19cturbo Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 (edited) My wheels were just nasty, years and years of brake dust and road grim. Not to mention the fact they have been painted and had overspray all over them. So i decided to clean them up, which ended up turning into stripping them down to just the aluminum then polishing them.. This is how I did it. It took some time and some elbow grease but they came out really nice. Dont try the air craft stripper if you do not want to remove the factory coating, It will take the coating right off. This is what i started with. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/DA62F5E5-FCED-4156-83D9-83BBF741F5D7_zpsmawcl7pm.jpg There are two products i used to help clean the brake dust, the etching wheel cleaner will leave spots on the front surface of your wheels. Word or warning. It will polish out but it truly is etching. The other will not etch the aluminum like that. Both products worked well.. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/6DE4F7E4-C8C5-4179-8B14-E66F9CA4FFC8_zpseoqkd6nt.jpg http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/BE2F3AD2-0823-4DD8-AC60-EEC368780668_zpsqxcehrzd.jpg I used a stiff bristle brush for wheels to agitate the product, work it in really well. It turns out much better than you think. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/26CF802C-7E58-4136-A14E-1848DD2B0F82_zpsfb93z3pw.jpg After scrubbing the wheels, spray some more cleaner on it and let it sit about a minute then rinse. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/FE6392E6-F78A-4271-8EF3-476FD9C3D0EB_zpsvh2jrbvc.jpg This is the result after the first scrub, you can see i got most of the brake dust off and am left with the factory coating and the black paint from where they were painted before.. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/85CD48F3-5AC5-4CCC-A5F1-AACEEAE5DA43_zpsjveydoqw.jpg From here the next step was to remove the paint, and factory coating. This is what i use, i recommend this brand, it works well and dont buy the aresol can, it doesnt work as well http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/48480932-960C-4654-A3DF-4ACC050C0E7F_zpsj48nwjox.jpg take a brush and work the air craft stripper on to the whole inside lip of the wheel, http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/3CB839DA-F45C-405A-90E8-EC5F7BAF2D17_zpslhial4p3.jpg you can tell right away it will start eating the paint and coating off the surface. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/D57A52EB-8488-49F1-9445-8CAA1CE4D550_zpsoekgcxf5.jpg I then used a brass brush to work the product more over the tougher areas and to help loosen the paint. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/3F015DA0-81B0-4AD4-84A0-E676208C8FAC_zpstuaaup0c.jpg Once you have went over it all, apply more product to the heavy areas and work it in, then allow the product to sit for a few minutes. To remove/clean the wheel i used a SOS pad, it works great and also helps remove the rest of the paint, you may have to repeat this step a few times to get it all, but just apply product to the problem areas. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/336C9FC5-0746-48C5-96B1-E2BC01248319_zpsnrwywcah.jpg After the SOS pad you are left with a finish that you may question http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/7D0A4D27-B8A4-402D-B27F-6B797882D2E7_zpsagx4xven.jpg My next step was to etch/ clean the inside lip. I taped off the front as best i could and sprayed napa aluminum brightner on the lip http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq130/GARB55/Aluminum%20Brite/1.jpg Let that sit about 30 seconds then agitate it a bit with a bristle brush, to make sure you get everything. your result should look like this http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/827AFFC7-E216-4D09-88F2-EBD6A06FF69A_zpswokzbnpg.jpg Now this looks good and clean but it has a "rough" texture and i believe would collect brake dust even more, so i polished it from here, i used a wool wheel on a drill and mothers billit aluminum polish. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/7FC3163C-7655-48A5-99F1-70364DBF92FB_zpsjm5lr3df.jpg Then i repolished the front and they are ready to roll.. http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd23/19cturbo/MY%20CAR/58A7C7FA-DA4A-4A16-A7C4-92A0DB6C00D1_zpsnrhea08q.jpg Edited June 9, 2014 by 19cturbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 A lot of elbow grease outcome looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markhansenconquest Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 they turn out good.................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19cturbo Posted June 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 A lot of elbow grease outcome looks great. its not as bad as you think. Most of the products i used are pretty damn harsh lol. Be sure to work in a well ventilated area haha. The products do most of the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasQuest Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyWadd Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Two thumbs up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19cturbo Posted June 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Also be careful with the napa aluminum brightner.. it is vicious stuff! When removing the factory coating, you may need to apply the air craft paint remover a few times to some areas, to get it down to bare metal. I also used a pocket screw driver to scrape at some of the paint in the areas where there were welds. to help break it loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-R-Quest Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Clean Strip's Aircraft Paint Remover is some hardcore stuff. We've used it to remove paint from the body panels in the past. It sometimes takes a couple of applications, but does an awesome job. Great step-by-step btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19cturbo Posted June 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2014 thanks, im thinking with the polish they will be easier to keep clean. it should help keep the brake dust from sticking to the wheel so much. We will see. It took me about 1.5 hours per wheel once i got my process down. and depending on how bad the wheel was.. i had one that cleaned up really easy. One that was a bear to get to clean up. but i believe it was well worth it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntercooledFlatty Posted June 10, 2014 Report Share Posted June 10, 2014 nice work G $ ... mikie rollZ like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19cturbo Posted June 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2014 nice work G $ ... mikie rollZ like that cause im a boss! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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