I've sifted through all the "painting wheels" threads but have only one question - can I use chemical paint stripper to remove the clear coat from the wheels?

I've stripped the paint off my sliders just in time for below freezing temperatures here in Denver. I'd like to prep and paint my wheels and TJM bumper at the same time when the weather warms a little. I'd like to make it as easy on myself as possible. I know if I can chemically strip them, I'll need to follow it with 320-grit sandpaper and an etching primer.

Thanks!

 

I polished some wheels one time and used aircraft remover on the clear coat. I think I used two coats and it took the clear coat right off.

You can get it at Pep Boys or Wal-Mart. I used it from the can and brushed it on so I could get it real thick. Be sure to buy some rubber gloves as well and don't breathe that stuff either.

 

I'm assumming these are aluminum rims with a clear coat over them?

I looked for some chemical stripper for a set of aluminum motorcycle forks that had the clear over them but I never found anything. It was chipping and peeling from road dirt. I ended up sanding it off, going from I think 220 grit all the way to 1200 grit and wet sanding. They ended up looking like polished chrome when I was done but it took a good solid day.

 

HEEEYYY i'm from fort collins... like bigpoppa said..Aircraft remover..i repainted a rim and used that to strip it. really strong and works nice.

 

This is basically how I did mine:

http://home.off-road.com/~kemanuel/S...l/SR5Wheel.htm

Of course, I wasn't planning on painting them, so I had to do a lot of sanding to make them shiny.

 

Thanks! That link was very helpful!

Now I'm very inspired to paint my wheels.

 

Aircraft REmover would definitely get rid of clear coat, we used it on mercedes wheels all the time where I used to work at the #1 Mercedes Restoration Facility in the southeast.

(just for the curious www.budsbenz.com)

 

That's what I needed to know. I have a big can of Aircraft Remover that I used to strip my sliders. I just wanted to know if it would work on the clear coat on the wheels. Cool! Now I'm inspired to paint!

 

Tedious work it is, but it's also very rewarding.

Aircraft remover...haha. But yes, aircraft paint stripper will take whatever non-metal is on that rim right off. Then you just have to do the step-by-step paint magic and you're done!

 

Go to walmart and get ya some stuff in an aluminum can made by Kleen Strip....thats what I use to take powder coating off with. Its a brush-on stripper. Stripper by brush-on is far better to me than the aerosol. Just remember...theres a small trick to stripper that not everyone knows. Brush it on going one way. If you go back over the stroke you just made, it will make it less effective. It will not only eat the clear coat off, but the base coat as well.

 

yeah, i me and my friend used airplane cleaner or whatever its called on his wheels to take the paint off and it screwed up the clear coat...

 

Clear coat is the top coat man...you might be referring to cleaner and not stripper? He wants to take his topcoat off...maybe without hurting the base coat...but its not gonna happen because contaminated paint is contaminated paint and once you put stripper on, it strips it bare! Any paint left behind will cause problems down the road because once the stripper hits it, its contaminated. But yeh...clear coat is on the surface, and the color is under that.