Hey guys, I have a '96 Sir-G, with fat fives underneath, and I've noticed that the clearcoat on top has started to peel off, now, I want to restore them back to their previous state, can anyone show me, or point me to an article or post in the forums that show how to do this? I've searched for "restoring wheels", "restoring rims" "sanding rims" and "sanding wheels" and can't think of anythign else that would get me to what I need, so any help would be greatly appreciated. so thanks in advance for any input given.

 

bump

 

Bump since my wheels look like crap and there even fat 5s too!!

 

check out the forum for wheel/tire. it has everything you need.

 

Try the Appearance / Cosmetic Forum or Wheels / Tires Forum.

 

first decide if you really want to do this. Once you've decided that decide if you want re-paint them again or just keep them polished, just know that keeping them polished requires more upkeep. If you want to paint them and have the money i suggest powdercoat. IF not use a good "wheel paint" this stuff sticks and is tough.
I can walk you through how i did my two different set of wheels but i will ask that if it ends up being a like write-up when you have you're info you copy paste a new thread with this.
1) Use a paint stripper to remove dirt and as much paint as possible.
Reason - sanding is slow and tiring, even with power sanders.
2) Sand the wheel. You want to get ALL old paint off, no exceptions. Start with a 180grit and work your way up, how far up you go will be determined by the next step
3) If you want to get them powercoated a 180-220-320-400 should be fine, just make sure that with each grit you remove any sign of the cuts of the previous grit. If you want to spray paint them do a 180-220-320-400-600 dry. If you decide you want a full polish(mirror) I would do 180-220-320-400-600dry-600wet-1500wet-2000wet, Mothers mag polish and a buffer, then hand polish. If you want a matte finish you should work your way up in gritts to 400 as said above then try polish the wheels at a lower gritt until you find a finish that suites your taste as polishing a lower grit sand will not yield a mirror finish but a smooth, less reflactive finish.
4) You can paint the mirror finished wheels but you must remove any and all polish residue first or you will have absolutely no adhesion, and beware, even with all polish residue gone adhesion will be minimal so you will have to be very careful. Aside from this the only thing to keep in mind is that wheels get hot from brake friction and are also regularly coated in brake dust so choose paint wisely and remember that while a wheel with not paint is harder to keep up with no brake dust will ever get bonded to the paint.

Just remembered to mention about repairing wheels, very shallow scratches can just be sanded out, deeper ones will require a filler of some type. I currently only have body filler on one set of wheels and it is a very minimal amount. I do not yet know how well body filler will stick to the wheels over a long period of time because this is the first set of wheels I have ever purchased that had curb damage. So far it looks great and i predict the filler to be a solid performer for a long time. Just apply the body filler to the wheel like you would to a body, with a rubber spreader and a good amount of pressure.


If i forgot anything or this write up sucks just let me know.

 

haha, in the time it took me to write that 4 people replied, now somebody give me info on suspension!

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1778632&page=3 that one is great. Incase anyone was wondering. But thanks for the input.

 

that is a very nice write up, I painted my fat 5s graphit and i think it looks really good. If i knew how to attach pics id post a pic before clear coat.