Refinishing Wheels

[Keith V]

I have a '73 914 with Mahle wheels. The clear protective finish on a couple of them is beginning to show some wear. I have the proper paint and protective clear coating to use on them once I get the old finish off. My question is, what is the best way to remove the old finish? I read in the Griot's Garage catalog not to have the wheels sand blasted, as this will leave the alloy wheels with a rough surface. They say a blasting material of glass beads of pecan shells is more gentle on the finish. Has anyone out there have any more experience/recommendations regarding this process? Thank you in advance.

[Keith V]

I meant to say "glass beads or pecan shells".

[Ascaris]

I just refinished my wheels and used sand. It did leave a slightly rough surface, but the paint filled that in pretty well. Maybe using shells would be more gentle, but I assume that it would also take longer to do. I probably spent an hour blasting each wheel in a cabinet. The original paint is darned tough stuff.

Good luck!

[S Schroeder]

I recently refinished some Mahle wheels and they came out great. I used a product called Zip Strip. It is sort of a gel that works like a paint stripper. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and scrubbed off the old finish.It was water soluable, so after a good cleaning with soap and water they were ready to paint. This product was very powerful. I also used it to strip the factory clear coat on my '90 Audi Coupe. Those wheels came out great as well. Just my $.02.

[Keith V]

Dear S,
Thank you for the information. I will look for this product at the store.