Refininshing stock wheels

I hired a chap to sand, polish and buff the OEM wheels where I had stupidly scuffed the clear coat over the bright work whilst cleaning them when I first got my spyder.  That was several years ago.   I think I paid him $25 to $35 per wheel, but really don't recall.  He left the gray (painted surface) between the spokes in place and only finished the "bright" parts of the wheels.   I asked about clear coat and he recommended that I leave them exposed.  He also told me to only clean them with soap and water and to never use any commercial aluminum cleaner or polish, as those would mess up the work he did.   It has been about 9 years since he did the work and, following his instructions,  the wheels look as good today as the day I picked them up from him.   I used to dd the spyder, but it has been a garage queen for the last 6 or 7 years.  When it was my dd,  I probably washed it once a week and always followed his directions.

I was able to watch him buff the wheels (after he addressed the curb rash).  He used cloth buffing wheels and stick buffing compound.  The wheels shined like chrome and he and the buffing wheels were covered in black aluminum tarnished "dust".  It was quite a messy process.  There were a few places where he left some curb rash -- I assume because it was too deep to sand out without distorting the surface even more.  The rash on those places was smoothed out a bit, but not as pronounced.  I was happy with his work and the price . . . and that I was not covered in black aluminum tarnish from head to toe. 

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Clear coat, powder coat, and paint all eventually chip. 

Once that happens, the aluminum rim starts to oxidize at the chip, gets underneath, bubbles around the area and then it becomes difficult to keep them looking good. 

Simple polish works well.

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I have seen a couple episodes of "Wheeler Dealer" where they took the wheels to a company that stripped the wheels, lathed the faces snd then powder-coated and they looked like new.   Our stock oem wheels are lathed and then powder-coated clear.  When I had my wheels "refurbished" I lost the lathed face.  It is a subtle difference that most folks would not notice,  but it is different.   Maybe some day, if I get motivated enough (and rich enough) I'll research that more and see about having that done.   I think the cost per wheel (on the tv show) was about $100 each wheel.

Like UM, I have stripped sanded, and polished mine to a high shine,  left them unfinished. Mine is also not a DD and kept in a garage.

if you drive on salted roads like we have in western PA it would be prudent to protect the aluminum from the elements.

any clear coat you put on will yellow after a while and they will never be as shiny as left uncoated.

I hand polish mine once or twice a year. Takes 5 to 10 minutes and they look fabulous.

when i get home tonight i'll dig up the pictures of my OEM wheels i painted when i first bought the car in 2012... i used paint stripper and a power washer to get all the paint and bubbled paint off to get it down to bare metal... i sanded and filled any curb rash and then used etch primer and wheel paint... two coats paint and one coat clear... 

they have held up to today no issues other than me curbing one... but i was able to touch it up... it's labor intensive and a cheap fix if you have the time... otherwise just send them to a powder coater if you want it colored... if you want it polished aluminum, you will just need to take the care of them like others mentioned... 

Posted by: Uncle Mush

I have seen a couple episodes of "Wheeler Dealer" where they took the wheels to a company that stripped the wheels, lathed the faces snd then powder-coated and they looked like new.   Our stock oem wheels are lathed and then powder-coated clear.  When I had my wheels "refurbished" I lost the lathed face.  It is a subtle difference that most folks would not notice,  but it is different.   Maybe some day, if I get motivated enough (and rich enough) I'll research that more and see about having that done.   I think the cost per wheel (on the tv show) was about $100 each wheel.

The earlier 15 inch wheels were fully painted but they changed them in 2003 where the face of the wheel was clear and the insides painted. It looked much better with seeing the polished aluminum finish.  It seemed like to me that the clear they used is some kind of plasticized coating rather than a paint clear coat. 

Posted by: Dev

Posted by: Uncle Mush

I have seen a couple episodes of "Wheeler Dealer" where they took the wheels to a company that stripped the wheels, lathed the faces snd then powder-coated and they looked like new.   Our stock oem wheels are lathed and then powder-coated clear.  When I had my wheels "refurbished" I lost the lathed face.  It is a subtle difference that most folks would not notice,  but it is different.   Maybe some day, if I get motivated enough (and rich enough) I'll research that more and see about having that done.   I think the cost per wheel (on the tv show) was about $100 each wheel.

The earlier 15 inch wheels were fully painted but they changed them in 2003 where the face of the wheel was clear and the insides painted. It looked much better with seeing the polished aluminum finish.  It seemed like to me that the clear they used is some kind of plasticized coating rather than a paint clear coat. 

that's a good point... NM do you have the PFL or FL wheels?  

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