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Wheel refinishing project

kymmee

kymmee

Silver Member
I have been working on the wheels I picked up at the Pontiac Nats. I decided to make a tutorial to document the process. I searched the net quite a bit before I started and found myself jumping all over different forums to gain info. This is my first attempt at doing this, I think it is going pretty well. There will be a lot of hours involved by the time I am finished with all 4.

Scuffed the aluminum part of the wheel with 240 grit sandpaper to prep for stripping.


Tape off the edge to protect the gold area.


The stripper I chose is called Citristrip. It is a gel and wont tend to run like aircraft stripper or any other liquid.


Brushed on the stripper.


After about an hour, you can tell the clear coat has lifted from the aluminum.


The clear coat practically peeled off. Very easy to remove.
 
After rinsing with a hose to remove the remnants


This wheel is a different one. I have wet sanded it with 240, 400 and 1000. It is getting there.


This is a former pipe threading machine that I am using for sanding. It is great to have a hubby that is working in industry. They scrap so many useful things. We got this a few months ago and painted it. We used a hub from a third gen wheel for the bolt pattern and Scott modified the machine. It has great torque but goes real slow. Makes the sanding process easier. Still have a lot of hours in one wheel though.


I will post more as I get thru the process.
 
This is what the rim looks like up close after stripping the clear off. Lots of sanding to do.



This rim has been wet sanded with gradually finer paper to 1500 grit. Then I used white aluminum buffing compound with a cotton buffing pad attached to an electric drill. This polished the aluminum.


But it also shows the imperfections and places that need sanded more, so I will do the fine detailing next.


So far I have about 4 hours in one rim.:eeks:

One more picture.

 
89TTA#841 said:
One thing that I think helped when I sanded my 1984 Trans Am's rims, was to start by dry sanding, then wet sanding after that. That allowed me to really get most of the blemishes out.

Are you planning on repainting them, too? If you do, I'd like to know what brand of paint and color you will use.

Anyway, they are looking great and this thread has inspired me to get another set and do the same. :)
Click to expand...


Thanks for the tips Luis. I am "sanding shy", it seems the dry sanding really tears them up. But maybe that is the idea. I'll try that on a rear one. My goal is to get 4 nice fronts (wider lip) and use them on the car.

I researched the paint and found some useful info on a couple different forums. The paint code is GM code 52 Gold Poly WA#9008. The PPG paint code is #3917. Next weekend, my painter is having a party, so I am going to talk to him about it and see if he can do the gold for me. I'll see what he thinks about the color and match.
 
kymmee said:
Thanks for the tips Luis. I am "sanding shy", it seems the dry sanding really tears them up. But maybe that is the idea. I'll try that on a rear one. My goal is to get 4 nice fronts (wider lip) and use them on the car.

I researched the paint and found some useful info on a couple different forums. The paint code is GM code 52 Gold Poly WA#9008. The PPG paint code is #3917. Next weekend, my painter is having a party, so I am going to talk to him about it and see if he can do the gold for me. I'll see what he thinks about the color and match.
Click to expand...
When you say you want four fronts wider rim, how will that work? Those rims were set up that way. Four fronts were for GN's G bodies?
 
TURBOGTA said:
When you say you want four fronts wider rim, how will that work? Those rims were set up that way. Four fronts were for GN's G bodies?
Click to expand...

From what I've read (anyone feel free to chime in if info is incorrect), you can run the fronts on the rear, but not the rears on the front. I just think the stance would look better if all four were the same. Just a thought, I dont know how it will play out. I want to have two complete sets when finished, but will need to purchase 4 tires, so more $$.
 
Got 2 of the rims finished as for the aluminum part. I re wet sanded and got out all of the imperfections I could. Then did a polish with the cotton and buffing compound. Finished up with aluminum polish.


I've come to the conclusion that there is only so far you can get these rims without professional equipment.


I am not going to have them cleared again. So they will never be as shiny as the originals. Here's a comparision-finished one on left and "raw" stripped one on right.



These knicks I dont think are possible to get out, without a special machine. Doing it by hand will take off too much material in one area and I'm afraid it will look wavy.



Next will be the gold area. I am talking to the painter this weekend. Will post an update then.
 
Nice work. As far as clearing them and not being as shiny, you're correct but our rims were cleared and that dulls the shine. You can't clear them and get the shine you want. You have to leave them and always shine. Even cleared they would pit. I learned alot talking with guy from wheels america. They charged $125 a rim and had them in a day. They have correct machines and do hundreds of wheels each week. Still you're doing a great job.
 
TURBOGTA said:
Nice work. As far as clearing them and not being as shiny, you're correct but our rims were cleared and that dulls the shine. You can't clear them and get the shine you want. You have to leave them and always shine. Even cleared they would pit. I learned alot talking with guy from wheels america. They charged $125 a rim and had them in a day. They have correct machines and do hundreds of wheels each week. Still you're doing a great job.
Click to expand...
x 2!
I bought a very nice set of "refinished" wheels from thirdgenranch, they said that the clear doesn't stick well to the "mirror finish"... thus no clear on the bare alum.
I did not clear the bare alum. on the "1984" wheels that I just refinished for the GN, either.
ugp7.jpg

One of my friends (helps me with all of this stuff) has made custom aluminum parts over the years, he says that the clear always seems to yellow or peel... so I'm pleased with the "no clear" for my cars.
 
TURBOGTA said:
Nice work. As far as clearing them and not being as shiny, you're correct but our rims were cleared and that dulls the shine. You can't clear them and get the shine you want. You have to leave them and always shine. Even cleared they would pit. I learned alot talking with guy from wheels america. They charged $125 a rim and had them in a day. They have correct machines and do hundreds of wheels each week. Still you're doing a great job.
Click to expand...

Thanks. You are correct-the cleared one is a little duller. I took one of the ones I worked on and put it next to one on the car; the sanded and buffed one is shinier.

I think it will be easier to keep them clean without the clear. I have heard ones that were re cleared end up getting pitted again. I dont want to have to refinish twice-it is very time consuming.
 
Mark T-TB said:
x 2!
I bought a very nice set of "refinished" wheels from thirdgenranch, they said that the clear doesn't stick well to the "mirror finish"... thus no clear on the bare alum.
I did not clear the bare alum. on the "1984" wheels that I just refinished for the GN, either.
ugp7.jpg

One of my friends (helps me with all of this stuff) has made custom aluminum parts over the years, he says that the clear always seems to yellow or peel... so I'm pleased with the "no clear" for my cars.
Click to expand...

Looks good! And thanks for the compliment.

I picked up the 2 extra sets of the gold lace for pretty cheap. One of the bad things is I now have 8 junk tires to get rid of. We have places that take them, but you have a maximum number you are allowed per year per residence. The whole recycling thing is good, but makes it difficult for people that have a lot of cars.:rofl: We tend to have more scrap tires than the average person I guess.
 
I guess that is "1 more" good thing that we get for our ridiculou$ property taxes... our township will take 2 tires with the trash... but lately a friend has been selling them on Craig's list. Seems like someone will buy almost any junk(?)
 
Talked to my painter-he can do the gold part "soon". From my research I have the paint code, etc as Gold Poly GM code 52, WA9008, and the RPO code is 52P. Or PPG #3917.

Can anyone confirm that the "gold" part of the wheel was also clearcoated?

I will have him do that, but leave the aluminum alone.

The paint can be purchased BC/CC. It shows in 1989 for a Chevy Truck as BC/CC, but can't really find any specifics for the TTA/GTA rims.
 
Going to this length and time involved, the backside of the rims need to be cleaned up also. This is more tedious than the sanding. Its amazing how dirty they get.

I used industrial strength grease cutting soap, scrubbies, coarse bristle brush and a small "toothbrush" with metal bristles. It took several washes, rinses and scrubbing to get most of the grime and corrosion off.
Not perfect, but about as good as its going to get.




Also got the base coat paint yesterday. I took one of the rims with me. The guy at the store looked it up and compared with the info I provided and showed me a sample in the book. Seems like everything matched up. His info said Trans Am wheel color for the years 1987-1990. They have Dupont paint. Definately not cheap. Around $78 for a pint which will thin to approx a quart.

Heres the formula.



The real test will be after spraying and clearing. I am hopeful it will look OEM or very close.
 
Wheels are going to the painter this week! I got 4 fronts and 2 rears sanded and polished. Getting excited to see the results!

 
goche4 said:
any pics or info of the results did the paint match
Click to expand...

My painter still has the wheels. He had some health issues and had to have emergency surgery. Then around the holidays his mom passed away, so he has had some other priorities. He hasn't forgotten about me though.:) As soon as I get them back, I'll post some pictures.
 
Did anyone ever confirm if the gold part had a clear coat on them originally? It sure doesn't look like it does but heck I didn't think the aluminum lip did either as I've seen some polished some.
 
2QUIK6 said:
Did anyone ever confirm if the gold part had a clear coat on them originally? It sure doesn't look like it does but heck I didn't think the aluminum lip did either as I've seen some polished some.
Click to expand...

I would say no, if you look at it the paint is really thin and you see the grains in the aluminium (like the surface would have been sand blasted before paint).

I had the whole wheel cleared when I did mine years ago and you see the clear coat really builds up and looks too thick on the gold and the grain is gone.

The lip did have clear coat on it from the factory or the wheel would not last very long without polishing it all the time.
 
Jan Larsson said:
I would say no, if you look at it the paint is really thin and you see the grains in the aluminium (like the surface would have been sand blasted before paint).

I had the whole wheel cleared when I did mine years ago and you see the clear coat really builds up and looks too thick on the gold and the grain is gone.

The lip did have clear coat on it from the factory or the wheel would not last very long without polishing it all the time.
Click to expand...
Those that I have seen polished must have removed it then, makes sense that it was due to it not staying nice looking very long unless it was billet alum instead of cast.
 
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