Team Adam's Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 This was a little project I began last fall when I pulled these wheels off in order to swap my winter set on...for the winter we never really had here in Northern Indiana. It ended up being a pretty tedious process and overall, I spent about 10-12 hours total to get them from the factory finish to the polished finish that you'll see in the pictures. The process I used was as follows: I began with aircraft stripper applied with a paint brush. The first coat of stripper was blasted off with the fire hose nozzle opened all the way up. That was enough to get the majority of the clear coat off. I then used a different kind of sprayable stripper and applied another full coat of that. Agitated with a VRT block sponge, then sprayed off with the hose. That got 99% of the clear off, and I just spot treated any left-over stubborn areas with the sprayable stripper and some #0000 steel wool. Once all the clear was gone, it was time to polish. I used an un-named red ball on a cordless drill with MP #1 for the majority of the heavy lifting. I did 1 wheel with MP #1 by hand and it nearly killed me, so that's why I switched to the ball. After everything has been hit with MP #1, I started with MP #2 and a blue MF applicator. This step made a HUGE difference! They looked nice after MP #1, but they really popped after #2 did it's work! After the MP combo was done, I did a quick IPA wipe down to remove and left over polishing residue, then applied two coats of QS with an Americana applicator. I also put one coat of QS on the barrels of the wheels, but didn't do any polishing on them. Followed that with a coat of Americana and some VRT on the tires. On to the pictures.... Before: In progress: Bottom two spokes are polished here: Here's a pretty good illustration of what the Adam's Metal Polish combo is capable of. Bottom three spokes are finished and you can see the half-finished, half-not line at the 9 o'clock position: Finished! bosco1 and stalebreadjr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganSRT8 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 very nice! always loved the stock rims of the SS, especially all shinned up like you got em! Gunna be blinding people man haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Tegeler Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 looks like quite the project! But the results came out great man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGenCoupe Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Nice job, but I think I would paint those black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Maybe like this??? stalebreadjr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGenCoupe Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 yes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Black is for winter...polished is for summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBlack151 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 They came out really good. Thanks for posting a great write up on this process. I'm sure it will be a great help to others possibly looking to do the same....(cough cough) like me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 They came out really good. Thanks for posting a great write up on this process. I'm sure it will be a great help to others possibly looking to do the same....(cough cough) like me! That's what I was shooting for. Let me know if you need anything when you decide to tackle yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kustom_FX Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Sounds like a weekend project in the making for me, only because I don't have a 2nd set of wheels. So it will go on the lift at work, all rims off, and ill break the tires down as well, so I can address a rim leak issue I'm having. I'll be curious to see how often these need re-polishing being bare aluminum, only because in my experience they are a PAIN. but if I can similar results I will have them cleared. Slick write up thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Sounds like a weekend project in the making for me, only because I don't have a 2nd set of wheels. So it will go on the lift at work, all rims off, and ill break the tires down as well, so I can address a rim leak issue I'm having. I'll be curious to see how often these need re-polishing being bare aluminum, only because in my experience they are a PAIN. but if I can similar results I will have them cleared. Slick write up thanks!! In theory, they should last as long as the Americana/QS lasts, given that I got them completely sealed and didn't miss and nooks/crannies. Even if they do need routine polishing, it will only be with MP #2. The hard work is already done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns85mcss Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 wow they came out great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGenCoupe Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Black is for winter...polished is for summer. Really?? I would have thought black was for the summer polished for the winter! any whoooooooooooo, still a great job on the polished ones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Those look great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE Mook Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Holy sweeet baby justice those are gorgeous. Very nice my friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickVB Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Did you do anything with the caps, or just leave them (not sure they'd stand up to the same treatment, if they're the typical GM plastic backs). They look like you did... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 Did you do anything with the caps, or just leave them (not sure they'd stand up to the same treatment, if they're the typical GM plastic backs). They look like you did... I just hit them with MP #1 then put the black overlays on the bowties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golf for Life Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Well done, looks like the results are well worth your efforts. Did you also polish up the barrels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 No polishing on the barrels. I just stripped them and hit them with two costs of QS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris@Adams Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 They turned out great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSites Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Those look great! I may have to do mine, they aren't really bad, but could look better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahls01gmc Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Bringing up a thread from the way back.... My wheels are in not as good of condition as these, but I wanted to get everyone’s opinion on what I can do with them. Since the clear coat has been compromised, I realize the first step will be stripping the clear coat off. Think polishing is still an option, or will these need to be refinished? I want to make them look better, but these are also going to end up being my “winter wheels”. And don’t mind the brakes, those have already been addressed... Any input is appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayS Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) I have removed the clear coat from wheels twice. The first time was using a chemical stripper and I can say it was a learning experience. Since I only used a chemical once and I was not familiar with the chemical, I have no way of knowing if it was the expected outcome, if I messed up or the chemical wasn't up to the task. The end result is that the wheels did not come out very good. I just can't say exactly why, but talking to others I was told it takes practice to get it right. The second try was using sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) as the sand blasting media. This worked very well and did not damage the wheels themselves and I was able make them look very good again. I did have the wheels clear coated by a person that painted cars, so they were done right. Overall, the sand blasting and being clear coated made the wheels more than acceptable for a daily driver. Good luck with your efforts. Edited January 31, 2021 by RayS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahls01gmc Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Thanks Ray. I have the same feelings about chemical stripping. Sure, I’ve seen plenty of videos of people making it look easy, but reality is different. I’m hesitant to use chemicals because I don’t want to damage the wheel, and also don’t want to create more work. As far as blasting, my plan is to not dismount the tires at this time. I’ll re-evaluate once I’m due for new tires. I don’t drive it much, and have other vehicles so I’m just doing 1 wheel at a time. I’m hoping to sand the clear coat off, but I also realize this is a very involved process going through several different grits of sandpaper before switching to polish. If anyone has sanded wheels before, what series of grits did you use? The benefit of these wheels is they are flat and straight, so access for sanding is not an issue for even finishing. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRZN Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Working on hammered raw aluminum wheels in the past, I'd started with 800 grit and progressively worked my way down to 3,000 grit before polishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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