skullandbones

I promise I have been looking for threads that already cover this but I haven't had much luck. I may have to resort to a strategy I did on another forum where I search thru Google or another outside search engine that refers back to the Corvette forum. It worked there because that forum had the worst search I had ever seen. Anyway, I have a problem with the wheels not cleaning up evenly. I tried Mothers cleaner and polisher which is supposed to be good. The wheels are cleaner and I removed a ton of oxidation. The problem is the unevenness. I guess some of the factory finish has broken down so it leaves a noticeable line in the disc of the wheel that looks like finished and unfinished surface. I don't want to do damage to the wheel by going too far until I get some advice from here. I will remove each wheel and polish to the bare aluminum if necessary. I have done that for some smaller items like intakes. I do my best polishing if I can hold the item and push against the grinder/polisher but this looks like I will be using a different tool while working on the wheel. Any suggestions are welcomed. This is the worst wheel.

Thanks,

WEK.

Corvettewaldon

there are videos on u tube showing in detail how to restore those wheels

skullandbones

Yeah, I have seen some of those. To be quite honest, (not trying to be mean) but some of them are as my grandmother used to say, "worthless as **** on a bull". I refer to the one where the guy loads his wheels in his truck and takes them to Wheel America (Duh!). Another one gives you a quick run down of using a power ball and a drill but only shows a pic of his wheel during the whole video. Some of them actually have good info but I have not found one yet that addresses the issue I have. I really think I may have to go down to the metal so to speak but I don't want to miss the chance to do a less aggressive job to get good results first. That's why I am asking here. The closest thing I saw on Utube was where a company reapplies the "champagne" finish and a clear coat. Mine do look very similar to those. So right now it's a toss up for me to refinish or give up on the finish and polish the bare aluminum. Then protect with a good clear product.

Thanks,

WEK.

corvetteronw

This is an example of a 92 wheel (same as a 91 if I recall). I had purchased a set of 4 at the Carlisle swap meet and had them bead blasted to remove the clear coat. They are rough cast wheels and I really wanted the later machined wheels to put on my 87.
I sold them to a guy in Australia who owned a buffing company. Here is what he did with one of them. This same wheel looked like yours:



I would strip the finish and then buff it with Mother's wax and power ball. If you want more shine then try sanding first with finer and finer sandpaper. Or you could make yours look like this one I saw at a car show:

skullandbones

You know that is what I was talking about in the prior post. You have captured the pics of the polar extremes. I would like to fall somewhere in between. I don't think the high polish almost chrome finish would be as good as a slightly muted polish look but still shiny. It's not a bad looking wheel. It's growing on me. I will start with some very light sanding on the disc. That is where most of the worn finish is. If I can get the wheel to look uniformly polished then the fins will look OK even if they are a little less shiny. Thanks for the pics. That helped a lot.

Note: I think I will work on the spare tire rim first. It will be easier not mounted.

Are there any other ideas out there.

Thanks,

WEK.

BrandensBeast

DT86 did an amazing job on cleaning up his wheels, here are mine after cleaning up 1st time, much worse condition then yours I assume, they will need to be cleaned again to get some more oxidation off and polished again. Mine were cleaned with a brush pad and some kind of cleaner, don't remember the name. I think DT86 sanded his down somehow. (obviously the one that's been cleaned is on the right but you get an idea of how bad the one on the left was before being done, also they look better in person, camera on the phone isn't exactly the best!)

Scooter94

Just to make sure, you realize there is a clear coat on the wheels. If you are going to polish more than just the clear coat, you have to strip it off somehow.

skullandbones

Great pics Brandon.

I know there is something that is resisting the polishing. I wasn't sure if it was just a clear coat or maybe even a two stage: champagne color coat and clear coat. Either way it will have to go as you suggest. Thanks.

I'll post progress when I get a little time to do this around my house projects.

Thanks guys,

WEK.

Joe C

on my 90, I used captain lee's spray strip - took about 5 minutes to strip the clear from each wheel. I did not remove the tires from the rims, and the best thing, water neutralizes this stuff. I used a metal polishing paste, and lightly hand polished each wheel. I did not re-clear the wheels. ended up with pretty much the OE/factory stock look. cost of stripper, metal polishing paste, etc, about $40. labor was free! start to finish on each wheel, maybe an hour or two.



BTW, I used standard, captain lee's spray strip, but they do make a special stripper just for alloy wheels - most likely the same stuff, just different packaging. I've been using CLSS for some 25 years now on my corvettes, and never had issues. I really like this stuff, but for some reason, captain lee's products do not seem to be available anywhere, and I can't find any info whether the company is still in business or not. another source of wheel refinishing products is eastwood.

finally, for quick, periodic touch up, I use my porter-cable random orbital polisher with a 6" pad, and a microfiber bonnet, along with some metal polish. after a couple minutes, the wheels look great. I usually do this every couple months. after removing the plastic lug nut caps, the RO's 6 inch foam pad fits perfectly in the lug nut recess area of the wheel.

DATeem

Any suggestions for cleaning up a curb Nick or two? Figured I would use a dremel to flatten and smooth before polish. Yes or no?

Joe C

I had some minor scrapes in the lip of my wheels, and used a dremmel w/ a small sanding drum. the key is to blend in the nicks and scrapes over a large part of the radius of the wheel lip. if the nicks and scrapes are too deep, about the best you can do is blend them in a bit and polish the out to the point that they're almost un-detectable. . finally, I hand finished with various grades of sanding papers and a small xacto sanding block. seemed to work out just fine - sure beats the cost of having the wheels professionally refinished.

BTW, I did this on my 90 with the tires mounted on the wheels. I refinished a set of 96 CE wheels (w/o mounted tires) and in addition to the dremmel, i use a flat file to initially knock down some of the worse scrapes and nicks.

Dalesc4

Hey mate
I own a polishing business in Australia
Happy to give u a blow by blow on what todo
First u need to get clear coat off
Do not sand blast (will make your job harder)
U need to get tries off
Then take them to get stripped
Dipped or soda blasted
Then u need to get an orbital sander
Start with 180 grit sand all marks out
Then with 240 then 400 then 600
Each time make sure u get all marks of other discs out
Keep wheel flat and don't stop to get marks out always keep the sander moving
Then go to the auto store or eBay and buy a polishing wheel kit that u put on your drill
Use the different wheels and polish to mirror polish them
Cream type polishes are only really good enough to repolish them
Pm me if u need any more info
Look up my business on Facebook
Longbeach metal polishing
Hope that helps
Dale

skullandbones

I have a Porter Cable orbital sander with 5 inch diameter pad. Does that sound like it will be adequate for this job? I will probably spend some serious time hand sanding the fins but I guess that goes with the territory. If I feather out the work as I go out to the fins they may not need quite as much effort. I will just have to evaluate as I go forward. I do appreciate the step by step from Dale from down under. You forget how wide reaching these forums really are. Dale do you see a lot of C4s in your area? The reason I ask is I go out in my neck of the woods sometimes not seeing another vette during the whole trip, let alone a C4. You're more likely to see a C6 or brand new one.
I didn't have time to work on it today but tomorrow bright and early I will be attacking this. I will let you guys know how it goes.

Thank you,

WEK

Dalesc4

Hey mate
No don't see many at all
A couple at car shows but that's it
I'm restoring mine hopeful be ready soon

Cruisinfanatic

I did mine a couple years ago on the kitchen table.
Started with half off clear as I'd used a chemical years before. It took some off but not all. Wouldn't bother again. Just sand away
Start with aggressive grit to get the clear off and smooth out the groves if you have them
Keep upgrading the grit, I used wet sandpaper when I got higher
Mine took at least 3 hrs each as I also repainted the black
Save some time and sand on the car jacked up with the wheel moving. Does a heck of a job

Scooter94

What gear did you put it in when you polished the rear wheels?

skullandbones

I'm surprised that not one of you guys called me on my idea that I was going to use my spare as a test case for the polishing. I should have known better. Guess I was tired when typing that. I realized that there was no full sized wheel let alone an aluminum one in the spare compartment. It is full sized for two dimensions but it's one of those temporary ones that you can only travel about 30 miles on. It turns out that the tire and jack have never been used. The wheel still has the paint in place where the lugs would have removed them if it had been on the car. The jack still had the original rubber band and instructions rolled up just like when it was new. I did find a small rat nest in the well but there was no wire damage or any other bad news. Cleaned it up and replaced everything. So I used my available time doing that instead of polishing. BTW: I wonder what you are supposed to do with the flat tire/wheel that you take off the car. It won't go back in the spare tire tub. Maybe someone can explain that to me. I also had to spend some time resupplying with paint brushes and other cleaning materials so tomorrow will be more productive on the polishing or at least striping of the clear paint. I will show pics then and also of the spare.

Thanks,

WEK.

Cruisinfanatic

I put the last one on my s10 and threw it in drive. Watch your fingers. Used a winter glove

skullandbones

I got my FSM today. Here are the components of the wheel finish from the factory.

Dupont 615S/616S Vari-Prime self-etching primer
Dupont 824S/825S Gray Corlar Primer
Dupont 9222S Cronar Midcoat Adhesion Promoter
Dupont Cronar Base Wheel Color Paint Code C9201 or GM Code WR9839
Dupont 1080S URO Clear

So there are actually 4 coats to penetrate. I would say the self etching primer might be a bear to get completely off without sanding.

I will probably not go this route. I would rather have the aluminum finish so I will be removing all coatings to get to the raw aluminum.

Wish me luck,

WEK.