Help with Rims

2958 Views 22 Replies 8 Participants Last post by surkin, May 9, 2003

surkin

Discussion Starter · Apr 6, 2003

Hi, this is my first post. I went to the salvage yard today, and picked up some aluminum escort gt rims and some tires all for about 300 dallors, they were covered in dirt and i thought that was just dirt. Well, we got home washed em off. The tires looked fine but the rims had like... a crappy rusty like, the top layer of alum was eatting threw or something, i tried everything i could to try to get rid of it, washed em alot, and its really deep. I was wondering if someone had any suggestions and if i had to sand, or something like that could you please explain it to me.

Thank you

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bpletch1

· #2 · Apr 6, 2003

If the clear is gone and the alu is etched, you´re in for a lot more than you bargained. Best bet for the long run would be to try to return the rims/tires for your money..
barring that...
1) refinish yourself--entails getting rid of the nastiness via sanding/polishing/bead or sandblasting
2) pay someone else to do it (and then have painted or powdercoated and then cleared again (I know of a few places that do it for $60/rim)

good luck

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bpletch1

· #6 · Apr 6, 2003

get the tires off there, blast them, paint them, clear them, wait a few days and have the tires remounted

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bpletch1

· #9 · Apr 7, 2003

no, it wouldnb´t look the same. The escort rims were either silver painted w/ clear or machined w/ clear. The silver obviously wouldn´t look the same, and the machhined rims have very tiny grooves in the surface from the machining process. You might be able to get them close, but not the same. You could, however, sand/polish/clear the whole face of the rim for uniformity.

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bpletch1

· #12 · Apr 9, 2003

for the highest shine, don´t use sandpaper. get a cloth polishing wheel attachment for a drill and use buffing compound

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bpletch1

· #14 · Apr 13, 2003

sand, primer, paint, clearcoat...

after you clear coat, MAKE SURE YOU GIVE THEM A FEW WEEKS TO SET UP/CURE/DRY COMPLETELY!!!

I can´t tell you how many times customer´s have brought in freshly painted rims to have tires mounted only to leave a little more than disappointed when the paint on the lip get scraped off a little from the machine.

the most durable combo is powdercoat and clearcoat.

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bpletch1

· #16 · Apr 15, 2003

if you´re gonna clearcoat, the more important thing is the process.
pick a color/finish you like and go for it!!

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