Hi all,

The previous (idiot) owner of my 98 EL Fairmont decided to paint the factory standard 9 spoke Fairmont rims black. Nothing against black rims, but this clown paitned right over the Ghia centre caps, didn;t mask up the body properly (minor overspray on guards) and to top it all off, he didn;t even prime the rims, so all the paint started flaking off.

I got sick of looking at the ugly things and took to them yesterday with a tub of paint stripper. 6 hours of brushing and scraping, 4 coats of paintstripper (used the whole tub) and a few choice words later, I have all the paint off. Although it was flaking in some parts, in others it was thick and the whole job was a total nightmare. Unfortunately with paintstripper, once you're committed, you're committed...

The best part was that the Ghia centre caps and badges came up perfect. Wheels look shiny and stock from a distance but up close, well, they look like hell.

The worst part is that the paintstripper took off the laquer in some places and my over eager (frustrated) scraping took it off in others AND there are still tiny pieces of paint in scratches and around the rim.

Evidence:



(Camera flash makes it look worse than it is, but you get the idea.)

I'll be replacing these with another set of rims in the near future, but in the meantime I'd like these tidied up and more presentable. What I don't want to do is pay something stupid like $150 a rim for a specialist to do the work (given that I can get a replacement set with tires for less than that).

Is there anything I can do myself to get them looking good? I've invested 6 hours already so I don't mind spending a bit more time and money if I can get a decent job myself.

Take all the clear protective coating back and start sanding back the alloy with a heavy sand paper and work up to a softer sand paper and it should come up like a chrome finish.

Thanks bry40l,

Geez, that should be tons of fun...
I'll need to get the tyres off the rims too to get at the inside edge

Stupid question: once I'm done, I'm guessing I spray the rims with clear laquer again?

You dont have to spray the laquer again. Its usually the laquer that turns bad making the rims look like total garbage.

For anyone else who happens to read this, I came across this video which seems like a good run-through:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A5_3kWNZZk

My wheels were very rough, so I've had to cut them back initially with 80, 180 and 220 grit and am now looking to move to the higher grit count papers and wet sanding to get them consistent and smooth.

last time i restored some escort rims i made a wheel lathe thing out of an old rear axle, some timber and some chain/sprockets with a 12v motor for E-bike conversions, you hook it up to a battery pull up a chair and hold your sandpaper still while the wheel turns.

good idea!!