Hey guys, I just bought a set of rims ata swap meet for $100. Two of the five have bad oxidation on them, and I need help on how to restore them to new quality like the rest.

Here a few pics I took a little while ago.






Thanks Guys,
Mark

 

I have some bad news for you. The rims are oxidized through the clearcoat as best I can tell from the pics. This is bad-- the erosion of the clear now cannot be stopped. What you can do is to get somebody to remove all the rest of the clear and re clear them. Otherwise...you are looking at about as good as its gonna get...

Hopefully, I am wrong, and RP or someone else can give you a brighter prognosis...

 

Unfortunantly i believe you are right.
That does look like the clear has flaked.

You will need to remove the clear and repolish the wheel and add clear again.
you could technically just remove the clear and polish them without the need to reclear, but you would have to repolish quite often to keep the shiny reflective appearance of the wheels.

Look up some wheel refinishing shops in your area.
The last time i checked to have my wheels redone it was more cost effective to purchase new wheels. Mine were going to have to be rechromed though.

If your a DIY kinda person it shouldnt be too hard to do yourself. Then just have a bodyshop spray the clear if you dont trust yourself to do it.

 

Strip and try powdercoating them. Stock finish is done, put a fork in them.
Although, if you go powdercoat, you can have a custom finish..Match your truck mabey?

 

Well thanks for the quick answers. I talked to my Dad after I bought them and he said it was the clear, just like ya'll. Im looking to do this on the cheap and quick, since they gave me about a 4" lift and they only cost $100 at a swap meet.
Since stripping and re-clearing is gonna be the best, can i use the airplane stripper that sells at Advance Auto Parts and Auto Zone? Or, can i sand the area and just touch up as needed?

 

will they be 4 inch of lift or are they 4 inches taller...that would give you only 2 more inches of lift....two of the four are below the axl and two above the axl...only the two below the axl will give you any lift...these tires would have to be 8 inches taller to give you 4 inches of lift...if the same size rims mount the tires on the set you have that are fine....spot touch up will, well look like spot touch up....the entire rim should be stripped down to bare and redone...i think chroming or powder coating would be best bet...rims get very hot during usage...i dont think the clear on rims is same as clear on paint...i would think that 95% of paint shops would give you the same stuff thats on your hood and send you on your way...to have them chromed, you should be able to find a shop to do them for $100-125 per wheel with them doing all the labor (minus breaking the tire off the rim...you take the rim to them bare). also looking at pic, it looks like the accent color is gold, and if that is the truck they are going on is the one in your sig...the lower strip is silver....could look a little off, i think there is a set with the silver accents in the opening for the two tones with silver...

 

Nope... I don't have a better or brighter prognosis. Sorry. They're too far gone short of powder coating or rechroming.

 

I hate to disagree with the experts, so I'll only disagree with part of what you've seen so far. The oxidation is not so much in your clear coat as it is on the actual surface of your aluminum wheels. What you have is white salt corrosion of the aluminum substrate - underneath your clear coat. Yes, it probably started when the clear coat was somehow compromised (broken through), but fixing the clear coat will not solve your problem.

Here's where I do agree with what you've heard so far. You do have to fully remove the clear coat - what's left of it - then fully remove the oxidation from the bare aluminum before you try any new finish. If you don't, the problem will just come back. A really cheap and dirty way to do this would be to strip the clear coat, abrade the aluminum surface, then paint the wheels silver. Yes, it's not going to look anywhere near as neat as chrome plating, but your wheels were not chrome plated in the first place. Truth be told, they're simply painted silver, machined, then clear coated. There was no polishing involved at all.

 

I would check to see if there are any powder coaters in your area, and see if they would give you a price to "bead blast" them- not sand blast (that would make them extremely dull). Ask for a price to have them custom painted and then clear coated. That would give you some figures to work with.

If thats too expensive, try the stripper or fine grit paper and then reclear them. If you think of it, post some pics when done. Good luck