Cleaning up wheels

[kkritsilas]

I am trying to get the alloy wheels on the 1980 Cordoba cleaned up. I have been able to get most of the crud off, but now there are these little brown specks all over the wheels. I was under the impression that the specks may have been baked on brake dust, but brake cleaner doesn't have any effect on the specs. I did try using some 0000 steel wool, and it does take it off slowly. Problem is, the brown specks are on grey area and I am concerned that if I use the steel wool on the grey areas, I will take the grey color off, which I would prefer to not do, as I am not sure I can get the correct shade of grey painted back on.

Does anybody know if there is some sort of chemical that can take the brown spots off without damaging the wheel or taking off the factory grey paint. If I have to sand/steel wool off the brown specks, does anybody know where I can get the correct grey color to repaint the wheels?

Kostas

 

[bremereric]

Sorry for this answer but either you will have to wet sand them and paint them or have them media blasted and powder coated.

 

[kkritsilas]

Bremeric:

No need to be sorry, if that's the only way to get them looking good, then so be it. I was hoping to avoid it, but if sanding/media blasting is the only way, I can have that done. By media blasting, I am assuming soda blasting, because they are aluminium.

Kostas

 

[My imp]

Walnut shells also work on aluminum, depends on aggressiveness needed.

 

[kkritsilas]

I am hoping soda blasting will be enough to get rid of the brown spots, but I think I will let the guy doing the media blasting decide. If he says walnut shells, then walnut shells it is. If he says soda, then soda.

I am toying with the idea of wet sanding the raw aluminum areas, and getting the painted areas blasted somtime later, when money permits the blasting and powder coating.

 

[jasperjacko]

Mine had some deposits on the paint as well. I used buffing compound and rubbed by hand with a soft cloth. You can also use rubbing compound but use very light pressure and follow up with buffing compound. Did you get the clear off the machined surfaces? I sanded of the clear and all the machined marks starting with 80 grit and worked up to 2500 wet paper then rouges and polish. It took me about 10 hours on each wheel..whew!

 

[MiradaMegacab]

ccasion14:

Mine had some deposits on the paint as well. I used buffing compound and rubbed by hand with a soft cloth. You can also use rubbing compound but use very light pressure and follow up with buffing compound. Did you get the clear off the machined surfaces? I sanded of the clear and all the machined marks starting with 80 grit and worked up to 2500 wet paper then rouges and polish. It took me about 10 hours on each wheel..whew!

Place safety stands under rear axle. Install rims to be sanded. Consume some beer. Start car up, place in drive. Consume more beer. Sand away clear. Do not wear gloves! Each wheel should take 1 hour.

 

[MiradaMegacab]

You can also check wheel runout doing this.

 

[kkritsilas]

The wheels don't have any clear on them. They are raw aluminium (taste test, and the Mother's Aluminum and Mag Wheel polish turned black when I tried it out on one section). The factories didn't start clear coating wheel unitl much later (maybe mid-1990s) I thought. I am going to take another shot at the brown specks this weekend with some Flitz Aluminum Pre-Cleaner in the hopes that it will get rid of the brown specks. if not, then it is down to wet sanding.

I did have an idea of taking them to a DIY soda blasting place that is local, but they charge $110 an hour for the rental of their booth, and $37 per bag of soda (50 lb bag). That is way too expensive.

Kostas

 

[MiradaMegacab]

All 10 spoke wheels were clear coated.
1980 were forged and could come with body colored painted centers.
1981 to 83 were cast and had black or a gray painted center.

 

[kkritsilas]

The ones I have don't have any clear coating. If they were factory clear coated, it is long gone. Same as the 10 spokes on the 1982 Mirada. I assumed that they were not clear coated, because neither set has clear coat on them. I stand corrected on that point.

The centers on both sets are chrome. I have seen pictures of the black and various shades of grey centers. My cars both have chrome plated centers. I suspect that the Cordoba's wheels were not factory in that the car was not delivered with them (the 1980 Cordoba brochure does not show the 10 spoke wheels, just the 5 on 5), and I think the 10 spokes were Mirada (in the J bodies) only. I find it sort of odd that the sportier looking wheels (the 5 on 5s) were available on the luxury variant of the J-body (the Cordoba) cars, and the more conservative (10 spokes) were put on the sportier J-body cars (Mirada). There was the LS verison of the Cordoba, of course.

Kostas

 

[MiradaMegacab]

By 'centers being black, gray or painted body color' , Im referring to the inlay between the spokes, not the center cap or base.
And while were on that subject, there were two different colored stickers on the cap, black and silver.

 

[kkritsilas]

Oh, my mistake. On Cordoba set, the painted part of the 10 spokes is a medium grey. The Miradas is a darker grey colour. Both sets have caps that are chrome, same as thte rest of the wheel centers. I don't know if that mean the stickers are missing entirely, but that is what I have.

Seems like the caps are not always put on correctly either. On both sets, the caps on some wheels are off center. I may try to fix that, it looks like the caps are attached with 3 screwed on clips (with very small phlips head screws). If I can loosen up the screws, I and re-center the caps and then tighten them down again.

Kostas

 

[MiradaMegacab]

The caps are Pot metal and is 'staked' to the spring steel retainer.

 

[WildCat]

I bought some magic eraser to clean marks off the wall in the house. Seen post somewhere that someone used them on their car interior.

I too have a set of wheel off an Imperial I want to restore and put on my Imperial so I don't have to dismount the original tires.

I might try the magic eraser on them. I do believe they have a clear coat on them.

But if it comes down to it will have them soda lasted or whatever they recommend to get them clean then repaint or powder coat. Thought about doing a high shine polish on the areas not painted for a little more shine than stock.

 

[Shorty Thompson]

Bremeric:

No need to be sorry, if that's the only way to get them looking good, then so be it. I was hoping to avoid it, but if sanding/media blasting is the only way, I can have that done. By media blasting, I am assuming soda blasting, because they are aluminium.

Kostas

For the record , be careful which sand you use when blasting . The wrong type will just make things go bad real fast .

 

[kkritsilas]

Shorty:

I won't be using sand as the blast media. I will be using crushed glass (not glass beads). According to Eastwood, whose technical support people I had a conversation with, that is the correct media to get factory wheel paint off with. Turns out that the factory paint is a lot tougher than body paint. Body paint can be removed with soda without damaging the underlying metal. According to the Eastwood tech support guy, the soda won't touch the wheel paint. It needs medium to fine grit crushed glass. If you use the coarser crushed glass, it still may damage the aluminum (he called it texturing). The finer crushed glass (medium to fine) will take off the paint, clear coat, and other residues, but won't mark up the aluminum.

Kostas

 

[Erics5th]

Try oven cleaner.

 

[kkritsilas]

Eric:

Oven cleaner has no effect on the paint. Aircraft stripper has no effect on the paint (after 6 tries). The oven cleaner removes the clear coat, does nothing about the actual paint. Same goes for the aircraft stripper. Eastwood tech support told me that for most factory paint on wheels, crushed glass blasting is the only way to remove the paint on wheels quickly without damaging the aluminum underneath. My attempts with the aircraft stripper seem to indicate he is right.

The aircraft stripper was great removing the paint off of a pair of valve covers. Paint just wrinkles up and comes off really easy. The wheel paint doesn't react in anyway, even when combined with scrubbing with a Scotchbrite pad. No chemical reaction of any type.

Kostas

 

[1980roadrunner]

i have one of those wheels i am looking for 3 of them eddy here 301 268 4403 email grape46@aol.com