Stripping clearcoat off of wheels

[Longroof79]

Can anyone suggest an effective method of stripping clearcoat off of rims.
Fortunately, I only want to strip and polish the outside aluminum edge, or lip. These are for my "old man'" car.. :lol:
Also, is the coating epoxy or lacquer?
Thank you!
jack :?:

 

[80superbu]

If your just going to strip and polish then use some sandpaper. If they are pitted at all, start with a 600 grit then work up to 1200 or 1500. You may want to tape off the area you don't want stripped. I did the wheels on my wifes Miata and they turned out like chrome. Of course it depends on how you are going to polish them. Withe the proper buffing compounds and drill/dremel tool they will turn out very nice

 

[355_79bu]

I know it sounds scary, but I have used aerosol paint stripper on a set of Vette aluminum wheels and it worked great. It looks horrible while the stripper is working (turns yellow) but they polish up great. I just used some Mother's to polish after stripping. You can make it look like chrome with some elbow grease. BTW: No sanding needed.

 

[Longroof79]

Thanks Bryan,
It seems that 600 grit is alittle too light to cut the clearcoat.. I have tried to cut it down with some 120 and 150 grit...even that is a pain.
There is also some corrosion/ oxidation that also needs to be sanded down and polished out. where the clearcoat is peeling.
Fortunately, there's no pitting...I'm relieved about that...
I'm wondering if stripper is effective enough to cut thru the clearcoat? Then lightly sand and polish from there...
I'm open to further comment...
jack :?

 

[ready961]

They make a product called clearcoat stripper. Its for wheels and such. It comes in a brown glass bottle. I have used it in the past, works pretty good. May have to use a couple coats. Eastwood probably sells it.

 

[Longroof79]

Thanks Kirby and Ready961,

Before dinner, I did alittle experimenting. I used a small paint brush and dipped it into some aircraft stripper, dabbed it onto one of the rims....low and behold...it works. I used a brass type pot scrubber and was really impressed by the results....and you're right,,,no sanding..it looked like the areas I stripped were ready for polish..
Thanks guys! Once again, I appreciate your suggestions and feedback...

Jack

 

[81classic]

Looks like you figured it out already, but aircraft stripper works great for clearcoat on alluminum. Spray it on and you can usually just spray it off with water.

 

[theelcaminofactory]

In the process of restoring my GTA wheels now...used Mar-Hyde aircraft paint stripper in an aerosol can...Worked great on the clear coat...flaked right off.

 

[Longroof79]

Thanks again guys!
I was thinking of using an aerosol stripper, but I didn't want to strip the centers, just the outer rim. In other words, I wanted to be careful not to strip off more than I had to...
I also want to repaint the centers, can anyone recommend a good durable paint...urethane enamel? I thought of possibly doing the centers in hammertone black...whatcha think?
By the way, these wheels look somewhat similar to the GTA wheel, only for a FWD car.
Jack

 

[355_79bu]

Powder Coat? It shouldn't cost too much and would be a lot more durable than any paint. I had a set of 4 wheels done at the local powder coater for $75.