95AquaC4

... Is there an easy way to do this? I believe the clear coating is a clear powder coat. I understand that sandblasting will remove the paint, and so will mild sanding, but I was curious if there is some sort of chemical that dissolves the coating.

RKP

I stripped the clear coat from the wheels of my 86 with Aircraft stripper made by Kleen Strip, available at Autozone. Strips the clearcoat in seconds.

93 ragtop

I also used the liquid stripper to remove the clearcoat. It worked well. I then sanded and polished the wheels. The problem I have with stripping and not re clearcoating the wheels is the part that is painted is hard to keep clean without clearcoat on it. Also the polishing compounds leave stains on the painted parts. I plan on cleaning mine up again, and then re clearcoat them. For me its just not worth the hassle of polishing the bare metal.

Pete Clough

I also used a liquid stripper and it worked just fine. I then spent a whole lot of time polishing one wheel and it came out okay but it took forever. I looked in the phone book for a professional aluminium polisher and found one that would strip and polish the wheels for $30.00 a piece and what a wonderful job they did. Just dropped the car off in the morning and picked it up in the evening, it was sure worth the $120.00 that they charged. Now I polish with Wenol (blue tube) about every six month and they shine like chrome. If I ever need them polished again they will charge $20.00 each for a touch up.

PC

95AquaC4

Thanks!!! :D

Blackout

I believe that my bro (xtremvette) used a paint removing chemical and it worked perfect....but you have to watch it otherwise it will cause a slight resedue on your rims

davemach

Wife got me a kit from Mid America about a year ago. Worked good just striped & polished it by hand. Was water base striper, I have black centers and wanted to keep it that way. Just brushed on striper, let it sit a bit, then wiped it off.

VetteBabe1

Same here, got a kit from Mid America, and it worked well. This was for my 87 wheels. I just stripped the paint and everything. Tried to polish them by hand using a low grit number and working to a high one (fine). Got through two of them and decided it was for the birds. Then ordered polished A molds. :)

stillthere

i used the mid america kit too. i would recomend it highly. easy with good results. comes with everything you need