Viper Rim from peeling to polished

[Superior_Details]

Boss's spare rims for the viper. Clear coat is starting to peel so he takes it to a place to have it bead blasted with plastic beads... I seen this coming, pitting and not a good finish what so ever. At least he stops and checks his work. Stops me yesterday and takes me to the rim to see what i could do with it... told him a price and brought it home.
Process..
I stripped the clear off with Tal Strip paint stripper, then had to sand with 1500 then 2000 wet sand paper. polished by hand with M105 and then Mothers with the power ball. Finished off with wheel wax

Here is what it looked like when i got to start on it.

after a test spot:



Soaking:

After polish and wheel wax:

[3Fitty]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

They look great from far but how do they look up close?

Is the clear gone for good? If so, what will be the long term implications? How does the look of this wheel compare to the others now?

[Superior_Details]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

Clear is gone, basically it was polished aluminum rim with a clear coat, so it will be just like taking care of a regular alumin wheel without clear, polish and wheel wax

They look great from far but how do they look up close?

Is the clear gone for good? If so, what will be the long term implications? How does the look of this wheel compare to the others now?

[Carfire]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

Looks Great!!
Huge Improvement!!
Nice Job!!

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

Good save. The rim looks a lot better.

[Nappers]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

HOLY COW!

What an improvement.

My wheels for the Yukon are chipping and they are machined but I plan on doing a clear coat stripping and polish to the best of my ability this summer, the chipping clear coat looks terrible up close and I can't have that!

Good show

[Superior_Details]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

I really couldnt believe how easy this was to do.

HOLY COW!

What an improvement.

My wheels for the Yukon are chipping and they are machined but I plan on doing a clear coat stripping and polish to the best of my ability this summer, the chipping clear coat looks terrible up close and I can't have that!

Good show

[christian6984]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

nice work, they looks fantastic now

[Nick Chapman]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

I have a client thats wanting me to do this on a set of their wheels.

Did the paint stripper stain the aluminum at all? Did it cause you more work than just sanding the clear off?

[Superior_Details]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

I have a client thats wanting me to do this on a set of their wheels.

Did the paint stripper stain the aluminum at all? Did it cause you more work than just sanding the clear off?

Nick, i believe it saved HOURS of work than just sanding, would do this again in a heartbeat, you will not believe how easy it was. The best thing to do is spray on, make sure you use gloves, it burns your hands. Wait about 15 - 20 minutes, no longer than that, and Pressure wash off, there might be a few spots left, but just take some steel wool and those will come off easy. You wont believe it, doesn't stain at all and ready to polish out right away.

I sanded one spot and took me about 20 minutes as a test spot, then i used the spray which was on there a total of like 18 minutes and the whole rim was ready to polish.
Make sure you get the same product though, I got mine at Napa.

[JamieR]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

Wow, nicely done!
The finish on aluminum rims up here in Canada get destroyed by salt, every car I have owned has shown damage. I now have dedicated steel rims for winter, so the aluminum ones are for summer use only. This may be a way to clean them up...hmmmm....

[Superior_Details]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

Wow, nicely done!
The finish on aluminum rims up here in Canada get destroyed by salt, every car I have owned has shown damage. I now have dedicated steel rims for winter, so the aluminum ones are for summer use only. This may be a way to clean them up...hmmmm....

I couldn't imagine having aluminum wheels in Canada, when would you get the chance to have them on?...LOL

[JamieR]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

Not very long, unfortunately...it seems to take forever for the salts to finally vanish from the roads...

[R0N1N]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

Wow, nicely done!
The finish on aluminum rims up here in Canada get destroyed by salt, every car I have owned has shown damage. I now have dedicated steel rims for winter, so the aluminum ones are for summer use only. This may be a way to clean them up...hmmmm....

I do exactly the same over here in Poland. The amount of salt that is put on the roads every winter is simply unbelievable.

[Golden]

Re: Viper Rim from peeling to polished

The rim looks good. So does the rest of the wheel.