I've had my truck sitting in my driveway for 4 years and once I go to clean it my rims do THIS!!!

 

Weather, elements etc etc etc, its outside sitting that's what happened what were you cleaning it with and what kind of solution? Almost looks wire brushed or something?

 

the clear coat is coming off. my wheels looked like that when i bought it.
i wet sanded the clear coating off and polished mine.
easier said than done i'm afraid, i did mine by hand for a better finish (about 40 hours) and buffed them out with a polishing wheel on a die grinder.
you have to go over them with metal polish, like waxing the paint.
you can look at mine in the vid link in my sig.

 

I have not tried it myself buy I have heard that aircraft paint remover will take the clearcoat off very quickly without damaging the aluminum. I could be wrong though.

 

It looks like chrome underneath the paint, am i wrong?

 

yea, the "chrome" look is the clear that is still intact.
the wheels are aluminum. you can polish them to shine like chrome, you could clear powdercoat them to reduce maintanance time.

 

HOLY CRAP!!! You were right, aircraft paint stipper.
I tried the paint stipper and the clear coat peeler.

The clear coat peeler will remove clear coat without damaging the primer coat.

Since this is aluminum and not a hood... I first used the peeler, then the stripper.

The stipper definately worked better since it doesn't hold back in clearing primer and paint and such.

Anyways, the results were IMMACULATE!!! Spray on, wait 5 minutes, wash off... NEW WHEELS!!!

Ill post pics to follow of what I used and the after pic

 

Ta da!!!!

 

Nice result. Do you need to clear-coat it now?

 

Yeah I guess so. The more protection the less maintenance right? So I'm going to grab a can of clear coat spray and see how my novice spraying technic goes haha

 

Looks nice and clean... for a better finish though I'd see what a paint shop would charge you to bake the rims after you clear or clear and bake them themselves...

of course the other option might be to just stick them one at a time in the oven at home... just make sure the mrs. is away for the day when you do...
[no idea how long or at what temp. one bakes a rim]

 

Are you talking like powder coating? I know a guy that does it out of his garage

 

No I was talking about clear coat spray paint... but if you can get a powdercoat job done cheap that would be probably be the more durable option...

 

Those look great! Now I've got another project to do

Are those wheels only on the SR5? I've got a DLX (based on the VIN) and my wheels are pretty similar.

Is the clear-coat peeler the kind of stuff I would want to use on my hood to get the nasty, sun-damaged clear coat off? I had heard there is a product that does that, but did not know what it was.

 

I'm not sure if they are SR5 only. But from looking at similar Toyota wheels I think they're all the same. As far as the crap on your hood.... Not sure. I have clear coat peeling off of my quarter panels as well, but I haven't tried yet

 

The wheels were stock SR5 but several people upgraded over the years and they were available as a dealer option iirc... much the same way as various factory alum. rims are now...

 

wow, that stripper really came out clean for just a spray on/hose off approach!

if you're going to be re-clearing your wheels, i would suggest you do a little bit of black accents first, then clear them. had I been able to run my stock SR5 wheels with 33x12.5s, this is what I would have done with them for sure.

 

now that is sharp looking pottery...

 

I know it's a fairly old thread but it's almost time to do my wheels. Mine are factory '91 SR5 wheels with the clear coat peeling. The areas between the spokes appear to be painted a light grey, but your post-stripping picture looks to be the same light grey and I need to know if I would need to paint those areas to replicate the factory look or if I can just strip it and clear coat it without painting these areas.

Also, did you simply just apply the stripper and hose it off? The wheel looks great!

 

That Aircraft Stripper is no joke!