Has anyone taken the clear coat off of there aluminium polished wheels? What did you use to strip them and how hard is it to keep them looking good? Do they look better than when there coated?
Thanks for the input, Jason

 

There are a number of ways to remove clear coat - which is essentially just clear paint. Virtually all of these means will cause some damage to the base aluminum wheel. That damage can then be fixed by re-finishing (generally polishing) the wheel. All of this brings me to the question: Why would you want to remove the protective coating anyway? Unless you actually enjoy polishing (we're not talking just waxing) your wheels constantly, you'll probably regret taking the clear coat off. There's also the negative effect on trade in value when the wheels look like #@$%&*.

 

I see your point but there is a little spot were the clear coat is chipped off, it was from some jack *** that took off the centers! I am very picky so they would be polished weekly. Also there just summer wheels and I do feel that you can get a better shine!

 

Hey thumper, You may be picky but I really think you will hate yourself for taking off the clear. You seriously may want to take a look at the possibility and feasability of buying some touch-up clear from a local auto-body supplier or maybe even finding one wheel from a salvage yard, and make the *** that effed it up pay for it.

 

get some aircraft stripper, I prefer ZIP strip (yellow can) You wont even have to remove your tires from the rim, brush it on liberally let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes and hose it off, you may have to hit each wheel a few coats and use a tooth brush, but the clear will come right off. Left behind will be a machined finish that you can hit with some mothers polish to clean up, you could take it one step further and sand and polish to a mirror fiinish,that would be a lot of work. I did this on my rangers wheels and they turned out much better looking but you will have to keep up with them every couple of months or they will tarnish. Also the stripper is some nast stuff dont get it on your skin or anything that is painted, for some reason though it does not effect plastic of rubber, it also wont strip chrome, but I would not get it on your center caps.

 

Use a product from POR15 called POR-strip, also available in a kit to refinish alum. wheels, stuff works great.

 

One other thing you might want to think about here. I can't think of a recent Ford aluminum wheel that had just clear coat on it. Every one I can think of had at least some silver / argent paint on it as well. So, if you remove the clear, you remove the color too. You may end up with a very different looking wheel after stripping.