Refinishing old alloy wheels - is it possible as a DIY?

[Green96GT]

My original wheels are 10 yrs old, and showing their age. Is it possible to refinish them reasonably well?

[1 Lucky Texan]

My original wheels are 10 yrs old, and showing their age. Is it possible to refinish them reasonably well?

 

I don't what specific issues you may be dealing with, but I have read of many people sand/bead blasting wheels, re-sealing the inside and painting, plating, powder coating them, etc.

 

Even some of the guys that just used Rustoleum or something report that it holds up fairly well for a coupla years before they feel the need to touch them up.

 

I guess it depends on the condition they're in and what your expectations are.

 

 

Carl

[Strakes]

Yes. A paint and body shop usually can prep and respray the wheels for you. It works best to refinish with the tires removed. You can save on labor by preping them yourself. Also, depending on how rough the old wheels are, there are a variety of new affordable aftermarket alloy wheels if you search places like the tirerack.com

[edrach]

It depends how much effort or money you want to spend. When my son bought his Brat (the first Subaru in our family) over 8 years ago, I bought a set of the standard wagon wheels for it, had them glass beaded professionally, and then powder coated. They still look fine today and just need a good washing to get them back to their original condition. Normal paint or clear coating is okay, but you'll find it will chip or peel in a couple of years. As for alloy wheels, my original sentence applies also. I'm fond of the 8 spoke alloy wheels for my Brat (my son started something way back then). After spending about 4 hours polishing one wheel and getting it to look acceptable (not great, just acceptable), I took them to a metal polishing place in South Seattle. It cost me $75 per wheel, but they looked like this:

 

 

If you polish a set, DO NOT clear coat them! Clear coating will chip or collect brake dust and they will look like garbage in short order. The shop which polished them suggested a quality metal polish every 3 months or so and a good application of car wax to protect the finish from oxidation. I would think that a powder coating in clear would last longer, but that's something I never tried. Good luck with your project.

[gbhrps]

Edrach's suggestion of polishing the wheels professionally should give great results, but I have done several sets myself with a buffing wheel on a speed drill and various grades of rubbing compound sticks. I did one wheel an evening (about 3 hours each), over four nights. When I was satisfied with the results, I clear coated the wheels using a spray bomb enamel clear coat. When the clear coat started to look shabby several years later, I left the tires on the rims, removed the weights, marking their placement on the tire and their weight) and used furniture stripper (thick stuff, and it won't hurt the tires) and brushed it on a wheel at a time, and simply power washed it off. When dry, I repolished anywhere needing it, used a wax remover on the wheel, and reclear coated them. It took time, patience, was rather messy with compound flying around, but the results and the price were well worth it. Good Luck!

[keltik]

When i picked up my wagon - the paint on the wheels was nasty and half stripped. The car originally had white alloys but the previous owner decided to spray them silver. Using only a wire brush, some sand paper and a dremel i managed to get them back to a nice smooth finish. 4 coats of chrome spray and 2 coats of clear lacquer later - they looked new! It took me 2 nights to do all 4 wheels and 9 months / 70,000kms later they still look good.

 

Im sure a pro shop couldve done a far better job but this cost me $40 and a few hours work. I would post a pic but my wheels are covered in mud and brake dust so it wouldnt look all that appealing.

 

KELTIK