Hot Rod Forum banner

cleaning rims?

1K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  69 widetrack 
#1 ·
I am wanting to know how do I go about cleaning some Pontiac rally rims they have a little surface rust not much and should I paint them thanks
 
#2 ·
If your rims have surface rust just cleaning them is a short term fix. The rust will come back. The ideal way to clean them up is to have them sand blasted (or any other method of removing rust and old paint, sandblasting wheels ensures that the rust and or pits will be taken care of), epoxy primed and repainted. This a way to eliminate the rust from returning and restoring your wheels.

Ray
 
#3 ·
Another thought is having them powdercoated. They will take your funky wheel, sandblast it, powder coat it and hand it back to you like it was new for a decent price when you count in the cost of paint and all that you would pay to do it yourself. Not always a way to go of course being you may not have a decent powder coater around. I have access to quite a few and a few are CRAZY over priced. So if that is the type you have available to you sand blasting, epoxy primer and paint as Ray said would be the best way to go.

But call around and see, I had one a few years ago that did a set of wheels for $125, sand blasting and all.

Brian
 
#10 ·
Another thought is having them powdercoated. They will take your funky wheel, sandblast it, powder coat it and hand it back to you like it was new for a decent price when you count in the cost of paint and all that you would pay to do it yourself. Not always a way to go of course being you may not have a decent powder coater around. I have access to quite a few and a few are CRAZY over priced. So if that is the type you have available to you sand blasting, epoxy primer and paint as Ray said would be the best way to go.

But call around and see, I had one a few years ago that did a set of wheels for $125, sand blasting and all.

Brian
have you priced out the equipment used.. funny to hear a autobody guy say anyother field is overpriced..
 
#4 ·
I think powder coating is a great alternative to painting...depending on the rims. If this is a 5 spoke Pontiac wheel, the wheels are generally a dark gray with a silver insert on each spoke. If this is the case powder coating may not be a viable alternative. If your rally rims are one color, by all means, powder coating would be an excellent choice for re-doing your wheels as Brian mentioned.

Ray
 
#11 ·
I think powder coating is a great alternative to painting...depending on the rims. If this is a 5 spoke Pontiac wheel, the wheels are generally a dark gray with a silver insert on each spoke. If this is the case powder coating may not be a viable alternative. If your rally rims are one color, by all means, powder coating would be an excellent choice for re-doing your wheels as Brian mentioned.

Ray
even still get it powder coated the main color drk gray then paint on the silver part..

I had my 6 truck rallies powder coated. mine are white..
price wasn't bad 30 bucks a wheel to sandblast and coat..

many a vehicle is running around with repainted rims.. that the paint last just fine.. and they got a coat of argent silver/gray out of a spray bomb..
this sometimes is just fine for most "driver" cars.. as the trim ring is gonna screw up the paint anyways..
 
#6 ·
For the amount of time and effort it would take to get the old paint off the rims, you would still be better off to have them sand blasted. There are just to many crooks and crannies in rims to try and remove old paint by hand or even with a chemical stripper. You could try and paint over top of the old paint but the life span of a paint job like that wouldn't be very long. If, as you mentioned, the paint is faded, that would tell me that the paint has lost the majority of it's ability to protect the metal underneath and would make a poor substrate for putting fresh paint over top.

Ray
 
#7 ·
I am going to check with some local body shops and see who would sand blast them but most body shops around here I think would want ways to much for me I think I could do it I do stuff like that all the time but I have bigger probably then my rims I just been wanting to know about them thanks
 
#8 ·
It all depends on what material the wheels are made of, how they are coated, and how serious you want to get with them. I work on wheels almost every day. If I had a dollar for every time I hear someone say that their wheels have rust, which is actually brake dust... (not saying yours don't!)
If they have a coating (clear or paint), You can sand it off. I would wet sand them if I were you because the removal is easier to control and also washes away debris. Use 400 to 600 if you want to re clear em and 1000 grit if you want to try and buff them out. Just be careful. If you break through clear to paint or through paint, you'll be reshooting. If raw steel, you can steel wool em'. But it WILL be back. You can also put a protectant on raw wheels (raw alum or raw steel) and will give you more time. One last thing, if they are raw aluminum, remove with 1000 grit and buff!
 
#9 · (Edited)
Listen man, before you go and do anything, sandblast or anything, check to see what coating is on them and what material they are. There are alot of things you can do before you spend 125 per wheel, which is the going rate. For example, if they are raw alum, compound and a buffing can make them shine to almost new. But we need to know what you're dealing with to give the best info possible.
 
#12 ·
Very true. you could have the wheels powder coated and have the secondary color painted on and that way the main color would be baked on. I'm generally not a big fan of rattle can anything but, this would be an excellent route to go for cost and longevity, if the rattle can paint fades or wears off, repaint the argent color and and the wheels will look great, again, and again. Good post.

Ray
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top