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help removing alloy wheel corrosion


Duffman
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The trouble is that wheels that have a polished but lacquered lip, are usually of a poor quality alloy that will corrode quickly, i have in the past removed the lacquer for such wheels and kept them polished, but you need to do them frequently as said, but it can be done.

My current alloys are polished lip but came with no lacquer, and seem to go a bit longer between polishes, but still need frequent attention.

 

Just went to a wheel refurbishing place on my lunch and asked them...but they don't do polishing but said it would be £220 for all wheels painted.

 

I'm considering doing them this weekend using fine graded paper and then finished using Autosol. I was thinking I could use the turn of the wheel when it's in gear to use it as a kind of lathe...did the same thing on my brake discs to remove the bits of corrosion. What's people's views on this?

 

Will have to keep on top of them afterwards though

Edited by Duffman (see edit history)
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Just carefully paint on some paint stripper onto the polished areas, to remove the lacquer, then use either a 600 grit wet/dry or if you find that the corrosion comes out easily, some 00 or 000 wire wool with Solvol, and then a cloth with Solvol, and they should come up fine, do not risk your fingers by running it in gear, especially looking at those spoke patterns.

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The other option which ive just done is get mine stripped and chrome powder coated. There is no need to Laquer afterwards and the coating is very tough. I have a set of Volk CV Pro's which are split rim and they suffered from the old salt corosion after a few years so thought i would get them done.

Just an idea.

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Just carefully paint on some paint stripper onto the polished areas, to remove the lacquer, then use either a 600 grit wet/dry or if you find that the corrosion comes out easily, some 00 or 000 wire wool with Solvol, and then a cloth with Solvol, and they should come up fine, do not risk your fingers by running it in gear, especially looking at those spoke patterns.

 

Whats 00/000 wire wool mate...take it it's different grades?

 

Is Solvol the same as Autosol?

 

yeah could be a dangerous task with the wheel spinning but guess I would have to eb very careful if I decided on this. Would I need to lacquer after Autosol?

 

The other option which ive just done is get mine stripped and chrome powder coated. There is no need to Laquer afterwards and the coating is very tough. I have a set of Volk CV Pro's which are split rim and they suffered from the old salt corosion after a few years so thought i would get them done.

Just an idea.

 

Do you have any pics mate...before/after would be gd? :)

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Yes, the whole thing was chrome Powder Coated and restored. Two of the rims even had kerb marks, which were all sorted. I paid 50 quid per wheel, which includes having the centre caps finished (which aren't shown in these pics, but i will upload a pic when i get them back so you can see total finish) and the wheel kerb marks removed and restored.

The wheels basicly look brand new. The only thing i had to do myself was remove the tyres and remove the studs holding the rim together (which took about an hour per wheel!). There is also a silicone based sealant which seals the gap between the outer and inner rim which basicly disolves when the wheel is stripped down.

The outer studs need to be re-inserted and torqued to 20ft/lbs and sealed with Loctight to ensure proper fit. Will upload further pics during the re-build so you can see how its done.

All the best

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I,ve got chrome rims by Work of Japan. The salt has ate into them. If you get a nylon scourer and some quality chrome cleaner , with a lot of graft they will come good. I,ve done this to mine after s--t loads of hours trying every make of cleaner , and this was the only option left . The result of this is fantastic. One thing i will say is, not to concentrate too much in one area .

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have contacted a local polishing company who have gave me 2 options

 

There are 2 options

1, we dip them and this will remove all the old paint etc off the whole wheel, we polish the lips and then you can get them painted, we don't paint wheels just powder coat but its very hard getting a good profile line between the polished lip and the coated centres.

2. as above but polish the whole wheel, with this service we supply a nano bonding cream that protects the alloy from corrosion.

 

Option 1 :- £40.00 per wheel

Option 2 :- £95.00 per wheel.

 

What are your thoughts on this?

 

I would need to deliver them without tyres...and then get the centres painted somewhere else as they don't do painting

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hi mate i got exactly the same problem this is what "BRIAN25" did

 

 

hi mate , i rubbed down the polished rim using varying grades of wet an dry sandpaper from 400 right up to 1200 to finish, then polish the rim using autosol metal polish, brings them back up like new, you have to sand of all of the laquer before polishing.

 

then i sealed them with some chemicle guy's jetseal 109, ,,

 

still tryiny to make up my mind whether to re laquer them or not, because if you do then the laquer gets chiipped again your back to square one.

 

so when the weather gets better im gonna try this

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00/000 yes both different grades, both very fine,

Solvol=Autosol, and no lacquer.

 

 

it dosent work i did a little area on my rubbing down with fine 1200 and polishing with autosolvo and it went black in a week it needs a sealer

 

IBRAR how much for 4 wheels ?????????????

Edited by Dave (see edit history)
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  • 1 year later...

Sorry to bump such an old thread folks but i need to repolish the lip on my wheels. I have the fine sand paper & the meguires metal polish but what sealer do i need? I seen Dave used jetseal 109 but can't find this.

 

Anyone else done this since? What methods are best?

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There's a poor boys wheel sealant that's supposed to be very good, but I think you'd have to buy it online somewhere like detailing world or cleanyourcar.com Rab.

Plenty of water when you're sanding, what grades of grit have you got bud?

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There's a poor boys wheel sealant that's supposed to be very good, but I think you'd have to buy it online somewhere like detailing world or cleanyourcar.com Rab.

Plenty of water when you're sanding, what grades of grit have you got bud?

 

Thanks mate i'll try that site ;). Any idea what the sealant is called?

 

I have 240, 600, 800, 1200 & 1500 grit wet & dry mate.

Edited by Suprab1 (see edit history)
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