Clean The Wheels?

[Badiceman]

I'm looking into painting my wheels black but before I can do that they need to be cleaned up.

How would you guys recommend I get these cleaned and ready for paint?

 

[zonianbrat]

If your just painting them I would first use a heavy duty wheel cleaner with water a couple of times making sure to scrub and get all the nooks and crannies. Then I would scuff the paint up real good, then you might want to wipe them down a couple of times with a heavy solvent like Acetone to remove any grease that might have been left behind. Then paint.

[unccpathfinder]

I've actually painted mine 2 times...1st time was a semi-gloss gray and over about 3 years the tire shine turned it so it was gray in areas where there wasnt over spray and like dirty dark gray where over spray built up...I opted to do the 2nd go round just prior to having my tires swapped out so I didnt have to worry about masking off the rubber but I think if you put tire shine on them the overspray will wipe off pretty easily...

 

 

the 2nd time I did them I went with a lighter "hammered" gray...i'll see if I cant dig up some pix...

 

Ok here are my pix...What I did was took a wire brush and some dawn and cleaned them up really good and then rattle canned them...I have a couple chips but nothing major...mostly the chips were from impact loads from the tire iron being dropped or whatever...The first time I did mine they looked worse than yours...I had to do a good bit of sanding to knock the rust off but it wasn't too much hassle...

 

 

Edited November 18, 2007 by unccpathfinder

[88pathoffroad]

I started with some Purple Power degreaser, then used some spray-on paint stripper and steel wool to strip the old paint off. Degrease once more, allow to dry. Then I took some sandpaper to the scratches and scuffs on the edges to smooth them out. Then I used a can of Dupli-Color Wheel Paint primer for a base coat. Aluminum/Silver color topcoat took care of the rest. Here's a fresh paint pic. These wheels came to me looking like HELL, the clearcoat was coming off, scuffs and scratches all over. Bought 'em for $40.

 

 

Not a problem since, this Wheel Paint really works well. No chipping or cracking.

[adamzan]

Those look awesome, now is there anything I can do to the chrome ones that my new pathy has? Im going to put my legos and 31s on but I'd like to have a second set of decent looking rims

[unccpathfinder]

I wouldnt try to use the rattle can chrome...its not very good stuff...the best option I think would be to let a pro rechrome them or leave them how they are...

[adamzan]

They don't look too bad the way they are now, but maybe they just need a cleaning, i haven't really looked into it yet as im trying to get a steering knuckle and spindle and everything after that!

[88pathoffroad]

Use #000 or #0000 steel wool and a little cleaner on chrome, it will shine right up. Wax them after that so they don't rust.

[GrimGreg]

Use #000 or #0000 steel wool and a little cleaner on chrome, it will shine right up. Wax them after that so they don't rust.

 

Yep, and for heavy pitting use a wadded up piece of aluminum foil.

 

For painting, probably the best thing (if you have the access or ability) would be to sand blast them.