Remove anodized finish by sanding?

[eurocarrera]

I have been reading a few posts about finishing Fuchs wheels by taking off the tire, stripping off the paint, and then polish, polish, polish. I thought anodizing was clear, so that must mean that the wheels were painted first, and then anodized. Wouldn't it make sense just to sand down the paddles on the standard fuchs wheel with some very fine sandpaper until you got to the bare aluminum, and then polish from there? My thoughts are if you are careful, you just won't have to make as big of a mess, and have to deal with all of those wonderful fumes!

Does anyone know what Al Reed does - has anyone asked?

[89911]

Wait and see how "fun" it is sanding hard anodized aluminum by hand. Imagine using a soft rag to remove paint and you get the picture. I've done both and I am a firm believer in chemicals. The only other option I have done is using a dremel or other power tools to remove this stuff. It does kick up a lot of caustic dust though. Hey, a couple years off your life is worth if for polished fuchs!

[RobertCrav]

But with R/C cars and Anodized parts Oven Cleaner works wonders for removing anodizing..

Rob

[koollay]

I just completed mine today and to do four rims it took four hours. I jumped out of the gates with a power sander. I used 180, 320, 600, 1000, 2000 and finally 3000. The 180 to 320 was done with the sander. The 600 - 3000 (done by hand) should clean up all of the deeper scratches and so on. The sander I experimented with first was your standard black and decker palm sander. Once it proved to me it was going to work, I used a DA sander. The mirror finish came with the buffing compound. My rims came out slick as a mirror. Once the buffing was done, I masked off the paddels and scuffed up the black. I used your standard BarBQ high heat! All rims sanded, polished and painted were on the car in 7 hours.
No mess, no fumes and minor handwork was done to achieve a factory looking rim.

Car will be posted soon as I am doing a complete redo (excluding engine).
Koo

[ttweed]

Originally posted by eurocarrera
I thought anodizing was clear, so that must mean that the wheels were painted first, and then anodized.

Not true. Anodizing is accomplished before painting. The acidic electrolytic solution would be contaminated by the paint disolving off the wheels when they were dipped.

TT

[Eric86Red911]

That's an amazing story Koo. I've never heard of it being so fast. I couldn't understand how a power anything could possibly work with factory fuchs so I did it all with oven cleaner and hand sanding. One of the worst experiences ever. Probably 16 hours per wheel. I tried the B&D triangular-headed corner sander and it didn't do squat. (If you do use oven cleaner, let it sit FOR NO MORE than 45 mins, or else you'll pit the aluminum, then go over with coarse steel wool. If you hand sand, wear a GOOD face mask or else you'll breathe in LOTS of alum dust, which you DON'T want.)

[koollay]

As most, I have read countless threads on doing it and just thought about the steps.....hell you have to sand regardless, so why not do it right out the blocks. You are going to scratch them by hand so what is the difference with a power tool? I am sure there will be naysayers, yet promise you the out come will be fine!! I will get some pic's posted.
Koo

[koollay]

Before and after. 4 Rims (Padles) sanded and polished in 4 hours!! Painted inserts and had them back on the car in 7 hours. Modcocustompaining.com polished them and is redoing entire car. Will post pics soon.
Koo

[eurocarrera]

koollay, what kind of equipment did you take to the wheel? The black paint on my wheels is perfect, so I was just thinking of taking some coarse polishing compound, and thin it out with a machine polish, and then go over the paddles with the power polisher my dad just gave me (really high end equipment).

[koollay]

To see if it would work (removing blk from paddles) I used a standard Blk and Decker sander. Once I saw that it worked we put an air sander (orbital DA) to the rims. I don't think a strong polishing compound will cut the black of the paddles. I am quite sure you will need to use sand paper in the different degrees I mentioned. The equipment you have will get them to shine, as I used a buffing wheel on a high speed drill to polish mine....
Koo

[bell]

i polished my own wheels over the winter........what a PIA......they came out nice but after my targa was smashed and 2 needed replaced we sent all 4 out to have them redone.........this is the result, lesson learned.......let someone else do it

[n8marx]

Any chance bead blasting would remove anodizing?