5 on 5 wheel experiment

kkritsilas

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I had promised this a long, long time ago, but finally got to it. I have just abrasive blasted one of my 5 on 5 wheels, and I have some pictures.

This came out of a few missteps, and some research. My first stab at this was to try to remove the factory wheel paint using aircraft stripper. After using up a lot of aircraft stripper, and getting pretty much nowhere, I started looking at either sanding the wheel, or abrasive blasting it. Sanding had two drawbacks: 1 Labour intensive; and 2: I didn't want to round off any sharp edges, of which there are many on a 5 on 5. Research on Eastwood's site, and going back and forth with Eastwood's technical people, pointed towards crushed soda glass blasting. However, as much as I would like to get the Eastwood spot abrasive/soda blaster kit, the cost of shipping and now, exchange, made this a pretty expensive proposition just to do an experiment. I found some cheaper equipment locally. Most likely, now that I know this works, I will be buying the Eastwood kit, soon.

The 5 on 5 looked like this before I started:

5on5preblast.jpg


A close up of the two spokes I tried the aircraft stripper on:

Stripper-Close_Up.jpg


It looked like this, post blasting:

post_blast.jpg


5on5preblast.jpg


Stripper-Close_Up.jpg


post_blast.jpg
 
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kkritsilas

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A few things that became obvious to me after this experiment:

1. This works well. The paint is gone, and the aluminium surface appears undisturbed. Edges are still sharp.
2. The post blast picture appears a little bit splotchy, because it is; not because of the glass blasting, but because I wasn't careful enough. This was my first shot at this, and I need to be more consistent. I also forgot to blast the inner, thin set of spokes, and the part of the wheel flange that sits beween the thicker outer set of spokes. The particular gun I used is really quite precise, but needs to be refilled oftern (9 oz. capacity).
3. Next time, I will be more careful about closing off open areas; like the separation between my gloves and overalls. Safety equipment is a must; you don't wnat to be breathing in the crushed glass.
4. Surface is now to the point where I can start sanding with some 280 or 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.
5. The blasting is really good at getting into some of the more awkward areas, like the curve of the lip near the center hole.
6. Not having done this before, the trigger finger gets pretty sore after about 15 minutes (this took about half an hour of actual blasting, probably an hour overall with the refilling and putting on and taking off the safety stuff.).

I used about 3 1/2 9 oz. refills of the gun to do what I did. If I had done the thin spokes and flange areas that I talked about, it would probably hve taken another 1-1 1/2 refills.Figure on 5 9 oz. loads to crushed glass, 45 oz. or so. 45 oz. is just under 3 lbs. A bag of 60/30 crushed glass ia $12.99 for a 50 lb. bag. I could theoretically clean off 16 wheels.

Kostas
 

jasperjacko

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It is labor intensive, but it will look nice when you're done. I think I spent about 10 hours per wheel.
 

kkritsilas

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I'm probably not going to save much time, but I was just getting really frustrated with the aircraft stripper. Stuff is expnensive, and really didn't go anything of consequence to the wheel paint. THis will at least give me a decent place to start. Eastwood was great with their advice, and I willl be gong the next step with this by getting their Abrasive/Soda spot blasting kit. I don't need to, but the Eastwood kit uses a siphone feed out of 10 lbs. plastic containers. I will use their media, then refill wiht locally sourced medai. Shipping in mediam with shipping cost, exchange and border crossing delays, just doesn't make sense.
 

kkritsilas

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Aircraft stripper is probably going to work better than the furniture stripper, but it will be more expensive. Aircraft stripper is intended to be used on aluminum, so it doesn't react with the aluminum; some of the other chemicals that can be used do, making the aluminum surface look oxidized/dull after the paint is scraped off.

Good quality aircraft stripper was $70/4 liters when I bought it last.

The gun, media, and blast hood that I used cost less than the aircraft stripper did, and actually did take the paint off, where the stripper didn't. I had some of the safety stuff already though (safety glasses and respirator), so that would add to the cost for somebody starting from scratch. I also had access to a compressor here at work that was up to the job.
 
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aspen77rt

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I will be watching this with interest in concerns to your polishing process. This is after the first cleaning pass with 320 wet. I want shiny and this is going to be a MF.

11807593_10207057854595989_1218541686965740130_o.jpg
 

jasperjacko

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I will be watching this with interest in concerns to your polishing process. This is after the first cleaning pass with 320 wet. I want shiny and this is going to be a MF.

11807593_10207057854595989_1218541686965740130_o.jpg
If you want shiney, the machine marks must be sanded off. You may want to start more aggressive and work you way up.
 

CM360

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Glass beads are the best for your aluminum project. They remove the coating and don't harm the substrate. Recycled glass was the wrong advice. Even with fine grade of crushed glass, it is too rough for aluminum. You may need to use 220 paper to even out the surface. You can fill the larger voids with epoxy primer and spot prime those areas with a brush or single edge razor. Use an epoxy primer that has a 3 day recoat window.
 

kkritsilas

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I did try with 400 grit Wet & Dry. It did basically smooth out the surface somewhat, but it is just making the machining marks more obvious. The wheel paint fills them in and make the surface smooth when they are finished at the factory (I suspect, just from observation, that this may be one of the reasons that the aircraft stripper isn't very effective; thicker wheel paint that sits in the machining grooves (getting a very good grip, especially after 30+ years)) and is also harder tougher than other types of car paint). I will have to get some 280, or even coarser, wet & dry sandpaper, and try again.
 
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kkritsilas

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CM360:

I did what I was told by the Eastwood technical guys. They said that glass beads were not going to be as effective as crushed glass. As it is, I was able to get the surface flattened out with just the 400 wet/dry sandpaper; it isn't enough to get the machining marks off, but if I just wanted to continue without removing the machining marks, I could just continue with progressively finer grades of sandpaper. As it is, I already have to go down below the 400 grit wet/dry that I was trying last night. I will most likely go down to 240 or 280, then go back up to the 400 grit, and then progressively finer. I also need to figure out how to paint the "webs"; after getting the wheels polished out the way I want, I want to paint them matte or semi-gloss black that will make the polished out areas really stand out.

I did ask the Eastwood technical guys about soda, glass beads, and walnut shell in the email that I sent to them. They said that the least aggressive media that will be effective was crushed glass. Seems like the paint used for wheels is extremely tough, in order to stand up to road conditions (gravel, sand, etc.), so the softer media has no effect. From personal experience, neither does aircraft stripper.

I guess that you and the Eastwood guys have a difference of opinion. Seemed to work for me, though, getting me down to the raw aluminum without any apparent erosion of the sharp edges, and the paint is completely gone in those areas that I wanted it gone from. I personally don't have any experience with this to be able to say who is right, nor to understand the finer points of abrasive media blasting. I just took the advice from people who are supposed to know what they are talking about.

BTW. Eastwood does have a video on this, at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDEfGvWBTGA

Now, obviously, this is a sales job, pushing both the small job blasting kit, and the Diamond Coat & Pre painting products. However, this is what prompted me to send the email out to Eastwood.
 
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kkritsilas

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This makes me nervous, for a lot of reasons:

1. Your are not supposed to run a car with the rear end up in the rear for long. Depending on how much sanding you need to do, the rear end may be up in the air for a while.
2. The ever present danger of the car falling off the stands. While admittedly remote, the jack stands are also not designed to be used on a vehicle that is in operation. with the vibrations of an operating vehicle on-going.
3. this will only help with realtively flat, horizontal surfaces, and while there is some work there, most of the work is on the vertical surfaces (with the wheel standing up, on the tire tread). Trying to work on the vertical surfaces with a tire being spun by the engine, will result in a broken hand, at least for me.

Others can do as they please, but good old sand paper, a bucket of water, and elbow grease will be fine for me.
 

moreada

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This makes me nervous, for a lot of reasons:

1. Your are not supposed to run a car with the rear end up in the rear for long. Depending on how much sanding you need to do, the rear end may be up in the air for a while.
2. The ever present danger of the car falling off the stands. While admittedly remote, the jack stands are also not designed to be used on a vehicle that is in operation. with the vibrations of an operating vehicle on-going.
3. this will only help with realtively flat, horizontal surfaces, and while there is some work there, most of the work is on the vertical surfaces (with the wheel standing up, on the tire tread). Trying to work on the vertical surfaces with a tire being spun by the engine, will result in a broken hand, at least for me.

Others can do as they please, but good old sand paper, a bucket of water, and elbow grease will be fine for me.

Id rather a long ass weekend and a sore elbow than a 3 fingered hand anyday. Probably because I enjoy guitar and picking my nose.

I seriously hope that was a joke, but if the rumours of how cheap us mopar owners can be - its a possible authentic suggestion... beats me.
 
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