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Is there any grit you guys would recommend to sand the clearcoat off of my GTU wheels? two of them are peeled pretty bad, so I figured might as well sand them down and polish the aluminum, I don't really care that I will have to keep polishing them to look good, I kinda like doing little things like that anyways!

I would start off with a couple rough scotch brite pads, then go softer and softer. You will do less damage to the finish that way, but the best is using consecutively higher grades of sand paper, then polish and then clearcoat or seasonal coatings of wax to seal it in better. I usually start off with whatever grit of sandpaper I have laying around but I've been using 220 grit, I believe for most paint starting.

Koots wrote:I would start off with a couple rough scotch brite pads, then go softer and softer. You will do less damage to the finish that way, but the best is using consecutively higher grades of sand paper, then polish and then clearcoat or seasonal coatings of wax to seal it in better. I usually start off with whatever grit of sandpaper I have laying around but I've been using 220 grit, I believe for most paint starting.

Okay, I'd probably just wax them maybe every other time I wax the car (usually every other week or so in the summer)

Does anyone have pictures of them with no clearcoat and just polished? Do they look the same as they do in good shape, shinier, duller?

Also I would have no problems using chemicals to strip the clear coat off of them, dunno if it would be cheaper or not.

i'm planning on doing this as well, i'm almost tempted to leave one mounted on a drive wheel, and jack it in the air a bit, and idle in gear (while properly supported, e-brake and wheel chocks in use), and carefully hold some sand paper to it... lol

i'll likely start around 120, as i have some small corrosion and the stock "aluminum turning" marks in the wheels and centers. then prgree to 2000ish and mothers aluminum polish from there.

can you clear coat right over the polish? i have been curious about that one...

Well, I bought a can of Aircraft stripper for 12 bucks, applied it and hoping it looks good! I little got on the can and it ate it's own paint off!

I'll try to post pics then, god does that stuff smell nasty!

Sanding the wheels down will remove the machining marks in them, which is what gives the wheels the "rainbow" effect.

There are pictures of polished ones around here someplace from Asylum's old car; I know I have a picture at home of them. They look good, but my preference is the stock look (machined vs. polished).

take them to a local wheel place, the place i worked at we dipped the aluminum wheels into an acid bath to remove clearcoat/paint/powdercoat from them. it would clean the clear off your wheels and you will still have that machined look. just be sure to tell them not to sandblast them.

speedy wrote:take them to a local wheel place, the place i worked at we dipped the aluminum wheels into an acid bath to remove clearcoat/paint/powdercoat from them. it would clean the clear off your wheels and you will still have that machined look. just be sure to tell them not to sandblast them.

The aircraft remover is working and looking great, I did scratch them a bit by accident, but it can be buffed out.

It sucks though, I need to use more than usually necessary since its about 40 out. And I accidentally stripped some of the charcoal factory inserts, which I wanted to keep.

Even without buffing, it looks beautiful. I have to give them another round then to get the rest of the clear off.

GTU89 wrote: The aircraft remover is working and looking great,

Good to know; I have a set of wheels I need to remove clear from and I want to keep the machined look of them just like those rims have as well.