Team Adam's 4,882 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! stalebreadjr 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MichiganSRT8 45 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J Tegeler 13 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 looks like quite the project! But the results came out great man! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueGenCoupe 17 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Nice job, but I think I would paint those black. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Team Adam's 4,882 Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Maybe like this??? stalebreadjr 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueGenCoupe 17 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 yes... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Team Adam's 4,882 Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Black is for winter...polished is for summer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JBlack151 409 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! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Team Adam's 4,882 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kustom_FX 28 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!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Team Adam's 4,882 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johns85mcss 10 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 wow they came out great Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueGenCoupe 17 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! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LDM 193 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Those look great Quote Link to post Share on other sites
THE Mook 742 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Holy sweeet baby justice those are gorgeous. Very nice my friend! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RickVB 10 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... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Team Adam's 4,882 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Golf for Life 22 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? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Team Adam's 4,882 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chris@Adams 2,248 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 They turned out great! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JSites 10 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sahls01gmc 288 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 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! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RayS 1,415 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 (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 by RayS Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sahls01gmc 288 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 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! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BRZN 1,151 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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