clear coated wheels

[IT BIT ME]

Has anyone stripped the clear coat off there wheels? I have a 1997 GTS and the wheels could use a little more shine.And if so how did you do it? The only thing I could think of is aircraft remover.Any help would be great, I like the wheels just need more shine. Thanks

 

[Andrew/USPWR]

I tried several companies. Don't think it can be done as well as factory. I ended up having to buy a second pair.

And there for sale now for $2,700 18'' oem

 

[SylvanSRT]

clear coat is not a paint it is clear powder coating so how ever you would strip a powder coating(off a polished aluminum)

 

[Knight Viper]

I had mine polished from a company (Keystone in MD) specializing in aluminum repair and polish and didn't have them re-cleared, mirror finish $200 per wheel

 

[ViperJames]

California Chrome will refinish/Chrome all 4 for less than $700. they will shine nicer than anything.........

 

[IT BIT ME]

Do you have a number for California chrome?I would polish them myself if I could get the clear coat off.

 

[IT BIT ME]

I found the web site for them.They even have a Viper on the web site.http://www.calchrome.com

 

[B SNAKE 1]

Did my rims & gas cap. great work

 

[vinnieviper]

i was in the process of going to get my wheels powder coated.. did this process ever run amuck. i took my wheels to be sandblasted since the placepowder coating them does not do the prep work. needless to say they blasted the fronts which now i cant even use. they dug so far down in the aluminum that any finish would look horrible. so i took the other two rear wheels to another shop. he sold me gallon of aircraft remover to get the clear coat off first then he could do the rest of prep. i have had others said this will work too. but now i have two bad front 17's . i would just ship to cci. and be done with it. now im scrabling for wheels . throwing money out the window . spend the $$ have someone do it that knows.. i am learning the hard way !!

 

[SylvanSRT]

i personally would not do chrome, i don't know how much weight that adds to the wheels. but i do know that you want you unsprung rotating mass to be as small(light) as possible

 

[Danno]

I had my 1997 GTS wheels polished by a shop in town and they look like chrome (did not re-clearcoat). My gas cap is chromed and the wheels match. The shop did my wheels in about 4 days and having them chromed was going to be about a month.

 

[Andrew/USPWR]

I had Wheels America, and turbax (sic) try to powered coat my 18'' oem. The polishing looked great, but anything and everything would stain the the raw aluminum, even when waxed. The best they could powered coat left an orange peel texture so they looked plastic. I spent about $1,200 before I made them my track wheels and bought a 2nd set for the street.
In the end I wish I had never started with it.