Wheel refinishing

stealthbimmer

Right place for this? I dont care, Im posting it here

So, I bought a set of style 42s for next to nothing....they need refinishing, lots of it.

Anyways, so I started the tear down and Ive got a few questions.

Firstly, it looks like someone may have attempted to "refinish" these at some other point by spraying the whole wheel silver. The lips are peeling, but it isnt just clear coat, its paint (right?).

Secondly, it appears the bolts have paint on the heads that is beginning to chip during removal. These were bare and not painted from factory, correct?

I was under the impression these bolts had loctite from the factory. They released with a bit of effort w/o heating. The thread do not look like they have any sort of threadlock on them. Maybe they have been dissembled in the past?

The bolt holes have quite a bit of corrosion in them. What is the best course of action to clean the threads out?

So, thats the start.

Anybody have an ideas on the best way to remove the paint from the bolt faces? Soak in paint stripper, rinse, then tumble/polish?

Earl

The lips and hardware are clear coated from the factory. You'll want to have the hardware ceramic polished or paint the heads.

stealthbimmer

Thats what I thought. But that doesnt look like clear coat coming off, correct? Will ceramic polishing remove the coating, or do I need to strip that off first.

Earl

Soaking them in vinegar is your best bet. Your pictures aren't showing up for me at work but I know Style 5's have ridiculously thick clear on them.

straight6pwr

vinegar removed both the paint and the zinc plating of my style 5 bolts. however, the style 42 bolts are titanium, i believe, so maybe its safe to do that? otherwise, i'd suggest something more specific to paint removal that wont harm the plating.

pro tip: put the bolts in a hand drill chuck and use the rotation to help with cleaning/polishing each bolt head.

Jdesign

I wrote an entire thread about refinishing wheels and never posted it...

Anyways.. they look like someone painted them once before in the past. That is the factory paint/ powdercoating flaking off of the rim faces. The aluminum underneath somehow (rockchip or curbing?) was exposed and started to corrode under the finish. This normally happens from road salt and other caustic materials reacting with each other. The material contamination then expands and pushes the coating off of the wheels causing the flaking. ( Similar to water freezing and expanding)

I would suggest vinegar or aircraft remover on the bolts depending on how fussy the coating is to remove. I would then tumble clean them( plastic or stone media as this will remove contaminated from the threads too without harming them) followed up with a tumble polish (wallnut or corn husk with a polishing medium added).

The following are the stages I described:

stealthbimmer

Thanks for the info guys. Kinda what I figured. What size tumbler is that? I need to purchase one.

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stealthbimmer

So I am thinking about getting the faces media blasted like I did with my oz fittipaldis (for ease). It looks like whoever painted these last just sprayed the whole wheels,barrels and all. Would media blasting hurt the lips at all if I just got everything blasted? Obviously they would require polishing after,but I am just thinking about ease of stripping everything. The barrels are all peeling on the inside as well

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Jdesign

stealthbimmer said:

Thanks for the info guys. Kinda what I figured. What size tumbler is that? I need to purchase one.

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Its not a very large one. Harbor freight sized. LOL.

stealthbimmer said:

So I am thinking about getting the faces media blasted like I did with my oz fittipaldis (for ease). It looks like whoever painted these last just sprayed the whole wheels,barrels and all. Would media blasting hurt the lips at all if I just got everything blasted? Obviously they would require polishing after,but I am just thinking about ease of stripping everything. The barrels are all peeling on the inside as well

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I would suggest aircraft remover first. Most media that is abrasive enough to remove the paint will also be abrasive enough to change the surface texture.

stealthbimmer

Well, I finally decided to stop staring at these things sitting in my office and actually start dissembling them.

So.....just for future reference. Nobody try using an impact to remove the bolts. At least it was only one bolt. So, now I get to figure out what to do about that. Just glue the head in place once I get them all put back together?

That being said. Breaker bar made easy work removing the bolts.

Now, any ideas on how to get the centers out besides bigger hammer. I didnt really whack at them to hard today because, well, I couldnt find my good sledge. I also had my son with me who has to help with everything....dont need any ER trips.

Jdesign

BFRM(BigF*ckingRubberMallet) and blocks of wood for removing the faces. I normally use an impact removing wheel hardware.

Rekpoint

stealthbimmer said:

What kind of wheels are on the right?

Earl

They're Fittipaldis=) Corvette fitment I assume?

stealthbimmer

Jdesign said:

BFRM(BigF*ckingRubberMallet) and blocks of wood for removing the faces. I normally use an impact removing wheel hardware.

That's what I figured. They are really correded. Impact would probably be fine on wheels that aren't in such bad/corroded condition....or use a bolt and nut. First one came out fine. Second one snapped. I did the whole wheel with a breaker bar and ratchet in like 5 minutes, so not worth the risk to save mere minutes

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stealthbimmer

Earl said:

They're Fittipaldis=) Corvette fitment I assume?

They are indeed fittipaldis.

17x8.5 I believe

5x120 et13

I think I have only come across like one other set with the same specs. They need to be finished though. I have the faces stripped and the lips sanded. Two barrels have bends or cracks so I need to get those taken care of before anything. I have been sitting on them for years.

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stealthbimmer

Welp. Only one wheel let me have its bolts free of charge. As for the others, they were snapping even with only using the breaker bar. I even tried heat first....they were destine to break. Anyways, I said F it and just took the impact to them all.

This was the end result

7Rh9CAz.jpg?1

So, not sure what I am going to do with these at this point. I still havent been able to get a face seperated from a barrel. So, if I cant even do that, nothing is going to happen. Worst case scenario is Im out $50 and I plastidip the one good one and hang it on a wall or something.

Jdesign

So do the face bolts thread into the barrels? Did you try using heat? Getting all those snapped bolts out of there is gonna suck if they are still in the barrel.

As far as removing the face I would just use wood, a foam floor tile and work around the perimeter until its off. Or make a jig like this guy LOL:

straight6pwr

scrap aluminum alloy wheels are something like $0.50/lb

with the weight of these boat anchors, your looking at $40-50 if you scrap these.

Jdesign

straight6pwr said:

scrap aluminum alloy wheels are something like $0.50/lb

with the weight of these boat anchors, your looking at $40-50 if you scrap these.

stealthbimmer

Jdesign said:

So do the face bolts thread into the barrels? Did you try using heat? Getting all those snapped bolts out of there is gonna suck if they are still in

Yes bolts thread into barrel. I tried heat. The bolts that broke were going to brake no matter what. They are just that corroded. If I can ever actually get a face off I will see if the snapped bolts are even removable. At this point I am likely just writing them off as a lost cause.

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WIBIMMERS

Wheel refinishing