wheel polishing/painting

[83cutlasssedan]

How hard is it to polish a set of Olds rally rims? I am looking at a set with some surface rust and old blue paint on them. How hard is it either repaint them the same color or take all the paint off and give them a polished look?

Thanks

 

[pose_442]

Let's put it this way, sanding the rust off of the wheels will take some time. I would invest in a small electric or air-powered sander. It will save you a ton of time.

To answer your question, sanding and repainting will be much easier as you can scuff the finish, prime, then paint. If you like the polished look, I would just have them stripped, then chromed. Polished wheels require constant maintenance as they do get cloudy.

Another idea for a polished look is stripping the wheels, polish, then clear powdercoat. NASCAR team Michael Waltrip Racing's wheels have wheels like this and they look sharp.

 

[83cutlasssedan]

hey thanks for your response. Do you have any idea what it might cost to have them re-chromed, or stripped polished and powdercoated?

Thanks

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Unless they are the 15's, chroming is more money than they are worth. I did a set with spray paint a long time ago and they weren't too bad. They were painted 14's and came with all of the trim pieces, center caps, etc. I sanded them with Red Scotchbrite pads and primed them with spray cans and painted them with a can of touch up paint. Rechroming is very expensive as they need to be stripped, de-rusted and then copper plated, the copper has to be buffed to remove imperfections ( like sanding Bondo and primer/surfacer in bodywork) several times then nickel plated then chrome. If they are cheap enough and factory chrome 15's , I'd buy em and sit on them because of their rarity, but there are cheaper alternatives for nice wheels on a G body in that size.If they are the painted 15x7's from a 70's car, you could clean em up and paint em and have a nice enough set of wheels for cheap. By the way, the only thing that is actually chromed on the painted wheels are the center caps, the other things are all polished stainless. They can be repolished if they are in decent condition.

 

[KMac]

I just painted my cutlass a month ago and did the rims as well. I was gonna get them powdercoated for $200 (Which isn't all that bad imo) but because of other expenses did them with spray paint. The chrome shop in town said it would be about $300-400. Both shops were gonn sandblast and get them ready for paint inculded in the price. But i used a high gloss spray paint and could not be happier with them

i took this pic with my camera on my cell but still this gives you a lil something. I just used Dupli-color from advanced and was more than satisfied. First is pressure washed the rims really good. Used the red scotch-brite pads to sand and then sprayed (i didnt primer just because the rim was in good enough shape imo

Hope this helps

 

[srercrcr]

I cleaned up my wire wheels like four years ago, which are renowned for rusting, then sprayed them with a clear sealer can stuff....working so far.

 

[83cutlasssedan]

Thanks for the response. They are 14x7s and the guy wants a $100 for all 4 wheels and center caps. The wheels have some rust on them but I think I can get most of it clean, there are a few spots where the rust is a little flaky. There are a few dents on some of the stainless steel parts. THe center caps have a few nics on a couple of em. What do you guys think?

Also, what's the benefit of having them powdercoated?