Rim Repair, pics Options

[lagos]

I've had my rims for a long time now (too long). Over the years the brake dust started to eat away at the clear coat that was put over the polished lip. The wheels were starting to look terrible.

The white spots you see in these pics is the damaged clear.



I enlisted the help of 95st-celica to help bring them back to life.
First we began by removing the layer of clear. We used a sanding pad mounted to a drill. These are normally sold in most auto parts or hardware stores. Not sure what grit they are, but they work well for stripping paint. After that, we sanded with 400 grit, then 600/800 grit, and then 2000. Finally we applied a metal polishing compound to them, and buffed off with a buffing pad mounted to a drill.

Here are the finished results...




Huge thanks goes out to Joe. I couldn't have done it without your help, bro!

This post has been edited by lagos: Aug 25, 2008 - 12:43 PM

[lagos]

Yeah from what I've read, people recommend that you either spray some clear on them, or put on a coat of wax to help protect them from any kind of oxidation. I think I'm going to go with the wax. That way if they ever get damaged again, I can just sand them lightly with 2000 grit to get the shine back, without having to put all this work into them again.

I wish I took some during pics, because we really did strip them down to rough metal, and then brought them back up to the smooth shine you see. It took a lot of effort, but things were rolling faster once we settled on what steps to take in what order.

This post has been edited by lagos: Aug 25, 2008 - 12:42 AM