Clearcoat peeling on wheels. Help?

[SKIPPY_F7]

Got a non-fbody problem but hoping you guys can still help.

My dad just got a new car and I'm helping him clean it up and need some help with what to do with the wheels. We picked it up at night and thought the wheels were just dirty. Finally saw it in daylight and realized the clearcoat(?) was peeling on just the lip. I can peel it off with my finger nail in some spots and it actually looks better underneath it. Any ideas how to remove it?




The car it's on


Thanks

[Gregs_gsxr]

it happens when people use them in the winter and dont wash them, only way to fix that it is sand off and re-clear coat other wise sand it off and keep them polished

[bri2203]

you could strip the off the clearcoat with aircraft stripper but you wouldn't be very successful with how complex those wheels are with the rivits.

My opnion
keeping driving them until they are bald and buy a nice set of wheels and tires and sell those wheels.

[farmington]

Also comes from using brake dust cleaner. A lot of those are acidic in nature and really eat into wheels, especially the stuff they use at the car washes. If you want your wheels cleaned, pay for the cleaning but ask them to not spray the cleaner, just scrub them with soap and water.

[JoeliusZ28]

Also comes from using brake dust cleaner. A lot of those are acidic in nature and really eat into wheels, especially the stuff they use at the car washes. If you want your wheels cleaned, pay for the cleaning but ask them to not spray the cleaner, just scrub them with soap and water.

As a guy thats been cleaning cars for a long time I don't think its those chemicals that deserve the blame as much as the brake dust itself. Brake dust is very bad for wheels when it doesnt get cleaned and will do a lot of damage when water and other chemicals mix with it and then is left to remain on the wheel (even if only a little). Brake dust is alot like road salt - harmless when dry, but horribly corrosive when it goes through multiple wet and dry cycles. Cleaning chemicals certainly should not go unblamed - but alot of those car washes do not get all the brake dust off which is where the real danger is. I use strong chemicals on my wheels on a regular basis and they stay in good condition. Its when i get lazy and let them go for a few weeks that unrepairable damage gets done.

I would make the same recommendation as brian - Its probably easier to just buy new wheels than to fix these.

[bri2203]

to elaborrate on what Joel said I agree with him.

When I bought my 2001 camaro from my brother(bought it new) in 2006, the snowflake wheels were in rough shape due to brake "rust" if you will. He rarely washed the car or the wheels for that matter. The car washes would not get into the corners of the spokes on the wheels so the brake dust collected and built up on the clear coat. I had to scrub each wheel with wheel acid and with some elbow grease they cleaned up well! Do NOT use wheel acid on a bare aluminum wheel! They must be clear coated or chrome.

My Cobalt generates alot of brake dust due to the high performance brake pads and I wax the wheels(inside and out) twice a year and it makes it easier to clean throughout the summer.

[SKIPPY_F7]

I don't think he's too interested in buying wheels for it right now. I don't even want to ask....

Will a fine sandpaper take it off without destroying the surface underneath? Just want to get the crappy flake look off of them if possible without doing anything too severe.

[JoeliusZ28]

Theoretically you could sand that outer dish and remove it that way, then polish the bare aluminum. but consider the cost of the sandpaper alone it would require to do that, and the fact you'll probably have carpal tunnel by the time youre done.

[bri2203]

If buying wheels are not considered...

I hate polishing wheels!! I would sand the rims with 320 and paint them silver and hope it buys you a couple years.

[Fish-man]

what you could try is to jack the car up and start with one of the non-driven wheels... use some pretty aggressive sand paper and spin the wheel with one hand while holding the sand paper against the rim (be careful around valve stem). Once all clearcoat is off, go with a finer grade papaer. I did that on my quad with decent results. (bought a quad with black wheels and the flanges were all chipped up, so I made it consistent, and neat looking to boot)
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