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Restoring Alloy Rims

7K views 26 replies 11 participants last post by  CNY 
#1 ·
Hey guys!

So, pending my Jeep passes inspection, I'm thinking of restoring my rims on the Jeep. Also planning to touchup the body, but I already have that figured out. The rims however are where I'm lacking some knowledge.

So I've looked into plenty of instructions. Understand the process pretty well. Wirebrush to remove rust and chips, sandpaper to get it smooth, Self etching primer, paint, clearcoat. Question is, what paint and primer. I'm thinking Rustoleum, as I've heard good things. @wingless, I'm sure you can offer good suggestions since your's is so well maintained and looks beautiful.

Now, my real question is, what Rim color? As title suggests, I want to go with trying to restore the factory rims. I've rarely liked the looks of black rims. So I want to try to get as close to "Factory True" as possible for the rims. I'm thinking Steel Rustomlium wheel paint, but can anyone offer other suggestions to bringing back life to the old Alloy rims?

Or hell, maybe I'm going about this the complete wrong way and someone can offer a way to just refinish and make it look great.

For reference, this is the style of rim my ZJ has.

Thanks guys.
 
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#2 ·
Are you looking to paint them or just reclear them so they look factory?? If you're going for the factory look, Thats probably not the best way to do it. Unless they are badly corroded, If you take a wire brush to the face of those...you'll ruin them and make more work for yourself. Wire brushed are too inconsistent. There's lots of videos on how to restore aluminum rims on YouTube, but basically take paint stripper to get the clearcoat off. If the are badly pitted, then clean them up with 1500-2000 grit, then buff them with metal polish, then clear coat (use mineral spirits to clean off any film before clear). If they're badly pitted, start with 250-350 grit...then 600...then 1000...then 1500, then polish.

From the factory, the face of those rims were bare polished aluminum with only clear coat over for protection.

Even if you want to paint them a solid color, follow similar steps, but stop at 800 grit and don't polish. And Any self etching primer will do, and then a durable wheel paint. If you want to keep the factory look, just clear over the bare aluminum of course.
 
#3 ·
I'll have to take a clear picture of one of my rims I guess to show how they look. Knowing they're just polished aluminum and not painted might make my life a bit easier then. I just want to restore them to how they were if possible. So I guess painting at this point is a last resort thing.
 
#4 ·
Getting the total factory look will be difficult.

The finish of the plastic center hub is a decent match to the clear coated polished face. The factory did not go for a mirror finish on the aluminum face.

Part of the difficulty is that restoring the face and lip will have much higher gloss than the factory finish, so having it match the plastic center cap will be difficult. It might be better to machine a center cap out of aluminum so it can / will match.

Another difficulty is the five gray pockets. Even if the finish is fine now, the heat from polishing, plus all the debris is going to damage the pocket paint, at least on the edges. Plus, when the face is clear coated w/ new lacquer how will it react over the old paint?

Also, refinishing the pockets will be difficult. Getting into the various levels of each corner will be a pain.

IMO after repair the face (and pockets) should be clear coated w/ lacquer. When I restored the VERY poor factory paint job on my new Mustang wheels I used Wurth German silver then clear lacquer aerosol paint I purchased on eBay. The only problem I encountered was the ambient temperature was too high in southern Florida and in some places the paint dried before hitting th wheels. All in all looking MUCH better than the deteriorated state, but not the perfect I wanted.

As for leaving it bare, I had a '76 Continental Mark IV Cartier Edition w/ the bare aluminum bowl-shaped factory alloy wheels. They polished up GREAT, but always looked less good after driving in the rain.

Polished aluminum looks GREAT! It looks like a mirror. But it either needs protection or attention to stay nice.
 
#5 ·
Unless you want to polish them up good and shiny, I'd just get them glass bead blasted, then powder coated to a silver color that matches the OEM polished wheel surface as close as possible (or whatever color you like).
edit:This is how aluminum looks like after glass bead blasting:



If you get that powder coated, it makes for a very smooth and durable finish.

If you do it the DIY way and use rattle can primer/ paint/ clear coat, you can expect something like following:
This is my OEM timing covered, primed with self-etching spray primer, then couple layers of spray can paint (named aluminum/ shiny silver), then two layers of clear coat. I doubt you'd want your wheel look like this though..



My transfer case, painted with Hammerite hammer-effect paint. Smooth silver looks much worse, but I highly doubt you'd want this look on your wheels :D

 
#6 ·
I would think you could paint the center to be an intentionally different color or get some round jeep logos to cover that section and then sand and polish the rest of the wheel including the painted pockets and then repaint the pockets or leave them polished and clear the whole thing so you don't have to go back a polish them every week. personally I am painting my aftermarket wheels black as they are rusty chrome but the soft 8 style. I like black wheels and think they really make sense for a jeep that never stays clean.
 
#7 ·
I like black wheels and think they really make sense for a jeep that never stays clean.
Black is actually one of the worst colors if you want something to look clean.. just about anything that says "I'm dirty" shows very well on black surface.

..but, black is the best wheel color on a Jeep if you ask me :) Polished aluminum or shiny chrome is for show trucks, not Jeeps.
 
#8 ·
Huh. Guess I have options.

I just want my wheels to looks nice. I agree black is best on a Trail pig, but I don't like black in most instances. Also, my ZJ isn't a trail pig. She's just as close to OEM as possible with minor upgrades to make her handle nicely. She's a street queen to be sure, but one who can handle herself.

Your right Timo in that the glass bead treatment makes it look beautiful. Unfortunately, I have neither the money nor access for such a procedure. I'm just not sure what to do now. Getting back that polished Aluminum look would be nice, but seems like it'd be ALOT of effort.
 
#9 ·
Here's an example of what you can expect from the Rust Oleum "Steel" colored wheel paint. I highly recommend using aircraft stripper to get all of the old clear coat off before you do anything else to clean up the wheels.



I will try to post pics of my wheels before they were painted.

GW
 
#11 ·
Just don't go nuts with the clear. It will crack if you get it too thick. Just this week I found a powder coating dude close to the house. He looked like a different kind of powder was his specialty,lol,but I gave him a couple of brackets to see what he can do. Right now the wallet is back in mothball mode bigtime.
 
#13 ·
I also have a set of those rims and would like to strip them and recoat them. Only thing is I like the painted portion in the spokes. Suppose I could try and replicated that.

Not one around here soda blasts that I could find. Thought about buying the small kit from harbor freight and stripping them with that. Then taking them somewhere to be painted and cleared.

Those rims are machined and cleared, so any sort and mechanical removal of the clear will damage the machining of the rims.
 
#16 ·
Good thread BorderWalker and I'll be interested which route you go.

Unbelievable what the road salt can do once it gets under the clear coat causing the alum alloy to corrode. My wheels are a different style than yours but are probably in worse shape.

Once I had a shop quote $100+/per wheel to refurbish them which isn't going to happen.

PS. good photos by Timo and Goldwing!
 
#18 ·
Unbelievable what the road salt can do once it gets under the clear coat causing the alum alloy to corrode. My wheels are a different style than yours but are probably in worse shape.
You should've seen my XJ "gold-trimmed mesh wire" (factory) alloy wheels that were 16 years old and seen 5-6 months of road salt every year.. Ouch! :D:laugh:

Once I had a shop quote $100+/per wheel to refurbish them which isn't going to happen.
Last time I asked here for glass-bead blasting + powdercoating a set of wheels, I was quoted 50€ (~55$) per wheel on just about every shop. Most things here cost 20-40% more than in the USA, but I guess not everything is expensive.
I skipped those deals due to them being overpriced.

100$ per wheel is horribly expensive :nuts:
 
#19 ·
They have any color type now in powder coating. $55 per wheel believe or not is a pretty good price if you can afford it. In my area it starts at $75. I won't say what I just paid for two brackets, not out of appearance but I couldn't get paint to stay on them and they had started to oxidize.
 
#21 ·
Slightly on-topic....

I have a set of American Racing aluminum wheels. The clear was a mess on two of them, and there was corrosion on all four.

I stripped the clear, and I've sanded them with 180 grit to a "brushed aluminum" look.

I live in an area where we salt the roads.


I'm considering leaving them bare aluminum. It would make cleaning, sanding easier in the future.


Is this a bad idea? Will they get pitted too quickly. I don't mind keeping up with cleaning them during the summer, but I can guarantee that I'll neglect them in winter.
 
#23 ·
I stripped the clear, and I've sanded them with 180 grit to a "brushed aluminum" look.

I live in an area where we salt the roads.

I'm considering leaving them bare aluminum. It would make cleaning, sanding easier in the future.
The only aluminum that handles road salt well is marine-grade aluminum alloys used on boats and ships. Even they look kinda bad after being in salt water, but they don't corrode.
Unless you want your wheels to look like this - or much worse - get them coated:



..or another example of the factory kegger uncoated, and an after shot after glass-bead blasting + priming + painting + clear coat ;)



 
#22 ·
IMO the straight aluminum would be the way to go, but I've not got the rust belt experience.
 
#24 ·
I agree Timo that alloy/aluminum wheels need coated or the road salt will eat them up including pitting. Around here they apply the liquid calcium chloride brine solution prior to ice/snow. Then they use a rock salt type product which may be calcium chloride as winter roads become slippery.

At work we used calcium-sand on the park roads and many of the townships here use it too. You'd take your dump truck w/spreader and they'd fill it up with sand while then spraying fresh brine solution all over it. So not only would you get the brine treatment but get your wheels sand-blasted while driving to cause breaks in the clear-coat. They also used to use ground up coal plant cinders in the winter here on township roads and talk about chipping up your rockers/wheels!

Real good job on your kegger Timo and looks nice!
 
#26 ·
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I realize I'm not getting that polished bare aluminum look back probably with my wheels. So I think I'll go Goldwing's route with using the Rustoleum Steel paint and primer. That said, This isn't gonna be for a while likely, but I'll keep ya'll posted with whatever I do end up doing in the end and how before and after look.
 
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