Not for either Olds; I have a Tahoe with non-stock rims and have acquired 90s stock rims and 00s next gen stock rims. Dirty, greasy, and clearcoat is peeling.

I'd like to strip down to alloy, wipe clean, polish, and wax front. Can I do that with paint stripper? I'd like to get to the alloy bare metal without disturbing the finish.

 

Have you seen the current Hemmings Musclecar Mag? Has a article about restoring wheels- not cheap....

 

I work for a large tire shop and work with aluminum wheels everyday. If you're going to pay a company to refinish them, expect to pay 600-1000 depending on location.

If you want to do this at home, you're going to need all the tools required for polishing aluminum plus some simple stuff like a 3" brass cup brush and high-speed drill. Any air-powered drills/impacts works best for this, electric impacts would be 2nd best, and the last option would be 12-20v cordless models.

First step is too remove all weights and valves then use the brass cup bruss and start removing all corrosion and clear coatings/paint. Once you get a good clean surface, simply start polishing until you can't stand it anymore.. the more time you spend, the better they'll turn out. Obviously once you get some experience, you can work finer and finer compounds achieving even clearer results.. Once done. I would wipe everything clean and spray with a clear coat only because I wouldn't want to have to redo it all the time but once cleared, if they're not treated like a painted surface and cleaned/waxed regularly then you would have to eventually start all over.

 

I tried paint stripper on a motorcycle side cover that was polished and clear coated originally.

i did not have good luck w it until i broke most of the CC up w sandpaper (which kinda defeated using the stripper in the first place).

i did see in the paint stripper reviews that people complained it wasnt as effective as it had been before due to a reformulation.

maybe easy off or brake fluid would be more effective?

 

You don't need to worry about "preserving" the surface under the clearcoat with wheels because the polishing stages are going to restore it anyways and with wheels, there isn't any sort of minimum clearance or thickness you're trying to maintain. Now I wouldn't take a brass brush to aluminum rods or an intake or anything like those..

Even sandpaper would work great to take everything off them, just a lot more labor intensive than using a simple air drill.

 

The idea is to remove the clearcoat without damaging the finish underneath so I don't have to do all that.