Wheel Refinishing (& Aluminum Polish How-To)

[GTJordan]

So what do you guys do when you refinish?

Steel wool
degreaser?
paint?

Since I've got loweringsprings (slammers) on the way, plus low profile tires, cross drilled rotors, and virgo's, maybe its time to think about making the GT a bit more pretty

Jordan

[don hodgdon]

I found a place here in SB that will bead blast and powder coat my Virgos for $50.00 a wheel. As I plan to keep the car, this is how I'll be refinishing my wheels.

In the past, on cars I was going to sell, I cleaned, sanded, primered, spot putty any dings, sanded again, primered again, sanded again and then painted the wheels. A real PITA...

Don

[towerymt]

I'll be going for my 3rd paint scheme in 3 years when I respray a set of virgos in the next few weeks, so I think I can offer some tips.


Prep
When I start with an original powdercoated wheel, I use a rough paper like a 220 grit to remove some of the finish and scuff the surface. The 220 works well to smooth out curb rash, too. Then I like to go over a second time with a 400 grit to smooth out some of the scratches. I always wet sand because it keeps the dust down and it's not quite as harsh as dry sanding.

When I respray a wheel that I've painted before, I just skip the first step and go to the 400 grit. I've never had any problems with paint flaking off, but make sure you get every loose bit off before spraying the new paint.

I used a foaming spray-on liquid stripper on my very first set, and I wouldn't want to do that again. I was forced to due to a cheap spray job that had been partially stripped off before I bought the wheels, so they were a mess. After stripping the wheels, I still had to sand them to get a smooth surface to paint.

Remove most of the dust with a hose and a rag, and then do a final wipe down to clean off any remaining dust just prior to shooting the first coat. I've used paint thinner in the past and works great to clean off dust and any oils from your hands.


Spray Painting
The only wheels I've painted are Virgos, and they aren't the easiest. I always do a coat on the back side first, if I even do paint the back. That way the overspray landing on the front side will get covered up later.

Try to put the final coat on the most visible surface. On the Virgos, it's the tops of the spokes.

Don't think a "coat" has to cover the entire wheel. I spray a coat on the sides of the spokes, then after a few minutes dry time, maybe spray the wide lip area, then the top of the spokes, and so on. You may end up with 3 layers of paint, but it might take 10 short spray sessions seperated with 5-10min. of drying time. On Virgos, be careful about runs when spraying down at the end of the spoke where it meets the rim. The paint can easily build up where the spoke curves.

I paint one wheel at a time in my garage. I don't like painting outdoors if I can avoid it, and I wouldn't do more than one wheel because I'd have to think about overspray and how many coats I've done on each part of each wheel. Finger fatigue is another problem I encounter. If you start pushing down halfway on the nozzle because you finger is tired, paint will come out in large spots instead of a fine mist.

So far my only experience with paint is using Dupli-Color wheel paint. It seems to work well in both the silver and graphite colors. No chipping or flaking and no fading that I can tell but I haven't used a set long term to know.

I would budget about $30 to paint a set of wheels and do it well. I've had many compliments on my painted Virgos, and several times I've been asked if they were powdercoated.

Bead blasting and powdercoating will provide the most durable finish, but for the cost, painting is by far the best bang for the buck.

[Hank Scorpio]

Bead blasting takes for ever if your trying to remove the powder coat (trust me). I ussualy just blast them clean and smooth, but not through the powder coating itself. Paint right over that and it seems to work rather well.

Besides that, Mike you should stick/FAQ that post!

Doug

[JonnyScorch]

Yeah, i agree w/ Doug, nice post... any suggestions on polishing up some aluminum wheels so they're nice and shiny... specifically hydras.... gotta love those large flat areas!

-Jonathan

[towerymt]

Wheel polishing...that's a tough one. I shined up a small section on one of my bent Virgo wheels just to prove that it could be done. Dana had been toying with the idea of polishing the lips, and I believe Pat D. said his wheels wouldn't polish when he tried it. I did it by hand and got close to a mirror shine.

Once you get ALL the paint &/or powdercoat off, start working your way up the levels of sand paper. I think I used 220, 400, & 600 which gives a smooth surface, but you really need to do a few more levels such as 800-1000 and then 1500-2000 for a chrome-like shine. I stopped at 600 because that's all I had, and after several applications of metal polish and a lot of rubbing, it looked pretty good.

Power tools would be the way to go, but I'm just not sure how much control or consistancy you could get from using a dremel or similar tool. Sanding by hand means you can cover a large area at one time, but it does go slowly.

I would really like to see someone polish a set of Volvo wheels. It requires a clear coat to maintain the shine, otherwise you'll just have to polish them occasionally with metal polish. After all the work, I would have them professionally clear coated.

[own6volvos]

damnit.. this makes me mad/sad at the same time. I have wanted to paint my 240 SE grid rims, but DAMN... so many areas to paint and prep. Think sand blasting would be easy, or produce good effects? I really would like to get these thins looking nicer, but i don't have the tools to do it. Anybody have experience redoing grid style rims?

Kevin

[TRBO242]

I'd curl up with one virgo, some sandpaper, and a good movie and you'll have great results!

p.s. it takes 4 movies :rofl:

Or in your case, bead-blast those "grid rims". Yeah... too many surfaces. :e-shrug:
nick

Ahhhhh!!!! if only there were 19" powdercoated gloss white virgos!!! :rant:

The was a 240T with polished & painted Virgos on the cover of Rolling a few issues back. My hand cramps at the mere thought of what that would take.

When I painted my Coronas, I carefully sprayed them off with a hose, wiped 'em with some alcohol, and I even peeled off a few of the old adhesive patches from long-gone wheel weights. Then I sprayed 'em with some epoxy enamel from Lowe's. I got inspired, and took the Dremel tool to the thin outer lip and polished it (roughly).

Of course, those are my snow wheels! :rofl:

[gothink3]

hey jordan you know what might look pretty sweet? If you get all the paint off and clear coat them so they are finished like the 78-79 GT rims. I've never seen unpainted virgos might be pretty tight..???

[Sharpel764ti]

I have the 10 spokes on my 84 764ti (their proper name eludes me at the moment)

There either getting lightly sanded and painted or sanded on the factory shiny spots and clear coated.

Have not decided which I prefer as the first choice will clearly be the easist with good results quickly while the second choice will take some time and effort. of course I could just find a decent set somewhere else.

[gatorfan91]

Any recommendations on what wheel cleaner works best on these alloy rims?

How about a lo-tech way to get a slight bend out of a virgo?

[Hank Scorpio]

Bend in the bead or rim, or both? I bent mine pretty good with a pothole, I just pounded the bead back down with a sledge for it to hold air, put it on the back and all was better.

:D

Doug

[towerymt]

How about a lo-tech way to get a slight bend out of a virgo?

Sledge hammer. I hammered out a dent recently, and I was actually hitting on the flat part of the lip, swinging the hammer parallel to the spokes. Then I had to smash down the lip from the top so that it will hold air better. I used the wheel for over 15,000 miles with my old 205/55 tires, but when I put on the 205/50, it gave me problems by going flat twice. I'm hoping that when I go back to a "wide" 205 tire, it won't be a problem.

[jjam184]

Have you thought about powder coating. I just looked into it for the frame of my bike and surprisingly it is only gonna run me $200. I would think that wheels would not be much more.

[mikep]

Old school Ureglo and Imron (slow dry uethanes) are my favorite wheel paints, but I also do alot of wierd multi-color jobs with clearcoat. Most fast dry clears are a bit brittle, but Imron is still available in clear.
I think cost is $35 to $100 per set of 4 or 5, it only uses most of a quart for 5 wheels. It depends on color and single or multi-stage. I have also used spray bombs in the past. Not bad for cheap.

[bitjockey]

I'm doing mine as we speak, guys... we'll see how this goes.

It amazes me how brake dust can actually dye the inside of your wheels...

[Badfish740]

I posted about my wheel refinishing experience a while ago, but I'll make another post for the sticky. I had a set of the 10 spoke wheels commonly found on 760's (Dracos?) stripped and powder coated a while ago. The stripping was 15 bucks a wheel (chemical dip), and the powder coat (gloss black) was 35 bucks a wheel. I'm very very happy with the results, but I haven't had them on the road yet so we'll see about durability. Here are the pics:

http://www.pbase.com/volvospeed740/inbox

Later,

Matthew

P.S. The valve cover and the exhaust manifold were done by the same shop

[Bready]

I took a set of the old 14" 22 spoke rims to a blast shop, had them walnut blast the powdercoat off - about $10 a wheel then had the faces polished by an aluminum polishing place - think it was about $60 per wheel and looked great.

Still have two of them if anyone wants them

JB

[BoxDriver2]

These are some pics of my Type A Borbets. These are no longer made [for a long time apparently] and I was recently cut off by a woman in her SUV at about 50 mph, slammed a high curb. A second one was bent from when the ass end of the car landed on the curb, that one had no cracks, just bent up, and was straightened. The front one still held air too. It is still slightly wabbling on the balancer, so it is on the rear until it gets straightened more.

Due to the wheel being reconstructed, I couldn't have the machined lip anymore. I opted to paint all 4. The welded one is OK, very decent but up close you can see some marks. I was very content with how they came out, with the slightly darker color from the polyurethane wheel paint i ended up using, the duplicolor didn't seem as dark when i used it on other wheels so i passed. Maybe I will polish the lips later on.

http://home.third-moon.com/pictures/upload/1056932296.jpg

http://home.third-moon.com/pictures/upload/1056932502.jpg

http://home.third-moon.com/pictures/upload/1056932683.jpg

[/img]

[trbobrick]

Powder coating all the way! I just dropped off my hosed off virgos at the powdercoating place. 200 bucks out the door for metalic gunmetal. It is so beautiful!

[Brickster151]

Thanks for the help! I painted and prepped my following towerymt's direction and here is how they turned out!

http://www.geocities.com/brickster151/graphitevirgos.txt

[JonnyScorch]

Anybody have pics of some polished aluminum whels, I'd like to see how close it is to a chrome finish.

I finally got the hydras!

thanks,

-Jonathan

[Alphanumeric 244Tic]

I am in the middle of cleaning my rims.. a set of virgos and novas (760 turbo rims) I just scrubb them off with one of those green scotch brite pads.. takes like an hour a rim LoL.. but the virgos look as good as new after.. so no powder coated needed..

now after scrubbing my novas.. I noticed all the paint was about coming off..giving it a white\light grey color to it.. which actually looks pretty cool cause I want white rims in the future.. (white looks bad ass IMO on rims) anyhow..here are some pics..

this brings up a question.. do they powder coat in any color they have? like white?

another thought about my novas.. I guess.. the paint is almost all chipped off or something.. leaving just the bare rim.. is this bad? or can i leave it like that.. the color of it doesnt look to bad in my book..

http://www.pbase.com/image/20366406/large.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/20360515/large.jpg

[pgringo69]

fyi: the powdercoater guy can mask off parts of the wheel if desired.

i'm considering polishing a set of virgos, then have the spokes powdered black while leaving the lip shiny. i need to ask about getting a clearcoat over the polished part after all that. i think it'll be the way to go on my car. :woowoo:

[Anonymous]

WET SAND ANDPAINT AND ILL TELL YOU WHY, IT COST ABOUT 12 BUCKS AND BOTH POWDER COAT AND PAINT WILL GET RIPPED THRU IN THE EVENT OF A CURB IMPACT OR BOTH WILL PROB GET SCRATCHED BY A SPEEDY ROCK. EITHER WAY IT WILL ONLY COST ME ANOTHER 4 BUCKS TO FIX ONE WHEEL OR 12 FOR A NEW COLOR ENTIRELY

[Hank Scorpio]

THANK YOU FOR THAT EXCELLENT ANSWER THAT PROVIDED VERY LITTLE REAL INFORMATION. A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART.

WHAT ARE YOU SOME KIND OF ROBOT? IF SO, DO YOU USE YOUR POWERS FOR GOOD FOR AWSOME?

[nohbudi]

I RECOMMEND THAT ALL ROBOTS USE THE CAPSLOCK KEY LIKE SO and then not type in all caps.... its just impolite.... unless of course you have TypE-mODulatIOn DISOrdEr...

[Anonymous]

...A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART.

So that means it's JB, right?

[240T man]

now after scrubbing my novas.. I noticed all the paint was about coming off..giving it a white\light grey color to it.. which actually looks pretty cool cause I want white rims in the future.. (white looks bad ass IMO on rims) anyhow..here are some pics..

this brings up a question.. do they powder coat in any color they have? like white?

another thought about my novas.. I guess.. the paint is almost all chipped off or something.. leaving just the bare rim.. is this bad? or can i leave it like that.. the color of it doesnt look to bad in my book..

http://www.pbase.com/image/20366406/large.jpg

Hot DAMN i like Novas in white!! Do they fit ABS?

[z537z]

Yeah white's the way to go, I'm going to do my virgos in white. Will look nice against a maroon car.

So what about primer? Needed? Special type?

_z

[mikep]

Acid-etch primer is best for bare aluminum, but if any paint is on the wheels, just prep and spray. Paint will stick to bare aluminum, but the phosphoric acid primer is great for the long haul.

[mikep]

Basecoat-clearcoat.
<img src=http://www.pbase.com/image/21382338.jpg>

[JonnyScorch]

NIce job, I refinished my rusted to hell steele wheels this summer, and mand are those steelies annoying to work on...

-Jonathan

[mikep]

If it hadn't been for 2 students who offered to run the sandblaster, I never would have finished them in time to go autocrossing.

[Forg]

Poking my head in quite late in the piece here ... but apparently powder coat will absorb brake dust in the long term, and some wheel refinishers recommend a hit with a clear-coat rather than leaving powder as the final finish.

Having said that, I had my Virgo's over 2 years after being coated & they still looked brand new. So if you wash the car regularly then you probably wouldn't care about the clear-coat unless you were planning on keeping it for yonks.

[pgringo69]

here is the method of a friend of mine who is the diy aluminum polishing master:

Polishing Aluminum
By Titian Burris

Materials needed:
Sand paper 80-600 grits (depending on the condition of the metal)
Terry Cloth towels (the softer... the better)
Safety Glasses
Your favorite BBQ apron
Dust mask (unless you like aluminum dust)
A reputable aluminum polish (I use Eagle One, http://www.eagleone.com/_products/index_whe.asp)
Dremal Tool or pneumatic hand drill (high rpm) with hard cotton polishing wheels
Palm or Mini-Finishing Sheet sander pneumatic or electric (This is a must)
Time and Patients (As well a must, a must have to get good to excellent results)

Cleaning up the metal, if you are dealing with rough or raw aluminum you will want to follow these sanding steps (I use all of these steps when restoring OSBMX Aluminum, note: not all OSBMX manufacturers products were polished to “high luster” or show standards... Phil Wood Spiders for example were not OEM high luster):

Warning: Do not over sand... aluminum is soft and when using pneumatic or electric sanders, you can thin out tubing etc reducing the structural integrity of the component or possibly “sand through” the tubing /component. Do not sand out factory welds or factory markings, this reduces the historical value of your component.

Sanding Steps:
Using pneumatic or electric sanders can greatly reduce your man hours...

80-120, grit Medium Smoothing of the surface, removing deep imperfections and marks.
150-180 grit, Fine, removing smaller imperfections and marks and leveling out dips in the aluminum.
220-240 grit, Very Fine Sanding
280-320 grit, Extra Fine
360-600 grit, Super Fine Fine sanding of the finish to remove some luster or surface blemishes and scratches.

Once you have put more aluminum shavings up your nose than the guy in “Blow” snorted illegal drugs, follow these procedures:

Take your terry cloth towel collection, cut the towel to fit your Palm or Mini-Finishing Sheet sander like you would a sheet of sandpaper, slather on the Mag & Aluminum Polish and polish away... you might need to do this several times to get a scratch free mirror shine. Use your hand Held Dremal Tool or pneumatic hand drill (high rpm) with the polishing wheel attachment to polish welds and those hard to get to spots (use plenty of polish).

After you have made a huge black mess of everything on you work bench, and you are 110% satisfied with the look of your hard work an time (in other words you could use it to shave with instead of a mirror in the mornings), use a common Silicone Glaze car wax to seal and protect the aluminum, this reduces natural tarnishing. The car wax will work, but I found another product that I have been happy with, Eagle One Billet Aluminum Polish Cleans, polishes and waxes to a mirror-like shine. The choice is yours, they both work great.

Titian’s disclaimer: I have polished allot of aluminum... this is the best way I have found to do it. I am by no means an expert. Do this at your own risk. Like mentioned above, this takes allot of time and patients... these two factors will be crucial in the outcome of your project. Prepare to get dirty! Good Luck!

example of his work:

http://www.slackersunion.org/tznutts/130_Phil_Wood_Spider.JPG

[JonnyScorch]

Thanks for the detailed DIY guide! Is it possible to put aclear coat of some sort on once you get the mirror shine.. it sounds like a real pita if you have to pollish them frequently... or is it as bad as i think?

Thanks!

-Jonathan

[stylngle2003]

if you have your wheels polished already (anything polished for that matter) and you'd like to keep them polished...check this site out..


http://www.zoopseal.com/zoopseal.asp

very expensive, but for 130 bux you can say bye bye to polishing for a very long time. it protects the metal as well, so its like insurance for the nice finish. i saw it on Trucks!, and Stacey David made it look pretty easy



Billy

[JonnyScorch]

NICE!i! $130 is a decent amount of change but for the time it saves you constantly trying to keep the aluminum pollished i think it would be worth it.... not to mention the other option i was looking into was getting the wheels cosmichromed/phantachromed (www.cosmichrome.com) but i was told(second hand) it would be ~ $130(cnd $ i think) to do just the face of one wheel.

THANKS!!

Now i really have to figure out how to match that plastic center cap to the polished aluminum...maybe i should make some that ARE polished aluminum... hmm....

Jonathan

[stylngle2003]

[quote:625323399c]Now i really have to figure out how to match that plastic center cap to the polished aluminum...maybe i should make some that ARE polished aluminum... hmm....[/quote:625323399c]

i saw a guy at a carshow who had chromed his entire Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle! The body panels were plastic, and he had those chromed, but he said it was a bitch to reassemble the bike because when you chrome something, it isn't as flexible. just something to think about...it might be cheaper to chrome your centercaps, so that they match the rims.
:e-shrug:

just somthing to think about



Billy

[JonnyScorch]

That was what i was originally thinking, but i don't know if my pollished aluminum will be a perfect match to the chrome :e-shrug: ... I'm gonna have to experiment and see what looks best. I'll take pics along the way for comparisons.

Jonathan

[stylngle2003]

cool beans mang....keep us informed



Billy

[pgringo69]

i asked, and Titian, the jedi master of diy aluminum polishing, says to just use car wax to keep stuff shiny after it has been polished.

-philip

[V-Jet]

[quote:da730d010f="Alphanumeric 244Tic"]now after scrubbing my novas.. I noticed all the paint was about coming off..giving it a white\light grey color to it.. which actually looks pretty cool cause I want white rims in the future.. (white looks bad ass IMO on rims) anyhow..here are some pics..

this brings up a question.. do they powder coat in any color they have? like white?

another thought about my novas.. I guess.. the paint is almost all chipped off or something.. leaving just the bare rim.. is this bad? or can i leave it like that.. the color of it doesnt look to bad in my book..

http://www.pbase.com/image/20366406/large.jpg

Hot DAMN i like Novas in white!! Do they fit ABS?[/quote:da730d010f]

These are not Nova's, these are Sirius. Standard on 760's in '83 & '84. Volvo P/N 1329603 for painted ones and 1229998 for polished ones. Nova's are the ones that came standard on 960's from '92 - '94, they have a swept 15 spoke design, Volvo P/N 3516961.

Somehow everyone recognise Virgo, Draco and Polaris but they all seem to mistake Sirius for Nova.

[WeezilUSA]

Those wheels came on my '85 also... They are novas... I had a set of white ones on my car for a while... They do look good.

[V-Jet]

See my separate post here, with images scanned from Volvo accessory catalogue.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/viewtopic.php?t=13877#115642

[cid499]

Well, after reading this guide I decided I wanted to polish the lip on my wheels. I tried to strip the lips on my recently acquired set of dracos using JASCO Paint Stripper/Remover. After brushing it on and letting it sit, I began to scrape off the paint -- but there seems to be a layer that will not be stripped! It is sandable though. Do I need a better paint stripper? Can somebody recommend one to me? So far I have spent over 8 hours on this, and still only have 1/2 of a polishable lip!

Thanks!
Phil

[pgringo69]

i have used strip-eze on powdercoat before where the pcoat just wrinkled up almost instantly.

[Lord_Athlon]

Alphanumeric 244Tic, is that a p-28 powerlite with GT mags?

and pgringo69, is that a set of original redline flight cranks without the pinch bolt?

[pgringo69]

close.

early box shaped profile cranks.

[dabears]

Well, after reading this guide I decided I wanted to polish the lip on my wheels. I tried to strip the lips on my recently acquired set of dracos using JASCO Paint Stripper/Remover. After brushing it on and letting it sit, I began to scrape off the paint -- but there seems to be a layer that will not be stripped! It is sandable though. Do I need a better paint stripper? Can somebody recommend one to me? So far I have spent over 8 hours on this, and still only have 1/2 of a polishable lip!

Thanks!
Phil

whenever i do ppls rims for them, i use da sand blasta! :)

[canadiangt]

I just bought a 3m sander attachment for my die grinder with the rotoloc discs. The stripper takes off the powdercoat (albeit slowly) and the green polisher works awesome to bring to a nice aluminum shine. This would save a lot of time as you could just polish them with aluminum polish after that stage. I think I may leave them with the rougher finish

[blkaplan]

i prepped my 10 spokes by hand. i found that using simple green as the wet in wetsanding works really well to get crap stuck on your wheels when you dont want to ruin your tires with harsh chemicals
started with 320 and finished at 600