Okay, I need to decide whether to do a DIY project on reclearcoating my stock X FB rims or bucking up to have them done professionally. I will get a quote on monday.

Sooooo, opinions please on those who have gone down this road?

Mine aren't pitted and I could get away with doing just the outer part of the rim where the clear has peeled away, centers look good.

I want this car to look beautiful and completely stock.

Anyone who has completed this experiment please reply with your results and product suggestions, thanks

 

dismount tires and have them soda blasted, repainted and polished then clear coat they will look better that new, there is no good way to just strip the clear off them with out damaging the wheels. the soda blast is the most cost effective resto I have found. Just a thought

 

you cant post such a hot picture when your askin a serious question.... i couldnt get past the first sentance.....

sexy sexy car man!

thats all i got.

 

Good first suggestion, emailed quote request to local soda blaster. I don't want to break the bank on getting a pro to do it though....

 

Do ONE and see if its the route to go, $$-wise, 'cause it will be pricey. Maybe polish out the rim/edges and leave the centers alone? Prob as I understand it is once the clear has been invaded by water/air it starts to yellow and peel. maybe worth removing the old clear and NOT re-clear? Earlier waffles are NOT cleared and they look great with a reg was n' wax. Same alloy -

Stu Aull
80 (waffled) GS
Alaska

 

I did mine myself just sanding. It was a lot of work but they turned out pretty good. Little bit of scratching in the finish, just cause i started with too coarse of a grit.

How they started:



how the ended up:



Unfortunately I got 2 new sets of wheels and tires and will probably be looking to sell them at some point, once the weather warms up and i can swap to studs and lug nuts that is.

 

Just do it yourself if you have the time. It will save you a ton of money. I just wet-sanded mine starting at 400grit and finished at 2000 grit using all the grits in between. Then I used mothers mag/wheel polish and a buffing ball to get it to a near mirror finish. Took me about 2 hrs a wheel. I just did a wheel a day untill it was done. There is no way my arms could do it all in a day!

Professionaly done - expect over $100 a wheel plus the cost to unmount/mount/re-balance each wheel. I was able to do mine with the tires on. That alone saved me $20-$30 a wheel.

 

You can strip them yourself and repolish, repaint and clear them. I did my
waffles (see the link in my sig). I probably spent a full 8 hours of time over 2 days
stripping, prepping and painting them. They look great and have worn well and thats
with regular wheel cleaning using harsh wheel cleaners every few weeks.

As a side note the waffles were painted and cleared from the factory. I have a
brand new one for my spare and its obvious when you see them in person. They
are not cleared on the non painted areas. Only the center waffle design got
painted and cleared.

 

Mask off the center and then use aircraft paint remover (Advance Auto has it) on the exposed surfaces. Once the clear is off, polish with an aluminum polish.

 

use aircraft stripper. It wont harm the rim at all. The clear and paint will melt away. Then just hose it down with some water and they are ready to polish. You can buy this stuff at auto zone.

 

Yep, this is the plan.......professionally done is up to $150/wheel so DIY is the plan.

 

It's a pain in the *** and very tedious, but if you take your time with it which I know you will they will come out looking great. I didn't take my time as much as I should have and I made the mistake of using a brass wire wheel on the drill to clean them up and gouged the face pretty bad. Still came out a lot better than they looked though.

 

Aircraft striper is the way to go. Home-Depot sells the gallon can for about $25 the remove epoxy. This is what I use to remove powder coating. Make sure to use heavy gloves. This stuff will eat right through cheap gloves and burn your hands. After the stipper is on put some clear platic over the top right on top the stipper. This will help itfrom drying out to much. Once it dries out it's hard to get off. leave it on for 8 hours then wash off.

 

Lavacol acid works as well

 

I'd bet the price you got quoted only included minimal cleaning. To me the cleaning and prep before re-clearing is the most important part. This is not that difficult, just more time consuming and like every other post says; a pain in the ***! After a good thorough cleaning, polish and detail them to your satisfaction or untill your fingers are bleeding, then decide If you want / need the clear. The clear is just for protection and easier cleaning, but may be the part you want to pay for and might be cheaper if you do all the dirtywork and prep first.

 

Ive noticed there are 2 different kinds of stripper. 1 is a liquid in a can (also aerosol) and the other is a thick gel. You want the gel as it will stay in place. Use a brush to apply and still wear thick gloves as KCRepu mentioned.

 

got my first one done, stripped the outer lip and did sanding to complete it and prep the rest of the rim.

 

I like my waffles but that sure looks good from here. Good job on it.

 

Looks great! did you repaint the gunmetal part as well then as I did?

 

nope

 

Wow they look great!

 

Snapped a quick pic with my new tires mounted.

 

Holy cow those look like mud tires! looks great though, I'm a sucker for the white letter tires.

 

They are all season tires.

Better pic, buffed up and new tires all on...

 

Next comes tinting and air conditioning recharge