Strip and/or polish OEM wheels?
 

I like the pattern of the OEM rims, but I am not a fan of the dual tone look. I also don't want to spend the money to buy new rims. Anybody tried using paint stripper on the wheels to simply remove the paint? I assume something very caustic would work like aircraft paint remover.

I may try this at some point as an experiment once I can get a few days off and a place to try it out. I would want to just remove the paint first to see how it looks. And if it sucks, then maybe try to polish it a bit.

Anybody tried this? Tips? Don't bother?

Sounds a bit messy. Why not try plasti dipping or wheel paint in your preferred colour?

^^ that or powder coat them

I was thinking this last night, these wheels fully polished might look amazing...

^this.

I like shiny things

Considering powder coat as well, but cost would be in the $300-$400 range I'd imagine. Don't want to plastidip because I don't like how it peals or the lack of a permanent solution. Plastidip just seems like more hassle than its worth. So I'm debating going this route. Need to look at wheels closer, but it may be possible to polish without having to worry about taking off tires.

you could do the first step in powder coating, namely sandblasting and then get them polished somewhere.

something like silver plastidip would be a good test to see if you even like them in a solid colour, and it's more durable than you think if you apply it correctly.

It looks like a fairly simple process, so I'm going to try when I get a chance in the next few weeks and try to rope a friend into it. Worst case, I get them powder coated, which was what I was already planning on doing.

No no no Billy. Bare aluminum corrodes like crazy, and polish isn't enough. ALL alloy wheels used on road cars are coated with specially durable paint, clearcoat or are chrome plated, if you like that sort of thing.

You can try this...

HOW TO STRIP AND CLEAR COAT ALUMINUM WHEELS

I'd be down to give it a shot as well just for the heck of it.

Try Plastidip. I agree with f0rge in that it's much more durable than you may think when applied correctly. I did mine with black base/gold over and they look absoultely gorgeous on Ultramarine, much better than stock 2-tone. Been done a month with no issues. Even if you have to redo it every year, it only takes about 2 hours when done well or 1 hour when done quickly. Give it a shot!!

Has anyone polished their wheels yet?

I ended up selling my rims and buying a used set of SSR Type Cs that had a little bit of curb rash on the lips that needed to be polished. It took me probably 25 hours to sand off the clearcoat and polish just the lips on the 4 wheels.

I can't imagine how long it would take to polish the OEM wheels. Maybe use a chemical paint remover and then see if the finish is good enough to just jump to using the chemical aluminum polish (Doesn't really need a super smooth surface to still turn out ok).

I tried to clearcoat the lips after polishing and failed epically, so it's hard for me to recommend clearcoating after the polish step. I am just running the lips bare and it seems to be fine.

I just want to see what they look like completely polished.

I like the idea, but wheels with fat spokes look best with the bare metal look imo

Closest I've seen before is "Black Chrome" ones from a Houston owner, but can't find them again. They actually looked pretty nice. I think a local dealer was having them done for an extra fee or something, Hope that somewhat helps.

Thanks, but I'm talking pictures here haha

A little over 5 years ago, I attempted to remove the paint (then polish) a set of 18x9 Rota D2's I bought used. It was a total nightmare. As toxic as the chemicals were, the paint was still a bare to get off. I used Rust-oleum aircraft remover, metal brush and steel wool. I eventually gave up on polishing them by hand and sold the set. That said, I'd like to see what our rims look like polished so I'd say go for it!! Just be ready for a time/energy consuming task if you're planning to do it by hand.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...x/IMG_0014.jpg

Mid Polish
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...x/IMG_1316.jpg

Mounted Pre Polish
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...x/photo2-1.jpg

I understand the process and everything. I am just looking for a picture of the stock wheels polished. =] A photoshop would work too.

All these people suggesting powder coat or plasti dip clearly dont understand what look the OP wants. I thought of this miself and I agree the wheels would look great in bare aluminum look.

I'm thinking sand blasting followed by a lot of orbital polisher and compound would be the easiest way to do it. The chemical strippers just arent strong enough for a job like this.

Finally found someone with something similar to polished:

http://imgur.com/kSz9OaU
http://imgur.com/ehK8M8B

That looks good, I wanna see the full polish though, no colors.

I think it would look great, but I would highly suggest taking the wheels somewhere to get polished. I too have tried to polish a set of wheels. I got through one, it turned out GREAT, but it had pits under the paint and took a lot of time.

I've used RimPro in Massachusetts for all my wheel work; wheels coming back from them are perfect. There must be other outfits around the country doing the same kind of work. For myself, I'd just have someone like that strip them for me, and I'd do the polishing myself using English Custom Polishing products. As always, no affiliation. ;)

This guy says he powdercoated the stock wheels gloss black. They look satin black to me. Pics are on page 2 of this thread:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60233

i stripped my si wheels i had back in the day and polished the fuck out of them with mothers heavy metal polisher. dont have any picks left buy it looked great if you dont mind spending a weekend scraping and polishing.

I'm convinced that you will be the first person to ever do this if you do it. That's the closest I've ever seen to a "polished" OEM wheel.

Who wants to donate a set to me so I can polish? ;D

Any pictures/advice on polishing OEM wheels?