92HondaAccordSW
10-06-2007, 05:13 PM
I bought rimsx4 from a salvage yard for $100 yesterday.
They were in bad shape. One looked about as bad as a burnt pizza. lol
However, I got lucky. Today, I went to a tire and mechanic shop after work to have the tires removed, (only one was good enough to keep.) That's ok, though, I just wanted the matching rims to/for my car. (I wasn't interested in throwing boatloads of money on flashy, shiny new rims and tires because the look is usually too gaudy for me, and I wasn't completely interested in getting wheel covers because it would still have a rather cheapy look to it, IMO. Plus, spending $140+ on Honda wheel covers just didn't sit well with me.)
The guy who took off my tires, after I inquired about what he knows about polishing rims, offered to have me follow him (because he was getting off work soon and the directions were too complicated) to a place where he said they would make my rims "look like new."
After many L&R turns, we arrived! Lo' and behold, the black surface "rust" -as they called it, and what looked like cooked-on tar, road grime, and brake dust, got rinsed away with some non-over-the-counter "acid" wheel cleaner and a powerful mobile spray washer.
But! The one wheel, the "burnt pizza" wheel, didn't get the same results. Inside the 12-pockets or holes, there was still a very noticeable amount of "black" areas on the metal.
This guy and I (he said he used to work there) were given full-reign over the owner's equipment for about 2 hours and proceded to continue to spray and wash this stuff off, sometimes using a small Automotive Parts Store brass mini-brush (looked like a lot like a toothbrush) and his pocket knife.
While I finally managed to meticulously get this wheel clean, I noticed I solved one problem and created another. The clear coat was noodling off the rim, and this is ESPECIALLY true on the "burnt pizza" rim. I inspected the other rims and it appears they were only slightly affected. Clean, yes. Looks like new? No.
I brought them home and used some wheel polishing paste, stuff like Mothers, called NANO-POLISH by Eagle One. I spent less than 25 minutes putting it on all four rims as a means to protect the now seemingly bare spots. It took away most of the dull look, but it didn't, of course, match the look of the clearcoat.
MY QUESTION!:
HOW DO I GO ABOUT GETTING MY RIMS RE-CLEARCOATED?
*Can* it be done? Is the orginial clearcoat too complicated to replicate? Will it cost more than $100 per rim to do it? What is the process- does it involve baking of some sort? Will they have to be dunked in a stronger acid-bath to removed the original clearcoat. Mostly, I want to find a service that specializes in this sort of thing. But if it costs more than buying like-new after-market replicas, then forget it (see first two pics below, please).
Of course any and all of your help will be extremely helpful. Thank you so much for enduring my wordiness, breadth and scope of my very first thread. (lol) Again, please be nice and don't bash me for this being my first and probably really annoying thread.
Rob
P.S. The First 2 pictures I'm posting are NOT MINE! They're really great, clearer pictures of a really nice-looking wheel for sale on this site: http://www.finishlinewheels.com/HONDA/ACCORD/1993/
The other 3 pictures I am posting are made with my crappy cell-phone camera. Again, please don't be mean to me for trying my best. I know I'm new.
They were in bad shape. One looked about as bad as a burnt pizza. lol
However, I got lucky. Today, I went to a tire and mechanic shop after work to have the tires removed, (only one was good enough to keep.) That's ok, though, I just wanted the matching rims to/for my car. (I wasn't interested in throwing boatloads of money on flashy, shiny new rims and tires because the look is usually too gaudy for me, and I wasn't completely interested in getting wheel covers because it would still have a rather cheapy look to it, IMO. Plus, spending $140+ on Honda wheel covers just didn't sit well with me.)
The guy who took off my tires, after I inquired about what he knows about polishing rims, offered to have me follow him (because he was getting off work soon and the directions were too complicated) to a place where he said they would make my rims "look like new."
After many L&R turns, we arrived! Lo' and behold, the black surface "rust" -as they called it, and what looked like cooked-on tar, road grime, and brake dust, got rinsed away with some non-over-the-counter "acid" wheel cleaner and a powerful mobile spray washer.
But! The one wheel, the "burnt pizza" wheel, didn't get the same results. Inside the 12-pockets or holes, there was still a very noticeable amount of "black" areas on the metal.
This guy and I (he said he used to work there) were given full-reign over the owner's equipment for about 2 hours and proceded to continue to spray and wash this stuff off, sometimes using a small Automotive Parts Store brass mini-brush (looked like a lot like a toothbrush) and his pocket knife.
While I finally managed to meticulously get this wheel clean, I noticed I solved one problem and created another. The clear coat was noodling off the rim, and this is ESPECIALLY true on the "burnt pizza" rim. I inspected the other rims and it appears they were only slightly affected. Clean, yes. Looks like new? No.
I brought them home and used some wheel polishing paste, stuff like Mothers, called NANO-POLISH by Eagle One. I spent less than 25 minutes putting it on all four rims as a means to protect the now seemingly bare spots. It took away most of the dull look, but it didn't, of course, match the look of the clearcoat.
MY QUESTION!:
HOW DO I GO ABOUT GETTING MY RIMS RE-CLEARCOATED?
*Can* it be done? Is the orginial clearcoat too complicated to replicate? Will it cost more than $100 per rim to do it? What is the process- does it involve baking of some sort? Will they have to be dunked in a stronger acid-bath to removed the original clearcoat. Mostly, I want to find a service that specializes in this sort of thing. But if it costs more than buying like-new after-market replicas, then forget it (see first two pics below, please).
Of course any and all of your help will be extremely helpful. Thank you so much for enduring my wordiness, breadth and scope of my very first thread. (lol) Again, please be nice and don't bash me for this being my first and probably really annoying thread.
Rob
P.S. The First 2 pictures I'm posting are NOT MINE! They're really great, clearer pictures of a really nice-looking wheel for sale on this site: http://www.finishlinewheels.com/HONDA/ACCORD/1993/
The other 3 pictures I am posting are made with my crappy cell-phone camera. Again, please don't be mean to me for trying my best. I know I'm new.