Wheel help: Chrome lips need refreshing.

The chrome lip on my racing hearts has started to pit and dull.

The surface has gone rough to the touch and they're in desperate need of TLC.

I'll get them sent off to Speedwells as soon as I can afford too, but in the meantime, is there anything i can try?

Maybe, I'll loose the chrome effect and opt for a coloured lip if I can't restore them, but my question is,...

How best to get ride of the pitting, road grime and muck build up thats dulled the metal.

I have some 'brilliant polish' i bought from Envy (back in the day) thats quite frankly so amazing, it CAN polish a turd.

BUT,.. not even this will get them shinning.

I have a feeling, i need to be more aggressive.

Maybe fine emery paper.

All help appreciated.

Just a little heads up mate, you will eventually end up losing the chrome lip cos nobody in the UK chromes rims

Are they chromed or polished an laquered?

I think i've already lost them mate.

Although, they've lasted a long time, so I can't complain.

Now I just want a smooth surface back so I can try something different.

Are they chromed or polished an laquered?

chromed AFAIK

chromed AFAIK

Take a few pics and put them up, I should be able to tell just by looking. If they're chrome and have gone all rough, chances are they're dead.

Take a few pics and put them up, I should be able to tell just by looking. If they're chrome and have gone all rough, chances are they're dead.

Cheers mate.

I try and take some pics tomorrow, but heres a pic of the same wheels.

Maybe you can tell from these.

Thanks for the help

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/6217/img0636r.jpg

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/30/img0637btz.jpg

If there Chromed i might be able to help as im just in the process of sorting out a local chap to chrome

aluminium.

More than likely though their polished and laquered so you'd need to strip the laquer off then polish

then relaquer them.

I guess their splitrims ?

Apparently not spit rims mate.

Doesn't matter if i loose the mirror finish, I just want a smooth base to try something different.

How could i get the pitted grime off?

Depends if its actually chrome or just polished aluminium thats laquered.

If its chrome then to remove it they have to go through the reverse process of

how the chrome is put on.

If its polished aluminium and laquered then you strip the laquer and re polish

the aluminium, depending on how bad the pitting is it will need linishing and with

a grade of grit needed to remove the pitting.

These are pseudo splits and are polished (or rather diamondcut) and laquered. All you do is wet and dry the laquer off, 800 grit and plenty of soap in the water, use hairy lipsquid for this. Then, when you can see that the laquer is gone and you're down to bare ally, clean them off and inspect the pitted areas. Some may be deeper than others so you are going to have to wet and dry these areas further, try and use longer strokes than the immediate area of the pitting, this will help avoid putting 'dips' in the surface. Next step is to use some G3 cutting compound, a lot of people may reccomend missing this step, but it will help remove any deeper scratches put in when wet and drying. Clean the wheels off again and then set to with the Metal polish, I use Autoglym stuff, but brasso etc will do the job just as well. Once you can see your face in the rims you'll need to use some panel wipe and clean any polish residue off your wheels, do a thourough job of this as the next steps will not work otherwise. Take a red Scotchbrite pad and rub down the painted areas of your wheels, we arent trying to break through the paint here, merely 'keying' the surface ready for the new laquer. Once you have got rid of ALL shinyness on the paintwork you need to give them a darned good wash off with hot non soapy water and dry them thouroughly with a paint stripper gun or similar, take care not to linger in one spot too long or you'll bubble the paint and have to do more work. then you need to mask off the back sections of the wheels. This prevents unwanted laquer getting on the insides of the wheels and then peeling off and looking unsightly in the future. I used Halfords clear coat aerosols to protect wheel rims as it goes on nice and evenly and dries quite fast too. Just apply the laquer lightly at 1st and get the 1st few coats on the lips before you do the centres letting each coat dry for around 20 mins in between, then do the whole wheel a coat at a time and turning the wheel as often as needed in order to ensure that you cover all visible parts of the wheel........allow 12 hrs drying in the house and then refit your tyres and get em back on....good as new!!

My outer lips were heavily piitted so the wheels were stripped and then dipped in

phosphoric acid, then i hand flatted the lips which took me quite a while using flatting paper in

various grades and then scotchpads.

I gave up with the polished look and had them powder coated all black in the end

My outer lips were heavily piitted so the wheels were stripped and then dipped in

phosphoric acid, then i hand flatted the lips which took me quite a while using flatting paper in

various grades and then scotchpads.

 

I gave up with the polished look and had them powder coated all black in the end

It's hard work but well worth the effort.

Much better to simply give them to a profesional to do, i have a mate who is a pro polisher

and he could have had them flatted back in a couple of hours, i only did mine myself because

i had nothing better to do.

I wouldn't do it again and will just give my pal some cash and let him work his majic.

Ibrar has my Racing Hart's at the min Ed in case you want to ask him any questions about them and what finishes they are

I used to do wheels, main reason I stopped was because I was a one man band and couldnt compete with a local wheel refurbishment company who could take a car in, and give it back 6 hrs later with all 4 wheels looking as new. 5 cars at a time!!!

Great info guys.

To be honest, this is a little experiment I want to try myself, and the only unsure area i'm worrying about, is getting the wheels back to a flat smooth surface ready for painting.

With alittle help from this forum, i'm more confident on how to tackle them.

This weekend i'll have a go.

Thanks everyone. Really appreciated.

These are pseudo splits and are polished (or rather diamondcut) and laquered. All you do is wet and dry the laquer off, 800 grit and plenty of soap in the water, use hairy lipsquid for this. Then, when you can see that the laquer is gone and you're down to bare ally, clean them off and inspect the pitted areas. Some may be deeper than others so you are going to have to wet and dry these areas further, try and use longer strokes than the immediate area of the pitting, this will help avoid putting 'dips' in the surface. Next step is to use some G3 cutting compound, a lot of people may reccomend missing this step, but it will help remove any deeper scratches put in when wet and drying. Clean the wheels off again and then set to with the Metal polish, I use Autoglym stuff, but brasso etc will do the job just as well. Once you can see your face in the rims you'll need to use some panel wipe and clean any polish residue off your wheels, do a thourough job of this as the next steps will not work otherwise. Take a red Scotchbrite pad and rub down the painted areas of your wheels, we arent trying to break through the paint here, merely 'keying' the surface ready for the new laquer. Once you have got rid of ALL shinyness on the paintwork you need to give them a darned good wash off with hot non soapy water and dry them thouroughly with a paint stripper gun or similar, take care not to linger in one spot too long or you'll bubble the paint and have to do more work. then you need to mask off the back sections of the wheels. This prevents unwanted laquer getting on the insides of the wheels and then peeling off and looking unsightly in the future. I used Halfords clear coat aerosols to protect wheel rims as it goes on nice and evenly and dries quite fast too. Just apply the laquer lightly at 1st and get the 1st few coats on the lips before you do the centres letting each coat dry for around 20 mins in between, then do the whole wheel a coat at a time and turning the wheel as often as needed in order to ensure that you cover all visible parts of the wheel........allow 12 hrs drying in the house and then refit your tyres and get em back on....good as new!!

perfect reply. Just what i was after!

Very detailed and pretty much how i'd imagined it would be.

Thanks mate. Appreciated

Ibrar has my Racing Hart's at the min Ed in case you want to ask him any questions about them and what finishes they are

Ibrar has done mine before and will probably be doing them again, when i screw it up.

What raqcinghearts are yours mate?

Mine are C4rs in black.

I know I'm not a listed trader on here and so might get shot with excrement for suggesting this, but I wouldnt mind doing them for you mate.

perfect reply. Just what i was after!

Very detailed and pretty much how i'd imagined it would be.

Thanks mate. Appreciated

 

 

 

Ibrar has done mine before and will probably be doing them again, when i screw it up.

 

What raqcinghearts are yours mate?

Mine are C4rs in black.

Same as yours dude

thats mighty fine of you to offer buddy, but I think i'd like to try myself first as I have a cunning plan

Also, i really can't afford anything other than a 'blue peter' job on the wheels.

Maywell end up getting them done professionally by Ibrar or yourself later, when i have some extra cash.

Thanks again for the offer and help mate

Same as yours dude

would be interested how they turn out mate.

Mind looked like new last time Ibrar did mine.

The lips are not chrome or polished they are anodised and can be DIY polished if you have the time and patience. Firstly you will need to remove the anodised layer and then go through the grades to polish up the metal underneath, drop me a PM if you need any info.

The lips are not chrome or polished they are anodised and can be DIY polished if you have the time and patience. Firstly you will need to remove the anodised layer and then go through the grades to polish up the metal underneath, drop me a PM if you need any info.

Anodising really hardens the top few microns of metal iirc, harder work than Laquer but perfectly doable...

The lips are not chrome or polished they are anodised and can be DIY polished if you have the time and patience. Firstly you will need to remove the anodised layer and then go through the grades to polish up the metal underneath, drop me a PM if you need any info.

Cheers mate. Much appreciated.

I'll take them off this weekend and assess the work involved.

If all else fails,.. i'll book them in with you.

Would be interested to hear how you got on with Kopites Racinghearts.

Last time i enquired about getting mine done again, we were both unsure how to polish, as they're not true split rims.