I got these in a trade; all 4 wheels are in similar condition. They look like scratches, but are not.

Is there anyway I can repair these wheels by myself?

I'm thinking I can just repolish them by tearing off the old clear coat with aircraft paint remover, wetsanding them. apply some polishing agent, and then reapply some clear coat afterwards.

Does that sound right?

Help appreciated.

Grazie.

 

You can try what you said, but why don't you just paint them gunmetal or something? That would get rid of most of the scratches.

 

painted blades look BLAH. I lov the bling of those GSR wheels

 

I think there's a clearcoat on the rims, that's probably what's wearing off.

 

It can be done, but it is not simple...

Use some aircraft stripper, strip off all the clearcoat. Then you need to polish the rims using some type of wheel/aluminum polish (see Mothers, Meguiars, etc.). You will not be able to polish everything out by hand. I had the same type of thing on some GSRs I got from Japan. If you polish it by hand, it should fade it considerably, but you need some type of tool. A dremel with a polishing bit would work.

hth

 

since that is a maching finish behind the clear coat all you will need to do is remove the cleatcoat with the aircraft remover and it will shine better then with the clear coat. you will still have the machined finish and a good upkeep is mothers polish, you can do this by hand and it will keep a protective coating. if you want the machined lines out you will need to wet sand and use a buffing wheel.

 

QUOTE: I'm thinking I can just repolish them by tearing off the old clear coat with aircraft paint remover, wetsanding them. apply some polishing agent, and then reapply some clear coat afterwards.

Does that sound right? QUOTE


That's exactly right. It's going to take some time, but it will work.

edit: here's a thread on when we re finished my friends CPR lip. https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=437887


[Modified by rodrez, 10:58 AM 3/28/2003]

 

Thanks for the replies.

So far, it seems that the majority of you say that all I will need to do is polish them using mothers polish. Will wetsanding them be unneccesary prior to applying the polish?

rodrez: Thanks for that link. In your thread, you mentioned that "paint stripper (graffiti remover) works as well, just can't let it sit too long, or it'll ruin the finish." Will I have to worry about ruining the finish on my wheels?




[Modified by 99ls, 1:45 AM 4/3/2003]

 

it depends on what finish you want, if you want a mirror you will need to sand down and then use a buffing wheel, if your just looking to clean the wheel and keep the machined finish all you wil need to to remove the clear and use mothers polish and you can do it by hand.

 

Well, we let it set on Opi's CPR lip for about 8 minutes, you could see the clear coat wrinkle off, it was yellow and curdled. I wouldn't leave it on much longer than that, that stuff is STRONG. We sprayed it down with the hose, and started sanding, then went with some wet sanding to finish it up. After that, we hit it with the Mothers mag polish, cleaned it up, and sealed it with a coat of wax.

 

Update:

I started work on my first wheel today. After stripping off the clear coat with the paint stripper, I skipped the sanding part and went straight to the polishing with the Mothers stuff. 4 hours later, my arms are about to fall off and I'm barely 90% done with one wheel. I think right now is a good time for me to invest in a dremel. hehe

Anyways, since this wheel is almost finished, what should I do about protecting the finish. Should I reapply a layer of clear coat or will a simple layer of wax be good enough?

Grazie.





[Modified by 99ls, 1:43 AM 4/3/2003]

 

if you spray it with clear coat you will see your effort go away, it will get dull. ive always just let the mothers polish leave the protection, but i was also keeping them dray and washing the parts a lot.

 

After 12 hours of grueling labor , here is the finsihed product:








Thanks to everyone for their help.




[Modified by 99ls, 1:35 AM 4/3/2003]

 

Yay! Good job man...nice mirror-like finish.

 

woah that's nice some work there !

 

damn!

 

Sweet! Looks damn good man.

 

Did you do it by hand or a sanding/polishing machine?

 

Good work.

I once did the same thing you did to some 95 gsr wheels. I used some oven cleaner from the 99cent store to strip the clearcoat. Worked GREAT. Then I used a buffing wheel shanked on a power drill with rubbing compound. No sweat at all... let the 120volts do all the work for me... I think it cost me like ten bucks and a couple hours total.

 

hand

 

Cake dude, Nylon scouring attachment on a corded drill. Pad sand with an orbital, 1200 grit, the rest by hand. Then reshoot, they'll look bitchen for sure!

 

wow, much much props. Look dam good.

 

nice work

 

looks awesome!

 

those look amazing! mad props to you my friend. so u just used the method described?