Say Chi Sin Lo

Dear all, first of all these wheels won't be going onto my AP1. But I do want to shine them up after years of neglect.

There's a lot of gunk on the inner lip of the wheels. These wheels were picked up from another owner and best I can diagnose is that, something spilled onto the wheels, and it's stuck onto the surface of the wheel. But whatever it was, it provided a surface for brake bust and various other dirt and gunk to gather. Here is what I've tried so far:

- hard scrubbing with water, nope!
- hard scrubbing with simple green, nope!
- hard scrubbing with blue magic, nope!
- hard scrubbing with aluminum polish, nope!

My last remaining option that I can think of is to wet sand it off.
- is it safe for the wheel surface?
- what grit(s) should I use?
- how can I finish off the wet-sanding?

Thank you. These are a set of old Enkei RSV.





A detailer was able to get some of it off about a year ago, and it was fine for about a few months. But as soon as brake dust started to settle on them...

Manga_Spawn

I'd honestly take them to a powder coater and have them media blasted and recoated. That would get rid of whatever is on them and have them looking brand new. It seems like there is other imperfections on the face of the wheels this would fix as well. From my experience most powder coat places are fairly reasonable price wise if it is a color they stock normally and if it is just a single stage color its not that pricey. If you really wanted to try the wet sanding you can but it'll be hard to not further damage the coating of the wheels. Probably would start with 1500 and work your way up from there? Try a little area and see how it looks. I would be really concerned that you'd go through the coating though.

Say Chi Sin Lo

I only showed you picture of 1 wheel... However, the sad news is that, it's on all 4 wheels. I'm worried the combined cost of blasting and subsequent repair for all 4 wheels will be more expensive than what I got them for. And yes, up close, there are imperfections. But they're minute that I honestly don't even notice them anymore from a distance.

So, start with 1500, then 2000, and end with 3000? How should I finish the wheels after the wet sanding?

Thank you!

Manga_Spawn

I assumed it was all 4. As for cost I wouldn't be worried about it costing more than what you paid for the wheels I'd more look at if you were to have it done would you have more money sunk into the wheels than a new set would cost. My guess would be no but depends on what you pay for the powder coat. I would maybe ask around your local area where people have gone and what they have paid. If you like the wheels and plan on keeping them this would be a one and done solution where anything you do isn't exactly guaranteed a permanent fix not to mention your time is worth something and if you have to continuously maintain them it becomes an even bigger time suck. An example the powder coater I used for my wheels charges $340 for a set of wheels in a single stage color that they stock (this includes the sand blasting step). Not sure where you are located but check around your area and ask for quotes.

For the wet sanding yeah work your way up. You could even try starting at 2000 and see if that takes that junk off or if you need 1500. Finishing some kind of wheel sealant and I would put multiple coats. This is going to be a lot of time and effort and no way to know that it won't keep happening. The other concern i would have is going through whatever coating is on there as I would bet it is thin from prior attempts at cleaning that crap off.

Say Chi Sin Lo

Honestly... I'm going to try to DIY it first. I love my Mazdaspeed 3. But it's now become my daily and I don't foresee throwing more money into it either than maintenance.

I'm in San Francisco, I'm nearly certain the rates in my area is going to be north of $340. It'll feel like buying these wheels all over again.

Manga_Spawn

Champion Powder Coating San Francisco CA. » Pricing

States $375 for a single stage color alloy wheel and that includes the media blasting. But yeah give the DIY a try. Worst case you'll have to have them redone due to the oem finish coming off.

Car Analogy

Go to the dollar store. Buy a couple of bottles of something appropriately called Amazing Stuff (no product in the history of the universe has had a more accurate name).

Its a yellow spray bottle, about rhe size of a Windex bottle or Fantastic spray.

Get a stiff, plastic brush that will fit into those crevices. Also get a plastic scraper. A window ice scraper, or a plastic prybar, etc.

Spray a whole lot of the Amazing Stuff onto wheel, let it sock in. Maybe lay the wheel flat so it doesn't run off as easily.

Wait like 5 min. Respray as needed to make sure it stays wet.

Start scrubbing the gunk. Use scraper as needed as well. Be prepared to be Amazed.

PS - Don't breathe the Amazing Stuff when you spray it. Its a bit...caustic.

I bought a G37xS as a winter car. It must have been driven with pads down to metal, as there was all this rust on the right front Aluminum wheel. Hot iron particles scraped off rotor, embedded themselves i to soft clearcoat and aluminum. I tried everything, including sanding. Nothing made even a dent. Young kid at Autozone said to try this spray stuff. What could he know, so young. Not to mention something from dollar store. Really? But I tried everything else, what the heck. I was certainly amazed!

Note that if you have spots that are down to bare aluminum, this stuff will oxidize it black. That happened to the spots I had previously tried to sand. You can sand the black off, and re clearcoat. You'll have to reclear any bare aluminum anyway.

99MCoupe

I had a problem with the clear coat spotting and peeling on a set of alloys. The cosmetic flaws were on the lips of the wheels. I could not remove the ugliness with polish, or any other product. I wound up wet sanding the clear coat off, down to aluminum, starting with #500 paper and working my way up to #2500. I then used a foam metal polisher on a drill with metal polish and buffed the lips back to a nice shine.

Since the car in question is not a daily driver, I just applied a protective sealant on the buffed areas and have not clear coated them.


The entire process took many tedious hours and I would not do it again.

Say Chi Sin Lo

Honestly, I think at this point, I may just do one more round of hard scrubbing and try to preserve whatever clear coat is on the wheels. I feel like at this point, I'd strip it if I were to do it myself. Or I'd have to pay to have them professionally restored. Neither of which are worth my time or money at this point.

Thank you all for your advice still! If I can find a set of decent Mazda RX-8 5 spoke wheels, I'll have my tires dismounted and put on the RX-8's instead.