You people who sand the entire wheel by hand are crazy. I bought some paint stripper and sprayed it on, it took most of the clearcoat off. But now there's a few spots here and there that have the old clearcoat still on, and the stripper won't take it off. Do I have to sand those spots to get the remaining clear off? And will that screw up the finish that I have right now (if that makes sense)? After taking the clear off, the bare aluminum is pretty shiny. So if I start sanding the spots that have the clear stuck on, is it going to ruin the finish on the bare spots and be difficult to blend together in the end? Hopefully somebody understands what I mean.

Another question: what should I do with the insides of the slots (Formula wheels)? Paint them black?

 

bump

 

If your wheels have casting marks like my irocs im guessing your gonna still need to sand the whole wheel. I would say that the areas you sand are gonna be alot nicer than the spots you don't though.

But ive only done the irocs I had so I could be way wrong.

 

Have you tried a few more coats of stripper to get it off?

 

try defocating on it before u sand it! That worked for me!

 

try WHAT!?!

 

It's people like him that make the internet a dangerous place.

 

Sounds like something a Pontiac owner would say.







J/K

 

I stripped a set of formula wheels on my 88 and used a metal paint stripper.
3 of the wheels came clean without a lot of effort but 1 was the rim from hell!.
it took 3-4 applications to get it (the clearcoat & paint inside the spokes) all off.
With a little rubbing with mothers polish, they really shined.. The only drawback was the first time I got caught in the snow the liquid solution they sprayed on the road started to leave little black pits in the metal that I could'nt polish out again.
I've got another set (because I found 1 wheel bent totaly, and another inside bead bent also) that I plan to strip and refinish again. This time, I'm going to polish them out using the Mothers Ball they sell at AZone. I've heard good things about how good it works and afterwards plan to try and recoat them with clearcoat if nessesary in order to keep them from piting again.
I read an article in High Performance Pontiac magazine on how to do this but now I can't find that particular edition so I need info on what clearcoat to use for best results.
Since I've not been able to find anything on refinishing formy wheels on this site I plan to keep a record of cost, time and effort, with before during and after pic's and post results as I go along.
I have seen a set of polished out form. wheels in the classified forum once and couldn't believe it. They looked like chrome on the flat surfaces and I want to get mine like they were.
Any info anyone else might contribute on this job would be appriciated!
Sqzbox.

 

I did 4 applications to each wheel with paint stripper. It took off most of the clearcoat, but not all.

Today I spent the morning sanding my 2 front wheels. I got the wheel smooth to the touch, but I can still see the machine grooves. And, it's not very "polished". I can still see a lot of the sanding grooves on the wheels. The highest grit I used was 1500 (wet), so I don't really know what else to do. I spent a LOT of time with the 1500, but it doesn't look very impressive. Mothers polish really didn't do much either. Should I step up to 2000 wet and just keep sanding for hours on each wheel?

 

If you can still see machine grooves you need to go down in grit not up. It's easier to sand out the previous grit paper's marks than it is to sand out the machined lines with a super high grit paper. I stopped at 600 and started with compounds when I did mine. There's a bunch of different meathods on doing this... and there's a sticky about it as well. But, yea... if you're wanting to get rid of the machine lines, save yourself some time and effort, use lower grits. My 2c

 

anybody have pics of the finished product?

 

I continued sanding for a while longer with 220 grit and then 400, but I'm still not happy with what I have. I ended up going to Lowes and getting some polishing compound, but this stuff is weird. I've never seen or used anything like it.

It's really hard to get off, both by hand and by a buffing wheel. I assume I'm doing it right, there's no instructions on them whatsoever. It's pretty much like a big crayon, and I just put it on there and then buff it off.

It didn't really help though. I'm very unimpressed with the results. Am I doing something wrong? This is my best wheel, but you can still see the machine grooves and it still doesn't look very "polished."



I've been through the threads in the "polishing sticky," but I may be missing something. Can anybody tell me how to fix this? I was going for a near mirror-like finish, but what I have now just blah.

 

You should try eastwoods products. I sanded up until 400grit/wet and then let the compounds do there job. I have seen guys use some off the shelf stuff but the eastwoods stuff will blow your mind if you use it right.


Eastwood Company: Auto Tools, Body Repair, Classic Car Restoration, House of Kolor Paint, Powder Coating


Here is acouple shots of my old wheels. I didn't spend the time needed to get great results but they worked until my Boyds arrived.

EDIT: Looking at the pic closer I think I still see a ton of the machine lines........probably need to step back down to about 200 or so grit.

 

A lil urine spray might work! But i do have the same wheels, so Im payin attention to u guys.

 

Holy ****! That was one hell of a launch for a 305 TPI. u COULD PROLLY BEAT MY 350 FORMY! But then again I have terds stickin me to the ground.

 

This kid confuses me, sounds like he needs a hobby... like knitting or getting a life.

 

rik- We don't need that kind of junk on the boards. Thanks.

 

That stuff you got at Lowes is for soft metal. The alloy wheels on the form. aren't that soft that's why their alloy, so they will be strong enough to be machined into a rim. They are actually harder than a steel rim. After looking at your pic's, they aren't that bad looking! The reflection of your finger is better than I got. As far as aluminum goes, it's all about how brite they appear. After polishing my rim's, yes, you could still see machine groves but they reflected so good, you saw a spectrum of color.
If you want them to reflect good enough to shave your face, it ain't going to happen unless you get a metal shop to polish them on and industrial polisher that has high speed buffing capabilities or, you can buy chrome wheels. You do have alot of paint left on the inside of the spokes. I had that also but with a few more stripper applications and a SOFT wire brush about the size of a tooth brush so it won't scratch the metal and you can get rid of it all and it will look good.
I admitt, it does take a long time to get rid of it all but it's a labor of love!
after you get all of the clearcoat and paint off and shine them up, everyone will ask you how you got your rim's to shine so good and you will ask them, "how much time do you have?" The only mistake I made after all the labor was not clearcoating them to protect the bare metal from the elements of winter driving. The only shortcut to clearcoat is washing and waxing them with auto wax every week or two during the winter to protect them from the chloride solution that is used on the roads. I don't know how set you are on keeping your form. 100% stock, but I bought 20 chrome lug nut's to use and they didn't take anything away from the shine of the rims. It was more of a compliment than anything else. If anyone wants 16 stock lug nut's and covers W/factory locks and key I will gladly sell them cheap! Sqzbox!

 

I linked a pic of mine in my post (didn't want to be like "hey look at my wheels", but provided a pic if needed), but it's hard to see which words are links and which arent.. but:

 

daaaaaaaaaamn son! i am deffinetly going to polish mt GTA's like that now. that looks good!

 

UNDERDAVE, You need new brake rotor's!!!!!
PurpleZ-28 Nice! but their not formula wheels!

UPDATE! Got a gallon of aluminum cleaner today. It's bio-degradable but still has warnings about skin, eye, and enviromental drawbacks. It's used by Blue Beacon
truck wash centers and can be found at truck supply dealer's for washing semi trailer's and big truck wheels and fuel tanks.
The backside of the wheels were really dirty from brake rotor dust buildup and other humid climate crap that builds up in the deep so. states where I bought them from in the parts for sale forum on the TGO web site.
This stuff kicked butt on the black and rust colored buildup and by using a pot scrubing brush with very little effort, managed to clean them up with only two applications. (At 30.00 bucks a gallon, I only used about an 8th. of it). It made the inside of the rims look like new! Even my wife said wow! I figure that even if I don't clearcoat them afterwards (on the outside) this stuff will clean them up with a light spray and rinse at the car wash during winter.
I used a pesticide sprayer that I bought a few years ago to spray roses to keep the Japaneese beatles off them.
I took pic's before and after and will post them when I'm done with the project. Tomorrow the stripping starts. I bought a can of Strip ease from true value hardware (it worked good the last time) a fine metal brush, and a plastic putty knife that I trim the corner's off untill I have an edge about 1/4 in. wide to work on the tight area's and any tough spots.
I have identified the problem wheel already. I don't care who you are, one or two of the 4 wheels are going to give you a pain in the butt. (sorta like kids!)
You will be asking yourself why is this wheel such a pain when the others were so easy? I figured that this time I will start on the problem wheel for a while and them move to one of the easier one's that yields faster results so I won't be so disappointed. SQZBOX.

 

Thanks sqzbox!
This is what I had to start with, so I guess where I'm at is better than what I had.




I really don't like these rims, but they'll have to do until I can get new ones. They really don't look too bad, I just want them to have more of a deep look to them.

 

Mine looked worse that those! BTW you know those are the wrong center caps right? When you get done with stripping all the clearcoat off, you'll like them alot better especially after you see the price of replacing them. 16x8's will set you back almost a grand. Or, you can up-grade to a larger size like 17 or 18 in. and then you'll have to get new tires! The biggest problem with replacing them is the clearence of the front rims to the tierod ends. The wheel wieght's on the inside bead will hit the tierods.
On the set I bought from Fla. one of the front rims has some nasty scratches
on the inside bead and I figure that someone tried to put the rear's on the front and them drove it before they spun the rim around. That's why thier marked front and rear only. SQZBOX.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/plenumpolish

I did my stock rims back in the mid 90's when I got the car. polish em and keep a coat of wax on em. I retouched em up a few years ago and someone on here has em now.

anyways

Start with 120grit. work your way upto 400 or 800.
Then use some TRIPOLI to to buff it to a good shine and work out any polishing lines left. For the Final BUFF/COLOR I use WHITE ROUGE.

This is how they come out CLICK HERE

 

Bought the stripper today and the first app. took all the clearcoat off and 50% of the paint between the spokes. All it took was brush on and wait 10 min. and hose off with a spray nozzel on my garden hose. I let the rims dry for a few min. and re-app. it again. after hosing them off again it took 50% more off. I then app. the stripper to just the small spots of paint that was left and brushed the paint with the fine wire brush (looks like a toothbrush) and that removed the rest of the paint. It's up to you if you want to try and polish the rims to a mirror finish, but personaly, they shine so good, they look brand new if not better. I think I'm going to call it quits at this point. I'm just going to wax them up and get the tires mounted and balanced. As you know, two of my old rims are bent and shaking the whole car at speeds 65 and over. With an 82 mi. round trip to work, I'm ready to feel a smooth ride again!
The paint between the spokes is a little more difficult to remove because of the rough surface but the beads and spokes are alot smoother. When the sun or lights hit them there is a spectum of color that reflects off them WOW!
I'll post the pic's soon as I shoot the rest of the film on the 4th.
I don't have a digital cam. but I do have a scanner. SQZBOX.

 

Well, got the tires mounted yesterday and the car really rides smoother! I'ts surprising how round wheels will smooth out a ride! The right rear rim and tire was smooth as could be on the balancer but it has a little wobble on the car (bent axle). I'll have to get me a used one at the bone yard (10 bucks). Most of the time the work is already done from people yankin' the cover off the diff. looking for gears. I think I'll grab the drivers side as they don't get as much abuse as the pass. side.
The wheels really look great. I'm going to take it out and get some good pic's today and try to have the pic's this comming weekend. SQZBOX.

 

top, before
middle, during
bottom, after
the rest, the car

 

having problems uploading!