Hey guys. A while back I painted my OEM AP1 rims black, but im wanting to get all of the paint off so its back to the stock color and everything. Whats the best way to attempt this? I hear of people using things like paint thinner and soaking it but will that mess up the color of the actual rim underneith? I dont want to sand them either b/c then ill have to just repaint them. I just want the paint off so its just the stock rims again. Thanks in advance!

 

Would it be easier to try and find paint that would be close to the wheel color rather than strip the paint?

 

It would be easier but I like the machine face look on the stock wheels. So I was trying to keep that instead of just plain silver.

 

get a can of spray on paint remover. when you use it don't let it sit too long it will start to eat at the metal after a long time. you basically spray it on then wipe off the paint. you will need to sand it with a 400 grit maybe even a 600 to get that machined look back then just clear coat them with a few coats. if you sand them with even higher grit and then polish with a paste you can get them pretty close to chrome look which imo looks good suzuka or black. I did mine black and then just sanded down the fronts, polished and then cleared looked hot on my black car.

 

Thanks! I just tried some Acetone and a scatchpad and it seems to do the trick pretty easy. The machined surface is a little scratched up but like you said if I sand it with a high grit paper I can get that back. Its just really cold outside and I got most of one spoke done and my hands are already numb haha!

 

pics would be awesome lol. just bought my s2000 with shitty painted stock rims. looks like they used spray paint and its chipping off. i am curious to see before and afters of yours

 

Ill try to get some pics for you tomorrow. Mine were just spray painted and I just wiped them down with the Acetone and used an ice scraper and it just chipped all of it off pretty easy without scratching them! Then just cleaned and wiped them down and they look just like new. Its been cold ouside so I'v only done the passenger side so far. But ill get a pic soon.

 

sounds great. thanks man!

 

Aircraft stripper.

 

Okay its dark outside so ill get some real pics tomorrow. but here is a shot of what the wheels looked like. Just plain black.



And here is a pic of just one of the wheels how it came out. Still have a perfect machine finish and everything. I know it sounds stupid but an ice scraper and Acetone did the whole job without messing up the rim. One pic is with flash and the other is without.