Refinishing aluminum wheels

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TigerXJ

#1
#1
Well I had bought a set of used alloy wheels for super cheap, had second thoughts, tried to sell them, and nary a nibble. They were polished aluminum so too flashy for my XJ. Also they are 18" rims. When I couldn't sell them I decided to refinish them and run some street tires so that i can justify running something crazy like interco or pitbull for the trails. The clear coat was pretty crappy on a few. Found some great threads around the interwebs.

I'm starting with stripper to pull the paint and clear coat, then wash and degrease the wheels. I'll then wet sand with 400gt and wash and blow dry to remove dust. Then spray with self-etching primer, repeat the sand/wash, then filler primer, repeat sand/wash, then spray dupli-color wheel coating in graphite x3 coats, then top coat with 3 coats of dupli-color clear.

Anyone done wheels before? Whatcha think of the plan? How bout the color? I'm toying with the idea of bronzing them cus I saw an awesome XJ in my same colors with bronze wheels that looked sweet

My XJ is the maroon-red color, 1999

My plan at this point is to strip th
 
D

David D

#2
#2
Sounds like a lot of work. May want to call vanguard in Anderson and see what they charge to powder coat them. Last time I heard it wasn't but like 20-30 bucks a wheel.
 
cannonball

cannonball

1
SUPPORTER
#3
#3
One thing that will help your paint come out even better is if you get a tack cloth. before you spray it down with primer and after you degrease it. wipe it down with the tack cloth. Be sure not to touch any of the paint surface after you clean it.

Also i don't think its necessary to wet sand before you prime it unless there are significant flaws in the paint surface. Wet sand until it is extremely smooth. i used a 600 then 800 when i did my hood fenders and grill.

also be careful spraying clear coat, because clear coat is hard to see and you can easily spray too much.
 
T

TigerXJ

#4
#4
Thanks for the tips.

I had looked into powder coating but didn't realize there was anyone in Anderson. That's pretty cheap. I want to do my other set of wheels so I may look at vanguard for that.
 
T

TigerXJ

#5
#5
Finished one of them. The tack cloth was sweet.
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Graphite gray, clear over it. Looks a lot better than the chewed up clear coat and polished aluminum. These are street wheels that will have some sort of 33" A/T on them
 
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TigerXJ

#8
#8
Thanks, I think I'm gonna go with some Goodyear duratracs in 33" flavor. A bit more aggressive AT so it won't look as douchey on 18" rims, especially with the graphite color instead of murdered out with chromed spokes or something on some street slicks.

There is some guy running around Anderson in a TJ with chrome 20s with some 30" street tires and like 5" of backspacing. It looks awful.
 
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