Refinishing GTA Rims
- Thread starter Polecat
- Start date
1turbo6
Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2004
it took lots of elbow grease!! First I sprayed them with zip strip then scraped off all the old clear. then started wet sanding them with 320 first then 400 then 600 then 800 then 1000 then I polished them. I used a car buffer with an extension I made and started with coarse compound and a hard felt wheel then swapped to fine compound and new hard wheel (lots of time) and finally fine compound with a new soft buff wheel. then taped them off and painted the black. this past summer I cleaned them up with mothers wheel polish and the buffer they look great! it took a few day but if you have the time and not the money like me,then it's worth it
Hey Mike
I Took And Used Aircraft Stripper On The Whole Thing And Presure Washed Them Sanded With 600 And Then 800 Wet Buffed With The Buffer You Saw Them On My 87 And They Look Awesome If You Need Help I Could Show You On One If You Ever Get Back This Way THATS NOT RUST ITS LITTLE PITS OF METAL FROM THE BRAKE PADS AND IT WILL COME OFF EASY
I Took And Used Aircraft Stripper On The Whole Thing And Presure Washed Them Sanded With 600 And Then 800 Wet Buffed With The Buffer You Saw Them On My 87 And They Look Awesome If You Need Help I Could Show You On One If You Ever Get Back This Way THATS NOT RUST ITS LITTLE PITS OF METAL FROM THE BRAKE PADS AND IT WILL COME OFF EASY
turbonut85
Rarely used member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2008
X2 ---Aluminum corrosion is white in color.
turbonut85
Rarely used member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2008
1turbo6
Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2004
it looks like there is brake dust melted into the clear it will most likely come off with the paint stripper. zip strip is just basic paint stripper in a spray can. I would take them down to a local car wash apply the stripper then powerwash them there. I also used easy off oven cleaner to clean up the inside of the rim. it took off the heavy stuff.
update
Yesterday I went and bought some aircraft stripper to begin this project. On the way home I was looking at the can and thought "aircraft" I should call my good buddy who is in the airforce and does structual work on military planes. As luck would have it he said drop them off with him and he'll take care of them. Well about two hours later he said that they were ready to be picked up. He blasted all of the paint of off the centers and also got rid of all of the brake dust that had corroded on to the surface.
Now I have sanded two of them with a couple 120, 240, 400, 600 and wet sanded with 800. There are still some minor nicks but I'm curious if these are at the stage where I can start polishing.
Also, I have never done any polishing before. I bought an aluminium polishing kit yesterday but does anybody have any tips before I begin the project.
Here are a couple of photos of the rim that had all of the build up on it.
Yesterday I went and bought some aircraft stripper to begin this project. On the way home I was looking at the can and thought "aircraft" I should call my good buddy who is in the airforce and does structual work on military planes. As luck would have it he said drop them off with him and he'll take care of them. Well about two hours later he said that they were ready to be picked up. He blasted all of the paint of off the centers and also got rid of all of the brake dust that had corroded on to the surface.
Now I have sanded two of them with a couple 120, 240, 400, 600 and wet sanded with 800. There are still some minor nicks but I'm curious if these are at the stage where I can start polishing.
Also, I have never done any polishing before. I bought an aluminium polishing kit yesterday but does anybody have any tips before I begin the project.
Here are a couple of photos of the rim that had all of the build up on it.
Attachments
just another quick question
My buddy who blasted these for me has also offered to paint these for me when I'm ready (amazing what a good bottle of rye whiskey will get you). All I have to do is buy the paint.
So what I'm curious about is should I have him paint them for me or should I get them professionally powder coated? If I go the painted route does anybody reccomend a good paint and should it be flat, gloss or satin?
After the centers are done and the polishing completed should the whole rim be clearcoated?
My buddy who blasted these for me has also offered to paint these for me when I'm ready (amazing what a good bottle of rye whiskey will get you). All I have to do is buy the paint.
So what I'm curious about is should I have him paint them for me or should I get them professionally powder coated? If I go the painted route does anybody reccomend a good paint and should it be flat, gloss or satin?
After the centers are done and the polishing completed should the whole rim be clearcoated?
blasted
He said he was going to blast them with the same media that they use on aircraft aluminum. He didn't use the aircraft stripper, he says it like shoyt and is very toxic.
Anybody have any tips before I start trying to polish (I've never polished aluminum before)?
He said he was going to blast them with the same media that they use on aircraft aluminum. He didn't use the aircraft stripper, he says it like shoyt and is very toxic.
Anybody have any tips before I start trying to polish (I've never polished aluminum before)?
when I did mine, I wet sanded to 2000 grit before I polished them. Make sure you wet sand them and keep the water close by to flush the metal material away, or it will keep scratching the rim. I used a die grinder with some buffing wheels from Ace hardware to polish. Also used some buffing compound I found at ace too. When I get home I can find the names of the polish if you need them. I also wanted to powder coat them but the price was way to much. I used some high quality gloss wheel spray paint from VHT. Im happy with the turn out. spent about $40 total .Check out some of the pics in my sig link
So Far
Thanks for your interest. So far I have sanded and polished two of the rims up to 1500 (wet). After realizing the last post I might be doing this wrong. I was polishing and then sanding and then polishing again. I believe now that I should do all of the sanding and then do all of the polishing. I've polished all the way up to the green compound. I'm not really satisfied with the results so far as I thought these would be mirror like by now.
I believe now I should just start over with a wet sanding and then go into the different polishing compounds. Does anybody use anything else after the compounds. I was thinking of buying some aluminum polish like Mothers or Mequires.
Here is a photo of where I'm at.
Thanks for your interest. So far I have sanded and polished two of the rims up to 1500 (wet). After realizing the last post I might be doing this wrong. I was polishing and then sanding and then polishing again. I believe now that I should do all of the sanding and then do all of the polishing. I've polished all the way up to the green compound. I'm not really satisfied with the results so far as I thought these would be mirror like by now.
I believe now I should just start over with a wet sanding and then go into the different polishing compounds. Does anybody use anything else after the compounds. I was thinking of buying some aluminum polish like Mothers or Mequires.
Here is a photo of where I'm at.
i was interested how yours were coming along to see if mine compared. I just finished 1 wheel and was very happy. I did all the wet sanding up to 1500 grit then took my buffer to it using Mothers. I never used any compounds.It is almost a mirror finish,i will buff it a little more.
turbonut85
Rarely used member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2008
Really. to get that "mirror" finish you need to use 2000 or 2500 grit to get the sand scratches out. Finish with a white compound and a cotton buff. Light pressure and medium speed. How does yours compare to the pic I posted above?
