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Best way to remove paint from aluminum rim?

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78Z

78Z

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I picked up a set of sort of Minilite-ish wheels for cheap. They have a gold paint colour on them now. One wheel has some black paint over the gold. Ideally I'd like them to be silver/natural aluminum colour. Or I could go for the gold colour. I tried the black painted rim with a little rubbing compound and the black comes off slowly but the surface has a bit of a texture to it and I'm worried about getting it all off. Any ideas? Thanks!

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You could go either of two ways- abrasive or chemical methods.

I suspect that the abrasive methods like wire/abrasive wheels or media blasting would affect the finish. You may not want that, then the chemicals may be more suitable. I think the media blasting would be by far the better of the abrasive methods, particularly where the surface isn't smooth. If its acceptable then you might try having a small spot blasted with some non-aggressive material to see how it comes out. The alternative would be to use a chemical remover and some of these can be very effective. I can't comment on what's widely available in the US but here I've found that preparations using active chemical ingredients of Dichloromethane & Methanol work best. Again, try it on a small spot and see how well it works. Note too that if your wheels have a finish coating or sealer this stuff will most likely remove that too. You'd then need to re-finish them.

Another alternative would just be to paint or powder-coat them silver....

Note, though, that I've not done any alloy wheels- just steel ones (and blasting is the only way to go for wire rims IMHO), and I have done alloy shrouds (think thin and sensitive) using the chemicals.
 
Hi 78Z,
Most of the auto store chains here carry aircraft paint stripper. Pep boys, Kragen, etc. It won’t eat aluminum, but it will bubble the paint off within a half hour, sometimes it bubbles as you apply it. It will soften Bondo also. You can find it in the auto body section with the sandpaper and Bondo. Use safety goggles and chemical resistant gloves. I keep a spray bottle of water on hand if any gets on my skin. You’ll know it by the burning sensation. I remove the gooey mess with a putty knife and those toothbrush sized wire brushes.
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I'm with James. Blasting, probably Walnut Shell, would be what I'd try first. Try on the back (hidden) part of a wheel first.
 
Greg:

For the paint stripper use the disposable latex gloves but put two pair on. It a trick my wife told me about- she's a former nurse and they'd do that so once the outer one got dirty and nasty it could be peeled off leaving a nice clean one. I then put another clean one over it. Before, when I just used the one the paint stripper would eat it up and then start on my hands and everything would have to stop to clean the whole mess off/up. Using two let's me keep going with less interuption....

Whatever you do, don't sit on the stuff or step in it and then go waltzing through the house....
 
Well I don't have a air compressor so I'm going to go with the aircraft paint stripper first. I'll pick some up tommorow and post the results. The glove tricks sounds well worth trying. Thanks guys!
 
Well I tried it out - I was unable to find the aircraft stuff I had to settle with some off brand - likely not as effective. Unfortunatly it has a recommend tempature range which my garage is about 30 degrees centigrade below. I did the black wheel and with a couple attempts its mostly down to the bare metal. I think I might wait to do the other three on a warmer day.
 
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