crunkGP96 Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 (edited) Just picked up a set of 94-96 Grand prix polished five spokes but they are in rough shape. Clear coat is peeling from the wheels and one has some pretty good curb rash. I was thinking of using air craft remover to strip the wheels and polish them out but I don't think I want to get myself into the nightmare. I called up different local places to refinish them and the lowest price I got was $520 to refinish all 4. They will fix all the imperfections and look like new. 1 yr warranty What shall I do? I paid $190 for the wheels shipped to me. I really want to get this car as mint as possible but $520 plus cost of wheels is a little over on how much i wanted to spend on these. I need suggestions. Edited December 11, 2012 by crunkGP96 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 Are they chrome or polished? If they are chrome you will need to have them redone to look like new. If they are polished you can polish them yourself and get really good results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 $250 seems pretty good to get a professional refinish, but it all depends on how worth it stock 16s are to ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 Are they chrome or polished? If they are chrome you will need to have them redone to look like new. If they are polished you can polish them yourself and get really good results. They are polished. I know I can polish them out but then the maintenance on them without a clear coat on them is what I am afraid of. Especially since I might be daily driving this car. I also hate the curb rash thats on them $250 seems pretty good to get a professional refinish, but it all depends on how worth it stock 16s are to ya. haha add $300 to that. Its $520. If it was $250 Id be driving over to the place right now to get them done. These damn wheels are so hard to come by. Its a love hate thing going on with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 Well, you can't polish out the curb rash. I'd strip the clear coat off and polish them. That is what I did to the lip of my Xlaces. So far with no clear coat they are holding up great. I don't like clear coat because over time it fades and peels and looks terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 (edited) Well, you can't polish out the curb rash. I'd strip the clear coat off and polish them. That is what I did to the lip of my Xlaces. So far with no clear coat they are holding up great. I don't like clear coat because over time it fades and peels and looks terrible. Yea maybe your right. I can just get the one wheel fixed of the curb rash and polish it out myself like the other three to cut down on cost. Damnit, stupid wheels! Edited December 11, 2012 by crunkGP96 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 depending how bad they are curbed they can be fixed up no problem. I seem to remember Jeremy having a wheel that had a literal chunk missing from it fixed up no problem... couldn't even tell it had been damaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 depending how bad they are curbed they can be fixed up no problem. I seem to remember Jeremy having a wheel that had a literal chunk missing from it fixed up no problem... couldn't even tell it had been damaged. Yea they can fix all that. I took the junk tires off yesterday and noticed that the wheel that has the rash on it is bent from it as well. I do have a question though. I have the five spokes but in the gray color. Is it possible to get those wheels stripped and polished? I mean, they are aluminum right? I never really thought about it since I wanted to keep them as spares but it was mentioned to me yesterday by someone. If so, my local powdercoater said they can polish out wheels.. hmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 12, 2012 Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 Yeah they are aluminum. If you can get the paint off they would polish up pretty nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 Just called the powdercoater and he said media blasting and polishing the wheels can get expensive. something like $250 & up a wheel . He did say its cheaper if the wheels are already polished but id still have to get another polished wheel since they don't fix bent wheels. Probably just going to with the first place that quoted me $520 to fix and polish all wheels. OR maybe I can do it myself over the winter . Maybe I should think about the stupider things I've blown $520 on before and make my decision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 12, 2012 Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 I don't know how hard it would be to strip and polish yourself. It could be done. It's probably time consuming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 I don't know how hard it would be to strip and polish yourself. It could be done. It's probably time consuming. Yea it'll take some time. A few hours per wheel if I want to do it right. The person that mentioned it to me yesterday has done two sets of his own wheels and they turned out really good. I told him if he wanted to do mine and he said fuck that lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 12, 2012 Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 LOL I don't blame him. I love the look of these rims polished up. I have thought about doing the rims on my CS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 DO IT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 It's not that hard, just time consuming. The clear coat can be stubborn, but the aircraft stripper will get it off eventually. You can always clean them up and put clear back on. Have you tried buffing out the clear or is it too far gone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern8tion9l Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 Polish them up yourself and have them powdercoated clear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2012 thanks for the suggestions guys. I am going to strip and polish one hopefully in the next few days to see how it turns out. I definetely have to get the one that is bent fixed or find another wheel. A 00 grand am not too far from me has 2 polished five spokes like mine mounted in the front and the stock grand am chromes in the rear. I want to stop by and ask them if theyd sell me those two wheels or if they can tell me what junkyard they purchased them from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted December 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2012 It's not that hard, just time consuming. The clear coat can be stubborn, but the aircraft stripper will get it off eventually. You can always clean them up and put clear back on. Have you tried buffing out the clear or is it too far gone? The clear coat is too far gone. They even tried cleaning them with some sort of wire brush on top of the clear. FAIL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted January 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 i have one nore question. What tires do you all reccommend i go with? I was thinking 245 50 16 like ive seen some you all run. I dont plan on lowering it so im wondering if itll look goofy with the shorter tire? Also, what is a good all season tire in that size with a pretty aggresive tread pattern? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatTheFehl Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 On polished GP 5 spokes? 245/50R16s are too wide. If you will even find a shop willing to mount them (any shop worth their salt would refuse since they are oversized), the tires will be pinched in. You will be riding around on the centers of the tread so you will wear them out prematurely. I'd just stick with a 225/60R16. Are you going to be driving this car in the winter? I'd honestly suggesting getting a spare set of 4 wheels and getting a set of 4 snow tires mounted up (depending where you live) and run these guys in the summer. Running polished wheels in the winter is going to turn real ugly, real fast if you are in an area that sees salt at all. If you live in an area that sees a decent amount of snow/ice but still only want to run an all season instead of a proper winter tire, I recommend the Nokian WR-G2 or Goodyear Assurance Triple-Tred All Season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 I'd do that in a second. They are 7in wide, it works seen it done enough times. Not like you can get anything decent in 235 anyhow. And I'll be damned if I'll run crappy 225 all seasons on a car I want for only summer use. Just find a tire shop that is willing to, I'm sure there are plenty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 crosslaces = 8" wide, run 245 tires all the time. 8" = 203.2mm. difference of just over 40mm. GP 5 spokes.... 7". now we're dealing with a difference of 67mm wider... i think that is right on the edge of what i would ever consider running on a street tire. and i like the fat tire look at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) I'd do that in a second. They are 7in wide, it works seen it done enough times. Not like you can get anything decent in 235 anyhow. And I'll be damned if I'll run crappy 225 all seasons on a car I want for only summer use. Just find a tire shop that is willing to, I'm sure there are plenty. The tire shop to mount a 245 50 16 is not a problem. Im more concerned about the fender gap looking weird since im not lowering the car, well at least not yet. On polished GP 5 spokes? 245/50R16s are too wide. If you will even find a shop willing to mount them (any shop worth their salt would refuse since they are oversized), the tires will be pinched in. You will be riding around on the centers of the tread so you will wear them out prematurely. I'd just stick with a 225/60R16. Are you going to be driving this car in the winter? I'd honestly suggesting getting a spare set of 4 wheels and getting a set of 4 snow tires mounted up (depending where you live) and run these guys in the summer. Running polished wheels in the winter is going to turn real ugly, real fast if you are in an area that sees salt at all. If you live in an area that sees a decent amount of snow/ice but still only want to run an all season instead of a proper winter tire, I recommend the Nokian WR-G2 or Goodyear Assurance Triple-Tred All Season. I have the silver five spokes on Goodyear RSA's on it right now. The polished wheels will most likely go on for summer use so I'm not too worried about the tire being too wide for the wheel. My TBSS comes stock with 255 50 20 on a 20x8 wheel. I am currently running a 275 40 20 on the fronts and it looks fine and I have not noticed any uneven wear in about 6k miles. Im going to look at those tires you suggested. I think ive seen those goodyears you mentioned. crosslaces = 8" wide, run 245 tires all the time. 8" = 203.2mm. difference of just over 40mm.GP 5 spokes.... 7". now we're dealing with a difference of 67mm wider... i think that is right on the edge of what i would ever consider running on a street tire. and i like the fat tire look at that. Yea I get what your saying. I honestly like running wider tires on all my cars. I hate the skinny tire look. If worse comes to worst ill get the wheels widened to 8.5" if possible Edited January 22, 2013 by crunkGP96 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jman093 Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 The tire shop to mount a 245 50 16 is not a problem. Im more concerned about the fender gap looking weird since im not lowering the car, well at least not yet. It won't look weird. 245/50R16 was the stock size for many Grand Prix's. They came on the 16x8 crosslaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkGP96 Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 It won't look weird. 245/50R16 was the stock size for many Grand Prix's. They came on the 16x8 crosslaces. Great! thanks for the clarification! I wasn't sure if the grand prix ever came with that size tire since I never had those wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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