How to, Remove flaking clear on wheels.

[Jonah 101]

Hey all.
Today I decided to make a write up on how to remove flaking clear coat on your mag wheels. This one is a little bit different to the other how to on this subject.
You will need.
- 1 hour per wheel
- Paint stripper
- Brush
- Plastic scraper (metal scraper will ruin your wheels)
- PPE, gloves and safety goggles
- Wet and dry sand paper
- Water blaster (optional, but cuts labour in half)
Here is the condition of my wheel.



Yuck…..
Now if your wheels are dusty, give them a clean. I just blew them down with a dust gun. Now grab you paint stripper and brush. PUT ON GLOVES! I decided to be a bloke and not use gloves. I tell you this stuff feels like a bee sting when you get it on you so if you decided to not wear gloves, have a sink and soap ready.



This is the paint stripper I used, It set me back about $20 (NZ$) normal retail is $22. But its GST free weekend!
Now it pays to mask off what you down want to strip off, I didn’t and paid the price…… this stuff is rather thick so its easy to apply and it doesn’t run everywhere, but the brush has a mind of its own. Gloves on. Start spreading the paint stripper on your clear, be generous and lay it on fairly thick. You don’t need big blobs but thick. Now you have done that leave it for 10-15 minutes. After five minutes it should start to look like this.



15 minutes later.
Start scraping the stuff off. Its pretty basic really, just scrap! When you have got the bulk of it off grab a rag and rub any little bits off. Now you can get away with not wear gloves here, but it might pay to.
Or
Go mad with the water blaster!!! Remember to wear safety glasses. This stuff hurts on your skin, I would hate to imagine what it’s like in your eyes. Now you should get something like this.



Kudos to you if you get it all first time, but if there is still stubborn bits remaining, wipe mags dry or blow them down with a dust gun, reapply paint stripper and wait 15mins, blast off.
You should now have this.



Pretty aye? Looks worse in real life. Now grab wet and dry sand paper. Now I use 400grit because I wanted that brushed look, but if you want to polish them I recommend starting at 400 and work up to something higher. This doesn’t take long at all, quickly sand in the same direction all around till you are satisfied. Wash the wheels one last time and DONE!



Now time to clean the car lol I have still more work to do on this one (clear coat and remove remaining clear) but I will get around to that when I have done the other wheels. When I had had some more practise.


Feel free to add any suggestions.

UPDATE: apply to a dry surface, the dryer the better. Use very generously!! and use a powerul water blaster. I also found using combination of scraping and water blasting worked well.

[Apprentice]

Great Post - will help me out. Cheers.