Has anyone ever restored a set? I have some on a car I bought that I intend on putting back into stock form, they have no curb rash but the years have take it's toll on them. Can I simply strip the coating off with paint stripper, clean and then have them powder coated clear again? Any tips and pics of the process anyone has done would be greatly appreciated.
I polished a set once....took forever,but the turned out nice. Can't really say I liked the look of them on the car afterwards though. They looked better with a machine finish. What really looked good was the set of TRX wheels a buddy of mine polished to a mirror finish. Now that was sharp!!! Not sure about powdercoating, but I know regular clear coating (paint) won't stick to a polished finish. Within 2-months it was flaking off and looking like hell. Then they really got ruined when I brought the car in to be cleaned and the guy in the shop thought it would be a great idea to spray acid on them to clean the brake dust off.
So a good stripping of the factory clear should do it?? I am definitely wanting to keep the stock machined look to them
Its all going to depend on what the wheels themselves are like underneath. Has the current layer of clear coat flaked off in places on these wheels? Has the exposed aluminum pitted or corroded as a result? If so, that'll have to be address before just re-coating them...and even then they won't ever look brand new again.
The cheapest way to do it is to start with degreaser and clean them, then grab some sand paper and start with like a medium, and then fine. And use a buffer and a compound to clean em up. Thats what I did to mine they came out nice and clean and didnt mess up the stock look. I am going to be using mine as drag wheels though so they didnt have to be perfect. They looked like the one on the floor when I got them.
I used aircraft stripper on mine. It really brightened them up. I didn't clearcoat them. I just use Neverdull on them and they have looked great for about 3 years now.
Guy from Crown Point shows a 79 with 10 holers, he had restored. He works at Webb Ford, and he said they send them out somewhere. Those things are beautiful for 3 years now, if you want, I can do some looking into their source! Sound like a home remedy might be better for just racin, but I'm gonna have a set done for the Stripptmobile for showing!
I always thought it'd be cool -if you had the resources- to machine the face to that diamond machine look that shines a rainbow of different colors. Polish the caps, then chop and widen the rears to 8 or 9". That'd be sweeet, but you'd need access to a CNC lathe and a means of spinning the wheels on it. The finish I'm talking about:
Nice! Yeah, too much flat surface for a hard polish, but more polished than stock would be I'll call Webb Monday, see who their place for outsourcing plastic coating on rims this is. This guys 10 holers are a dead ringer for the new ones I was handed on my 88 and 90, they look good. I'm guessing the bigger dealers across the country, with decent body shops, would have to have a place that does this sort of work. After a couple years, when you started to go through numerous sets of tires, the weights started peeling the coating from the edges, so they would have to warrantee rims with this problem. Mustang Enthusiast had an article on this process a couple years back, thats what made me want a refinished set. Idk what the cost is, we'll see!
I was reading on the corral the other day that a company is going to start making 18" ten holes, and 17" turbines. I believe, but am not positive that it is the company that makes Pony Rs. they should be some cool looking wheels.
Mavromont industries? link please! i am in love with 10 holes... ever since i saw blackened88lx's super clean hatch, i guess i'd never seen what they were supposed to look like before then, haha
+10000000000000000000000000 I always said that 17" staggered 10 holes would be the sickness! Turbines might look good too. If this is true, I'll hold off on my wheel swap!
10 holers restored. Govert Auto Body, 217 Industrial Drive, Griffith, In, 219-934-2302. I talked to Clay. $180 a rim. They have finished ones, too, and all have a lifetime warrantee. The set on the 79 I've seen at the Lake County Fair show for the last 3 years has me putting a set on my Christmas list. They're just as nice as what I picked up on 2 new LX's. Might want to check with a good local body shop, I would think they all need a place that does them.
I just got aircraft striper, take the old clear of because it was flaking, then sanded them down and painted them black, then put some clear over the black and is still looks good after about 2 years. no pits or flaking at all. I had a friend paint rims once and he painted over the factory clear, about 1 month later all the rims where flaking and paint was peeling.
I think Keystone is where a lot of places send their rims too, prolly even the one I posted. They made some cool wheels in their day, those Keystone Klassics wereThe $180, I'm just guessing here, is cuz they're shipped and everything, idk too much about how this whole process works. Does Keystone deal with the public, or just shops? Cuz thats a much better price!
