Recondition old wheels?

[DJW32]

Hello all,
Can you guys give me an idea of the best way to recondition old wheels? The wheels have the chrome, i think it's chrome, peeling off, some surface rust, and other grease stuff on them. Should I use a brillo pad? Can I get them chemically dipped? I will post a picture later on tonight(probably tomorrow).



David

[69LT1Nova]

Take them to a shop and they can media blast them and re-chrome them. Anything short of that is a band-aid fix. If you are looking to just get by, then power wash them and leave them be. Any abrasives will just make it look worse from my own personal experience.

Be prepared - reconditioning your old wheels won't be cheap. You are usually better off budget wise buying new rims.

[DriverzInc]

Re-chroming is a nightmare, and is very costly. Look into www.fixrim.com, they are good to deal with, and only deal with repairing wheels.

Good luck. My suggestion... buy new wheels. Would probably be about the same price after everything is all said and done....

[Boesch]

As others have said, reconditioning chrome wheels is costly. Probably going to be a lot cheaper to just buy new wheels.

[nekkidhillbilly]

you could blast and powder coat

[DJW32]

I didn't give you guys all the information...my bad. The wheels are for my truck. I changed the drum brakes(front) over to disk brakes. I got some 6-lug wheels off of a chevy from 71-87, but they look like sh*t. I do NOT plan on having them re-chromed. I will probably power wash, scrub, and paint the wheels white(so they match the rear wheels). I do plan on getting new wheels and tires, but that will be in 2-3 years.

David

[69LT1Nova]

AH-HA! Ok, so you're looking to paint the wheels. Well, that's simple. Solution 1: You can dis-mount your tires and media blast them down to the metal and paint away.

Solution 2: Or, for a ghetto fix, you can scuff them up with 300 grit sand paper then Scotch-brite (do NOT use a Brillo pad, it has cleaners in it that will mess up adhesion of your new paint) wash and paint away. You won't even need to take the tires off, just mask them up when you paint.

For both solutions, be sure to use wax and grease remover (available at any auto paint store) before painting. It'll promote adhesion and eliminate fish eyes.

[Motown 454]

If its a chrome wheel like a Cragar SS use Brillo pad on them it shines them really well. I would never use it on a new or good chrome wheel but they need to be redone anyway . I used to do mine all the time because they were all beat up . It worked for me for three years, they looked very presentable. Sorry didn't see the painting part !!!
Wayne