refinishing crosslace wheels?

[supertrick_05]

I'm wanting to refinish my crosslace wheels on my Grand Prix (looks like someone bombcanned them silver and did a shitty job cuz the lip is silver and not machined), but I'm not sure how to go about this. I've thought of sandblasting them, but they are aluminum and could harm them, but would be the easiest way, since all of the tiny little "X" spokes would be a bitch to sand down by hand. How about chemically stripping them with aircraft stripper? Has anyone ever refinished them? If so, please post pics and how you did it.

 

Also, would it work if I polished the lip of the wheels by hand and then lightly sandblasted the rest of the wheel and painted them?

[slick]

I've done the aircraft stripper method, but it didn't work well inside the laces.

 

Best best is to not have them sand blasted, but to have them media blasted. It's usually walnut shells, also safe for aluminum. Any decent powdercoater should have a blast cabinet.

[supertrick_05]

My local guy only does sandblasting...

[3.1cutlass]

I used the aircraft stripper to do a lot of the work on mine and then media blasted them. After that i went to town on the lip with sand paper starting with 400 grit and working my way up to 2000. Then i painted them and polished the lip with a drill and polishing wheel. THey turned out very well.

 

[Garrett Powered]

what is all this talk of aircraft stripper? why is this suggested over orange stripper? spray? why? use gel. you don't want that shit airborne.

 

why would you blast it with anything and take a chance of messing up the shine on the lip? there is no need.

 

just orange based stripper and a toothbrush.

[supertrick_05]

Well i've got to look again, but I think someone painted these wheels before because the lips didn't look machined to me...they just looked silver, like the rest of the wheel. Maybe I'll just paint the whole damn wheels gunmetal instead of just the crosslaces and polishing the lip. And I've never heard of an orange-based stripper that will actually remove paint.

[3.1cutlass]

what is all this talk of aircraft stripper? why is this suggested over orange stripper? spray? why? use gel. you don't want that shit airborne.

 

why would you blast it with anything and take a chance of messing up the shine on the lip? there is no need.

 

just orange based stripper and a toothbrush.

I stripped the whole wheel including the lip...

[CSI_MuNkY]

A citrus based stripper will get rid of your dirt and grime at best.

 

Honestly, IMO, Machined lips are over rated!

 

Here are the ones I had refinished last spring

 

Before:

 

Media Blasted

 

Powder coated

 

On the car with my reflective red ring vinyls

No flash

 

With a flash

 

Jamie

[supertrick_05]

Powder coated

OMFG...that looks SOOOOOO good! I'm honestly not a fan of your red stripe, but the wheels look good none the less! I post up a thread in the local car enthusiast forum to see if anyone knows of someone that can mediablast around my area. I think gunmetal wheels would look good with my black car. I just need these to look good until I can afford a nice set of 18's.

[CSI_MuNkY]

When I got them done there was someone that posed the question, "with the amount you spent on that you could of got a nice set of 18s"

 

"Nice" all depends on what your goals are with the car... will they look nice, sure, will they improve performance? not likely!

 

Once done my cross laces weighed 22.1lb, an 18 is typically going to be heavier. However for the sake of argument, lets say you find a 22lb 18" rim... most of that weight is moved outward which requires more power to get it moving. Add to all that the cross lace is 8" wide, and the proper offset, your looking for some expensive wheels.

 

Am I splitting hairs here? most definitely, but I want to squeeze every last bit of potential out of my car, and I happen to like the cross laces and absolutely despise chrome. I would rather rock steelies year round than put big blingy rims on a car.

 

FWIW, to have my wheels refinished was $320 CDN. It would of been an even $300, but one of them had some nasty curb rash that he got rid of.

 

 

I know my reflective strip isn't everyone's taste, I like it and that's why its there. If I did what everyone else told me to do with a car I would have one ugly ass car.

 

Jamie

[Twenty]

 

FWIW, to have my wheels refinished was $320 CDN. It would of been an even $300, but one of them had some nasty curb rash that he got rid of.

 

 

Good to know, thank you.

[Garrett Powered]

A citrus based stripper will get rid of your dirt and grime at best.

 

 

 

I used orange stripper to strip all my wheels and my intercooler. took a few days but I was in no real hurry. worked really well, I was surprised.

 

I do not like working with that stinky stuff if I can have good smells while doing it.

[Addicted to eaton]

http://www.clubgp.com/cgi-asp/mods.asp?modid=37

[Garrett Powered]

http://www.clubgp.com/cgi-asp/mods.asp?modid=37

 

the ghetto piss can method!

[3.1cutlass]

http://www.clubgp.com/cgi-asp/mods.asp?modid=37

 

the ghetto piss can method!

I rattle canned mine and i guarantee you would not know it if you saw them.

[Addicted to eaton]

your look Very good IIRC

[supertrick_05]

Yeah, I don't think I'd get mine powdercoated, since I am going to be replacing them with 18's someday.

Also, FYI, I have found a few 18" wheels that have close enough width and offset (18x9 with 24 offset), so that's what I'm going for. I'm not sure how much they weigh, but I'm not worried about it. I'm not building the car to be a 1/4 mile monster, just a fun driver.

[3.1cutlass]

Yeah, I don't think I'd get mine powdercoated, since I am going to be replacing them with 18's someday.

Also, FYI, I have found a few 18" wheels that have close enough width and offset (18x9 with 24 offset), so that's what I'm going for. I'm not sure how much they weigh, but I'm not worried about it. I'm not building the car to be a 1/4 mile monster, just a fun driver.

Here is a link to my thread http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php?topic=77110.15

I used this stuff called Mercury Precision Care Boat Paint and it lays on thick and makes a very strong finish and I would HIGHLY recommend it to you.

http://www.mercurypartsexpress.com/us/phantom-black-paint-p29114.html

[supertrick_05]

I'm probably going to stick with DupliColor wheel paint. I've heard very good things about that stuff. Thanks for the write-up though...now I need to find someone that does mediablasting around here...

 

*EDIT* I just found someone who does media AND soda blasting. Which one would be better for the wheels?

[3.1cutlass]

Soda is a lot less harsh on the surface and media is a bit more abrasive. Neither will hurt the wheels. I would say let the shop see the wheels and see what they think.

[supertrick_05]

Ok cool. I have another set of wheels (94-96 SE/GTP 5-stars) on my parts car I can use until they are done. They're kinda harsh looking, so maybe I'll get those done after the crosslaces

[alec_b]

Boy I wish I could do something like this on mine. The 5-spoke blades are in... well rough shape to say the least. They clean up alright from 10 feet but that's about it.

 

It sounds like you're trying to get close to a professional looking outcome, so I'd say media blasting. But definitely check with the local shops and see what they think is safest.

 

I will say however that with the proper preparation that rattle can sprayed wheels CAN look alright. I painted the wheels on my aurora black with rattle can, but I spent a lot of time cleaning, sanding, repairing, priming, and painting. Clean environment, lots of prep time, lots of dry time. They turned out so well with gloss black that I didn't even bother to clear them, although that was my original plan. Here's how they looked:

 

[superdan333]

I used orange stripper to strip all my wheels and my intercooler. took a few days but I was in no real hurry. worked really well, I was surprised.

 

I do not like working with that stinky stuff if I can have good smells while doing it.

 

 

I used it too on my crosslaces. It worked pretty good but if I had acess to a media blaster I would have went that route. I stripped, sanded, and polished the lip and then painted the centers black and cleared the whole wheel, it came out great. I spent extra to get the super hard clear from eastwood but it still chips pretty easy.

 

Dan

[xtremerevolution]

I used it too on my crosslaces. It worked pretty good but if I had acess to a media blaster I would have went that route. I stripped, sanded, and polished the lip and then painted the centers black and cleared the whole wheel, it came out great. I spent extra to get the super hard clear from eastwood but it still chips pretty easy.

 

Dan

 

I can't believe there's another guy on here with z34 vents on his Buick Regal. Damn, I thought I was the only one...

Crosslaces don't look half bad on there, but damn that car begs to be lowered. Getting our cars together would make for one hell of a photoshoot.