comments about the difficulty of getting into the vent areas. It was a little

tough but what made it easier was by using a McGuire's Powerball. It will conform to the vent

shape when applied with a little pressure (with your drill of course) The Powerball is used during

the polishing process.

3) You and I ended up with the same finished product but the path I took had some major

differences. I used paint stripper to get the clearcoat off. In fact, I had to re-apply it 9-10

times, especially in the VENT OPENING area. (not sure why it was so tough in there) Then I

wet-sanded by hand. (using a small block of wood for the flat areas and by hand for the rest)

4) Personally, I used my workbench to hold my wheel when polishing. But then again, my tires

were off the rims when I did this project.

5) Like you I did not choose to clear coat afterward. I felt it would dull the shine. Instead, I

periodically polish them with some Happich Semichrome I got at a garage sale for $.50

6) For those who dont clearcoat....a little advice: Try not to get any water on the wheels.

Can you say waterspots? Sure you can.

Kit

[Ronnie]

A "How To" section section for projects might be a good idea for this forum. A lot of the tutorials and other information on Reatta Owners Journal has been the result of information I have gathered from this forum and organized it in a manner that makes it easy to find for future reference. I don't know well the same information could be organized in a "How To" forum. It might actually be better that the way I've done it.

The method of using a chemical stripper to remove the clear coat finish seems to be the most popular. However, if you have deep nicks and scratches in the wheels, as I did, wet sanding them out by hand after applying stripper would be hard to do. I used 50 grit sandpaper on the power sander to get them out before wet sanding.

There are probably many good methods that could be used to refinish aluminum wheels. If there is a good "How To" on refinishing wheels on the Fiero forum posting a link to it might be helpful to Reatta owners.

Which method of refinishing wheels is best probably depends on each persons tools and capabilities. In my case, being a machinist I usually think of using a power tool first to remove something. I don't doubt the stripper would work equally well or in some instances better.

Edited October 31, 2012 by Ronnie (see edit history)

[olbuickman]

Kitskaboodle, you mention in your post that $200 to have all 4 wheels polished is the exception .That was not the case in the Milwaukee area. I took one of my wheels to three different shops and they were within $20 of each other. I saved a few dollars by stripping the clear coat myself and removing the center emblems from the caps.My wheels were in beautiful shape so I saw no point in using a wheel shop to true them and then polish them.The owner of the shops son did my wheels and said he was glad to have fill in job between some of his larger projects. Frank

[johnemac]

Don't go gaga about removing the clearcoat like I did. Aircraft remover did not work so I scored the surface to help it out only to realize there was no clearcoat on mine. No tarnish or spots to indicate such.

[Guest Ardi]

Wow!  Outstanding work, the best diy instructions I've found on this. I have a question Ronnie, do you have to use the polisher?  I'm not a fan of the mirror look, I was wondering if you can leave it bare or have to at least apply clear coat?

[Ronnie]

7 hours ago, Ardi said:

... I have a question Ronnie, do you have to use the polisher?  I'm not a fan of the mirror look, I was wondering if you can leave it bare or have to at least apply clear coat?

 

You have to use the sander with coarse sand paper to get any large scratches out.  Wet sanding by hand with increasingly finer grit sand paper will be what puts the satin finish you want on your wheel. Sanding with 800 grit paper leaves a nice satin finish that is ready to be polished to a finish that will look almost chrome.

 

If you don't want the chrome look you could go to 1000-1200 grit paper and leave off the polishing to get a finer satin finish. The quality of finish you get is a direct result of how much time and work you are willing to put into it.

 

I polished my wheels to a chrome like finish that you could see yourself in. I didn't apply any clear coat. My car stays in a garage all the mine and normally never is in the rain. I only applied a coat of Mothers Metal Polish once a year to keep them looking like new. If your car is a daily driver applying clear coat might be a good idea - especially if you are in an area that uses a lot of salt in the winter.

 

[Guest Ardi]

Awesome, thank you very much.  I got the wheel kit and was just to paint them, but it's too dark.  As far as using a sander, would you recommend the one you used or would orbital do the job?  

[Guest Ardi]

Awesome, thank you very much.  I got the wheel kit and was just to paint them, but it's too dark.  As far as using a sander, would you recommend the one you used or would orbital do the job?  

[Ronnie]

I purchased the small sander I used because the curved shape and sharp point in the front helps you get right up against the bead of the tire (where there may be some rough road rash) and it allows you a lot of control. Also there is a good selection of sand paper made for it. I believe it was called a Mouse. That is the only sander I tried. Probably more important than the sander you use is the time and care you take to get the results you want. Refinishing the wheels isn't a quick and easy job. I spent lots of hours to get the finish I wanted. Show us some photos when you're done.