Wheels-Tires 10 Hole Rim Restore options?

R82148V · Feb 1, 2024

Hey Everyone,

You all have been great and super helpful with all my questions no matter how large, goofy or small. THANK YOU!

I'm about to start my winter project of restoring my 10 hole rims but I'm torn with all the reviews of different products confusing me.
The clear on these rims have that classic aged cracking, yellowing and just old.
I'm not looking to do anything drastic as in mirror polishing or painting. Just looking to strip the factory clearcoat off, clean them up and respray the clearcoat keeping the factory lathe marking and all that.

Just wanted to know a few things before I begin and show everyone here, before - during and after pics.

1. Going to use Citrastrip to get the clear off since its safe to use indoors. Is there something better or will this work fine?
2. Washing with dawn soap after the clear is off and then using Eastwood pre-painting prep.

What's stumping me mostly is, what's the best clear spray for the bare aluminum and 2k or not 2k? Internet / brand reviews have me going crazy!
High Gloss, Statin or Matte?

Thank you!!

R82148V · Feb 14, 2024

Nothing, huh?
No one has anything?

limp · Feb 14, 2024

Your plan sounds good to me...
Make sure your clear is clear and not a " yellow ' shade... I have seen lids taken off of a can of clear and it will have a yellow hue to it.. Stay away from that..
Most strippers work about the same to me.. The old Aircraft stripper, from a ways back, worked the best but I have heard its been de emasculated, like the rest of the world has....

Mustang5L5 · Feb 14, 2024

I'm curious to see if Citristrip has enough mustard to take off clearcoat. I would think it would?

In the past with intake manifolds, i lathered the manifold in citristrip, misted it down with water and wrapped it up in a trash bag to keep it all moist for a few days. Then the paint would come off in sheets.

2000xp8 · Feb 14, 2024

Mustang5L5 said:
I'm curious to see if Citristrip has enough mustard to take off clearcoat. I would think it would?

In the past with intake manifolds, i lathered the manifold in citristrip, misted it down with water and wrapped it up in a trash bag to keep it all moist for a few days. Then the paint would come off in sheets.

I I wonder if that would work on my heat exchanger. It was a black version when i bought it, i gave a mild effort to remove the black paint with citistrip, but i didn't wait long to clean it off, then out of frustration i painted it silver. But i really prefer bare aluminum.

As far as the 10 holes go, personally i'd just buy the 17 or 18 inch version of them.
Or i'd send them out and have them professionally refinished (which really isn't that expensive these days).

R82148V · Feb 15, 2024

limp said:
Your plan sounds good to me...
Make sure your clear is clear and not a " yellow ' shade... I have seen lids taken off of a can of clear and it will have a yellow hue to it.. Stay away from that..
Most strippers work about the same to me.. The old Aircraft stripper, from a ways back, worked the best but I have heard its been de emasculated, like the rest of the world has....

Are there any clears you recommend that don't have that yellow hue?
I'm also confused on what kind of spray to use once rim has been stripped down to bare Aluminum. Isnt there special paint for that?

Pertaining to the finish level, what do you all prefer? Matte, Satin, High Gloss?

R82148V · Feb 15, 2024

2000xp8 said:
I I wonder if that would work on my heat exchanger. It was a black version when i bought it, i gave a mild effort to remove the black paint with citistrip, but i didn't wait long to clean it off, then out of frustration i painted it silver. But i really prefer bare aluminum.

As far as the 10 holes go, personally i'd just buy the 17 or 18 inch version of them.
Or i'd send them out and have them professionally refinished (which really isn't that expensive these days).

I hear yah.. I'm going to give this DIY a try before.. Funds are limited and brand new skins are all ready on them so 17 or 18" is out of the picture. At least for now

limp · Feb 15, 2024

R82148V said:
Are there any clears you recommend that don't have that yellow hue?
I'm also confused on what kind of spray to use once rim has been stripped down to bare Aluminum. Isnt there special paint for that?

Pertaining to the finish level, what do you all prefer? Matte, Satin, High Gloss?

If your using rattle can, not much to be able to look at.... If your mixing a gal/qt of paint, just take off the lid and check it... Its been so long for me I am sure most of the brands I used are retired......

R82148V · Feb 16, 2024

So question is, once I remove all the old clear all I have to do is clean it up and re-spray with a 2k clear like Eastwood's 2K AeroSpray Matte Clear?
Do I need an adhesion promoter or something similar?

I'm just going after the factory look and not interested in painting with color.

limp · Feb 16, 2024

R82148V said:
So question is, once I remove all the old clear all I have to do is clean it up and re-spray with a 2k clear like Eastwood's 2K AeroSpray Matte Clear?
Do I need an adhesion promoter or something similar?

I'm just going after the factory look and not interested in painting with color.

Have you tried to call Eastwood and see what they recommend using with their products?

R82148V · Feb 17, 2024

limp said:
Have you tried to call Eastwood and see what they recommend using with their products?

oh man i never thought of that. I’ll definitely try this and let you know the verdict

85GTStangGuy · Feb 17, 2024

R82148V said:
.... and re-spray with a 2k clear like Eastwood's 2K AeroSpray Matte Clear?

I'm just going after the factory look and not interested in painting with color.

I'm pretty sure matte is not the gloss level you want, if you're trying to get an original look to them. When my 10-holes were factory fresh, I remember them having a very shiny finish. So I don't even think they were satin.... I'd say they had a standard high gloss clear on them. Imo.

R82148V · Feb 17, 2024

limp said:
Have you tried to call Eastwood and see what they recommend using with their products?

what a good idea. i’ll let you know the verdict.

R82148V · Feb 17, 2024

85GTStangGuy said:
I'm pretty sure matte is not the gloss level you want, if you're trying to get an original look to them. When my 10-holes were factory fresh, I remember them having a very shiny finish. So I don't even think they were satin.... I'd say they had a standard high gloss clear on them. Imo.

makes sense. I only thought matte since the center caps are not clear coated and matte basically

slow84lx · Feb 17, 2024

Do you plan to do one wheel at a time? Or, all 4?

I recently bought a set of factory aluminum wheels for my 1992 F150 that were in sad shape. I thought that it would be so easy to remove the clear, sand to a high grit, and then polish to a nice sheen. It took much longer than expected.

I used an aircraft stripper from the local Lowes, not sure what brand, on the first 2 or 3 wheels. I don't recall that it worked all that well, perhaps I was impatient. I didn't think about bagging it for a few days, that may have worked much better. It took a lot of scraping with putty knives / razor blades and then sanding to get all of the bits of clear coating off. And time. Too much time. This was started as a manual labor project that I was going to enjoy. By the end of the project I was just ready to be done with it.

I had all 4 tires dismounted prior to starting the project. It is much easier to manage the rims this way. At the end I had 4 brand new tires mounted. They really did look great after polishing and gave the truck a much nicer look.

In the end, I probably wouldn't do this project as DIY again due to the time that it took, and I rarely take a automotive job to a shop. There are some local wheel refinishing shops that specialize it this kind of work for a very reasonable price. It would have been much faster and easier.

You are just looking to strip & re-clear. Might not be that much of a hassle.

Good luck!

2000xp8 · Feb 17, 2024

slow84lx said:
Do you plan to do one wheel at a time? Or, all 4?

I recently bought a set of factory aluminum wheels for my 1992 F150 that were in sad shape. I thought that it would be so easy to remove the clear, sand to a high grit, and then polish to a nice sheen. It took much longer than expected.

I used an aircraft stripper from the local Lowes, not sure what brand, on the first 2 or 3 wheels. I don't recall that it worked all that well, perhaps I was impatient. I didn't think about bagging it for a few days, that may have worked much better. It took a lot of scraping with putty knives / razor blades and then sanding to get all of the bits of clear coating off. And time. Too much time. This was started as a manual labor project that I was going to enjoy. By the end of the project I was just ready to be done with it.

I had all 4 tires dismounted prior to starting the project. It is much easier to manage the rims this way. At the end I had 4 brand new tires mounted. They really did look great after polishing and gave the truck a much nicer look.

In the end, I probably wouldn't do this project as DIY again due to the time that it took, and I rarely take a automotive job to a shop. There are some local wheel refinishing shops that specialize it this kind of work for a very reasonable price. It would have been much faster and easier.

You are just looking to strip & re-clear. Might not be that much of a hassle.

Good luck!

This was kinda my point.
I have a wheel place local and they dismount tires, refinish (anything but chrome), remount and balance same day if need be for about $150 a wheel. That includes bent and curbed wheels.
You can even bring them the entire car.
Wheels are just one of those things that need to be near perfect and the finish needs to last.

I do understand everyone has a budget, but i've also been involved in why the hell am i doing this projects.
Like when i thought is be a good idea to sheetrock and spackle my entire garage. Came out decent after about 100 hours of work when it would have taken a professional 20 hours.

Noobz347 · Feb 17, 2024

I have used this before:

Kwik-Strip™ Paint & Varnish Stripper - Klean Strip

kleanstrip.com

If you're in Cali, don't even bother. Daddy Newsom and Aunti Pelosi say, "No". You can shoot drugs in the street tho.

After that it's about how much elbow grease you put in before re-coating.

85GTStangGuy · Feb 17, 2024

Or, just buy some re-pops and be good to go (albeit with a lighter wallet!)...

https://lmr.com/item/LRS-149573/mustang-10-hole-wheel-15x7-79-93

Note they're also available in wider widths and/or larger diameters.

limp · Feb 17, 2024

$150 a wheel?? Last time I had some polished it was $50 for all 4....

slow84lx · Feb 17, 2024

limp said:
$150 a wheel?? Last time I had some polished it was $50 for all 4....

I really miss the '80's!

I think it's $150-ish in my area.

Wheels-Tires 10 Hole Rim Restore options?

R82148V

Active Member

R82148V

Active Member

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

2000xp8

R82148V

Active Member

R82148V

Active Member

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

R82148V

Active Member

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

R82148V

Active Member

85GTStangGuy

R82148V

Active Member

R82148V

Active Member

slow84lx

clean it good before insertion

2000xp8

Noobz347

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

Kwik-Strip™ Paint & Varnish Stripper - Klean Strip

85GTStangGuy

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

slow84lx

clean it good before insertion

Similar threads

Wheels-Tires 10 Hole Rim Restore options?

Active Member

Active Member

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

Active Member

Active Member

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

Active Member

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

clean it good before insertion

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

clean it good before insertion

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency