I picked up some new rims today for next to nothing, how ever the clearcoat is flaking badly. Whats the best bet for removing the crap clear coat that I could do myself , don't have access to a sand blaster.

 

#1... not alcoas... #2... 300 grit sandpaper and a sh!tload of patience.

 

Well these are fun! They look like an American Racing Outlaw II's. In which case, the clearcoat is a pain in the rear. I got the Aircraft Stripper in an aerosol can and sprayed the crap out of the wheel. Let it sit for a while then attack it with a plastic scraper. After that I sprayed more stripper then hit it with a pressure washer. Worked pretty well. The hardest part is getting it out from under the rivets as the wheel is cleared before they're installed.

 

my plan is to clean them up as best as possible and either paint or powdercoat them

 

Well.....they look great polished up once you get all the crap off them. But then you have to polish them all the time. I had a quote for $250 to get them sandblasted and powdercoated. You should call around, maybe you can find someone to sand blast them. It's a heck of a lot easier than stripping them like I did.

 

X 2 on finding a shop to either sand blast or preferably glass bead. In Winnnipeg this should not be too hard. If you are serious about powder coating then find a shop to do that and see if they will blast them for you as well.

 

I used the aircraft paint remover on my rims. Tooks a couple of coats but it did get it all off. Then I wet sanded and used Dupli-Color Wheel Coating.

 

I hope you didnt have those sand blasted but instead had them bead blasted.... if you havent, tell who ever is doing the blasting that you want them CLEAN Otherwise youll get a 'dust off'. shouldnt cost more than $200 to blast em tho.

 

sandblast, then polish, and then clearcoat again! if you dont, you will be polishing all the dang time, so get them shiny and then clearcoat again!

 

i have clear coat problems on my rims. but instaed of paying 250 bucks for them to get fixed, say hello to new wheels for 200 bucks