Well, first of all, let me say that under normal circumstances I wouldn't do this to my ITR wheels. However, when I took the wheels out of the bags they've been in for months (They came with the car, I hadn't opened the bags since then), I noticed that they had QUITE a bit of corosion on them... Looks like he stored them in salt water, haha. So around midnight after playing poker all night, I decided to get busy... Yes, I choose very odd times to start projects, so what.

So, I decided to strip them, polish them up, and see how it turns out. First I clipped the valve stems, pulled them out, popped out the center caps, pryed off the lead weights, wiped the wheel down real quick, and got spraying.

Here's a small taste of how bad the finish was before any work was done...


Yum...


First thing's first. Check list. Aircraft stripper, 320 grit and 1,000 grit sandpaper, Mother's Aluminum Polish, steel wool (Clean up wheels after stripping). If you need to pull the valve stems out, just take some plyers, and give it a good tug on the backside, it'll come out. And if you need to take the weights off, give it a pry with a flat head screw driver, it'll scrape up the finish a tad, but for this project, that doesn't matter.

Here's the essentials...


So some Aircraft Stripper did it's thing... Chemical reactions are cool...


Went at it with 320 grit, then 1,000 grit, then Mother's Aluminum Polish...


You can even see some uneven surface around the inner lip...


Now, the spokes tured out great, very happy there. But the inners are pretty botched. I couldn't get an even surface out of them, I tried polishing up one that had somewhat of an even surface, and it wouldn't budge, still looked like **** after 20 minutes of polishing.

So my question is: What would you guys suggest I do about them? Paint them perhaps?

There's a place down the street from my buddy's house that does Chrome Dipping... I'm almost tempted to do that, no one around here has an ITR with Chrome wheels, that'd be madd gansta' yo.

Any input is appreciated.

 

CW powder coat them

 

It's crossed my mind.

CW and PY looks great. I'm starting to lean towards the Chrome, it will definately add quite a bit of weight, but Damn that would look SOOOOO clean...

Any other ideas for cleaning up the inners? Or which direction to head with the wheels all together?

EDIT:

I just had a thought. I wonder if bead blasting would get rid of the inconsistancy in the finish? I have access to a bead blaster, think I might give it a try on one of the wheels Monday and see what comes of it.

 

White wheels on a yellow car looks retarded any way you slice it.

I'd try and find a polishing shop nearby to finish the job. When they're done, they'll look like the NSX wheels. Try and find some silver Acura NSX center caps to complete the package.

 

S2000 center caps being picked up on Monday.

And I wonder how much it would cost me to get them professionally polished? Any clue?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GO-FIGHT-KILL &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">S2000 center caps being picked up on Monday.

And I wonder how much it would cost me to get them professionally polished? Any clue?</TD></TR></TABLE>

About $30 per wheel here in so cal.

 

Damn, that's not bad at all. I wonder if there's anything like that in Wilmington.

 

back to OEM GunMetal FTW!

 

The stock OEM wheels are just painted, right? No crazy coating?

 

people have done the chrome itr b4

 

BLING THOSE BITCHES

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Stunna BEN &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BLING THOSE BITCHES </TD></TR></TABLE>



chrome &gt; CW... white on yellow jordy??? I'd slap the **** out of you.

 

Found a place right down the road from you Scott, that does polishing. I'm going to take the wheels over to them tomorrow. Hopefully they can do something with them.

If that doesn't turn out right, then I'll Chrome Dip them Bitches.

 

polishing is a biotch! hahhaa i remember polishing my si's!
i paint strip the clear coat first.. and used 150 grid on the curb rash and 250 grid on the whole rim and work my way up to 1500 grid. and with the 1500 grid, i applied mothers while sanding it down.. and last stage i polish them with a cloth and mothers!

 

I'm very patient, so the polishing doesn't bother me, haha.

Called around today, and no one does polishing around here. The company I found on the net, said they don't polish, even though their website says they do... Whatever.

It's all good, I took one of the wheels to school today, and bead blasted the rough sections, and it took it right down to the aluminum, and it polished right up.

So tomorrow I'm doing all the wheels... 20 minutes a wheel roughly, but at least they'll be blinging as Hell in a few days.

 

Good Stuff, glad it worked out. Post some pics of the finished product.

 

jordy have you been smoking something.....polished itr wheels? that will be pretty stupid. i think this is a bad idea.....and everyone who thinks white on yellow is ugly should be slapped you should have done this with the rotas

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by walker111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good Stuff, glad it worked out. Post some pics of the finished product.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea good work man, even though personally I am always goign to stick to the gunmetal rims. Post some pics up tonight of the one you have done right now so we can all see how it turned out

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MadSuRfEr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jordy have you been smoking something.....polished itr wheels? that will be pretty stupid. i think this is a bad idea.....and everyone who thinks white on yellow is ugly should be slapped you should have done this with the rotas</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good thing is, they're just ITR wheels. I can buy another set of Gunmetal ones anytime.

And I think white on yellow looks great.

That's the next project, after the new wheels go on, I'm doing the same thing with the Rotas, except painting the center black, and polishing the **** out of the lip. Should look pretty cool.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by totsie7944 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yea good work man, even though personally I am always goign to stick to the gunmetal rims. Post some pics up tonight of the one you have done right now so we can all see how it turned out</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks! Also, like I said, I would have kept the stock Gunmetal finish, if it weren't falling off the wheel.

The wheels will be done tomorrow, pictures will be posted then.

 

Stick with polishing them. They'll look great ... as I said, just like 15" versions of the NSX fronts if you get the S2000 silver center caps.

I don't know what you guys have been smoking, but white wheels on a yellow car is just plain bad taste. I can't think of a single situation that I've seen a yellow car with white wheels, where the car wouldn't look much better if the wheels were a diffrent colour. You Americans are nuts

 

Eh?

Hahaha, kidding kidding kidding.

Yeah, they'll be polished up tomorrow. I'll probably have them on the car early next week, just in time for the Honda-Tech meet.

 

They look good without paint. I'm thinking of doing that to mine

 

Let him do what he want!!! KEEP IT UP

 

i would powder coat those. it would look nicer.

 

I did not say he has to keep em like that, i just said they look nice without paint. Yeah he can do what he wants i know but dont flame me for my own likes or dislikes of the R. To each his own.