Anyone resurface\redo their wheels?
 

Mine are very ragged! I watched Chris Fix video on redoing\strip and repaint and I think if I had all the equipment it should not be so difficult.

Thoughts?

Thx

I tried it , it is time consuming ,getting the hard to polish places especially , and to keep the alloy from turning darker , I tried paint stripper, that didnt do much to the clearcoat , I have a extra set of turbo rims

Thx

I will try following the video of course in the vid it looks like 1-2-3

I stripped and re-clear-coated the wheels on both my Z31s. I found a great stripper at Home Depot, spray on, (can't remember the name but it is obvious and HD doesn't sell more than one or two) and a good 'clear-coat' seal (spray-on) at an auto paint outlet. Cheap enough materials but a lot of work anyway. Remove the wheel, tape off the rubber tire, and spray ahead. The HD stripper produced a water-based gunk I could wash off with a hose and sponge. A power drill with a wire brush disk will come in handy for the grime and stains in the recesses. You can use very fine steel wool to remove scrapes and any oxidation left on the aluminum, dry completely and spray your clear-coat generously but evenly. Dries quickly. Multiple coats OK. Re-install wheel. Cannot beat the appearance (factory-new) so you'll be glad you did it.

I understand that when stripped completely, the aluminum surface can be worked into a mirror shine with the right abrasives and tools but I opted for the original "brushed" aluminum finish instead. Didn't need or want mirror wheels. Good luck. :006:

Thx for the good news. The video I saw (not a z) suggested spraying a new silver paint on the wheels..so you are saying just clean and sand down to surface and clear coat?

On my wheels I have the gold tone in the inner difficult to reach parts (you all surely know what I refer to) But...if I did give a new coat of silver, I will paint over the gold.

In my post above I recommended a (name forgot) chemical stripper from Home Depot to remove the factory-applied plastic coat on your factory wheels. I used the same stripper on the wheels of (2) Z31s and it worked great. Warning: I never used it indoors, in a garage or closed space, always outdoors in full ventilation. Some strippers contain methylene chloride which is very dangerous to your health, can cause a quick death in some cases. Organ damage, too, if you are lucky enough to survive. Be very careful with chemical strippers which you apply to the wheels straight from the can. DO NOT BREATHE the fumes for any period of time. Such chemical strippers are sold at other outlets, too. Look, they work fast and well but must be used carefully, more carefully than their warning labels probably suggest. I know the factory-applied plastic coat can be removed by mechanical abrasion but who had the tools and time for that? I took the shortcut and was lucky. Use your chemical stripper wisely, please! :006:

I've seen a video on bead blasting to get rid of the chipping clearcoat. You can pay a shop to do that. Then polish with an electric polisher and finally clearcoat.

That may be the best way to go!