My Stock STR wheels are awesome but the coat has been eaten way a ton from god knows what. The wheel physically is in great shape, no bites or knicks, aside from getting new ones can you sand them down and paint them?

what would you paint them with? And if so where can you buy wheel paint?

 

I refinished mine using automotive lacquer in a similar process as painting any body panel.
They were in very bad shape when I bought them, the pic does the talking,


After a lot of sanding and repair work, paint and clear, looked like this,


I did not like the shade of silver I painted it though, so I lightly sanded them down again, and repainted them VW/AUDI SILVER ARROW. Pictured in my signature now.

I want to go even brighter silver, so next time I have the tires off for replacement, I will respray the wheels again, this time with VW/AUDI REFLEX SILVER.

 

That's not just refurbishment - it's more like a resurrection.

I was admiring your SigPic on another thread yesterday. It's all the more impressive seeing how you started with the wheels like that.
Graham

 

My wheels were curbed before I had the car so this is what I did.
I used a product call Endura. Its a 2 part linear polyurethane. It is used on planes boats and cement trucks. Very hard surface.
I dismantled each wheel being careful not to shear any of the bolts off as the car is from Ontario and the salt had made the bolts a little tight to get off.
I carefully tapped the spokes out from behind with a rubber mallet and marked each of the wheel parts so they went back into the respective rims when it came to reassembly.
I washed the spokes well with a degreaser and pressure washed them so they were really clean. I sanded the surfaces by hand with a fine paper to key them well for the primer.
Then my friend who does custom painting sprayed them for me. First a coat of primer and then flat black and lastly satin clear coat. This gave them the depth and the anthracite glow.
It cost me $250.00. That included the paint. Money well spent I say.
The chrome outer rings on the wheels were were not possible to remove without damaging them more than they were from the curbing they had received before I bought the car.
I purchased a plastic abrasive wheel, kinda like a wire brush but made of stiff plastic. I put the brush in a fast drill and brushed the chrome until it had a satin chrome finish. This detracted from the curbing scrapes and gave the finish that went well with the satin black spokes. I have very little chrome on my car so that was OK with me.
I then reassembled them being careful to get the right centers with the right rims, mainly in the event that they were balanced as a pair and used a compound on the bolts to prevent them corroding and torqued them evenly.
The whole process took me less than 4 hours.
Could not wait to get them on the car. So here they are.

More pix in the link below my signature...........

 

wow that's awesome exactly what I want, where do you get that paint from?, i know they don't have it at walmart LOL ;-)


[QUOTE=GT42R;671284]I refinished mine using automotive lacquer in a similar process as painting any body panel.
They were in very bad shape when I bought them, the pic does the talking,

 

Stock rims painted gun metal black/silver by Jag Dealer $75.00 each good deal I thought

 

[QUOTE=jsupstarz;671313]wow that's awesome exactly what I want, where do you get that paint from?, i know they don't have it at walmart LOL ;-)


It is a Canadian Product. We can buy it at some Auto Parts stores here in western Canada.
In my boatbuilding days we used it on fiberglass boats and it held up really well in adverse conditions.
It is very particular about how it is applied.
Be sure to use the Endura primer. The paint must be sprayed on and cannot be touched up so it an all or nothing application.
The key to getting the finish to have depth, is to clear coat after the color is dry with satin or gloss depending on your personal preference.
I used satin to get the depth I wanted.

See their website.
http://www.endura.ca/''

Allan

 

GT42R, beautiful job on those wheels. Just had mine done last week, stock color and paint. jsupstarz, they cost me $100/each to repaint.

 

When you paint your wheels take your time, and prep work is the biggie. I painted mine before I sold them.

 

Got that right.
In my boatbulding career we always used to say that the final finish is only as good as the preperation.
How true that was....there are no short cuts.

 

a previous owner of my car had the wheels chromed. I'm sure it looked great... but no longer. the chrome is pitted, bubbled, flaking.... generally yucky.
anybody know how to strip chrome?