Has anyone taken off the clear coat on the factory wheels?

[Qualitywires.com]

I was curious to see if anyone has done this? My Clear coat is getting a little rough looking. I remember the days of having billet wheels and polishing them with Mothers. They looked great, but it could take some time to do it.

How does it look when you strip them clean of the clear coat?

 

[RedEnuf93]

I would not worry about the time to do it, to maintain the luster must be a major pain...
I had a polished Harley rear rim with polished motor/trasmission, Mothers will do the work, but my fingers were not able to take the abuse. I would get them polished and coated. My 5 spokes were polished and chromed by CalChrome, I am very happy with results.
Be careful with the stripping agents, you may permanently damage the wheel with chemical strippers.

 

[Ulysses]

My wheels do not have the clear on them. It's a painstaking process to polish them up. Looks good and stays that way for a few weeks. Then you have to do it all over again. I'm seriously thinking about getting them clear coated again.

 

[Qualitywires.com]

My wheels do not have the clear on them. It's a painstaking process to polish them up. Looks good and stays that way for a few weeks. Then you have to do it all over again. I'm seriously thinking about getting them clear coated again.

What did you us to strip the clear coat?

 

[Ulysses]

A couple of my wheels had curb rash on them from a track incident. They were sent out to be repaired and they, of course, strip the clear before they repair them. I just had them leave the clear off.

 

[SylvanSRT]

i think that viper wheels are not clear coated(paint), they have a clear powder coat that gets baked on.

 

[Nadine UK GTS]

I removed my clear coat as the wheels were all white and scabby looking from under clear-coat corrision. (Polishing them up again is a **** long job!) Anyway I used household paint stripper, it did not harm the ali wheel! It comes in a gel like form in a tin. I brushed it on thick with a soft brush and covered the wheel with a poly bag to stop the gel from drying out. Left it for an hour to penitrate the clear coat, and then wiped it of with rag (wear gloves it irritaes your skin!) all instructions on tin. Did the center caps too. The clear coat just becomes soft and bubbles up, and you wipe it away; I then washed the wheel and dryed it straight away. Good luck!

 

[Qualitywires.com]

nadine, do you have any pics of your wheels?

Do your wheels look a lot better now?