RB26powered74zcar Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 I can't belive what I let happen to my $2,200 wheels. I took my car and had the engine bay soda blasted so I could change it from undercoating black, to this Well, I didn't think when I washed off the soda with a water hose that if I didn't rinse the wheels good enough, this would happen... I'm just so sick to my stomach right now. The soda has etched itself into my new wheels. I washed them down today and its there for good. Anyone have any ideas what I can do to fix this, besides just getting a green scratch pad to them and making the alum a matte finish....?? I wonder if I can take the tires back off and send them back to CCW and have them re buff them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony240ZT Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 Did you try using some polish? I would take an angle grinder with a polishing pad with polishing rouge to that outer rim. Hard to tell from the pic how etched it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 J - Do not despair my friend! I have done ALOT of wheel re-finishing and metal work over the past decade, and trust me when I say those are VERY easily fixed...no panic required. Here is what you can try: 1) http://www.xtreemusa.com/metalpolish.html I have found this stuff works better than all the other Meguirs, Mothers etc etc metal polishes out there on the market. You need to use a Microfiber cloth to wipe the wheels off once you are done wipping with the X-treem impregnated cotton. This stuff has a built in sealer BTW too. 2) If that fails then you have no choice but to use a buffing wheel on a 4 or 4.5" powerful hand grinder - I use a big boy Milwaukee something that can spin 10-11,000rpm with ease. Then you need to buy genuine cotton buffing wheels (10"-11") and polish the lip in two phases, first using an etching clay bar to get rid of the marks left by the Soda alkaline and then a polishing clay bar to give that polished luster. The centers have to be masked and re-painted black thats the only way to do it properly. I did a set of old skool Western wheels for an AE86 buddy of mine as I do this on the side for a little extra and have a neat set-up at home now as I have done this so many times now (I have done well over 30set of wheels now and I am currently doing a set of 300ZX wheels that will be fitted to a '67.5 Roadster - it will be sexxy). The procedure I described to you in the above paragraph is exactly what I did, except his wheels were 30years old and were really beat up, the brake dust was literally impregnated into the aluminum and alot of curb rash to buff out AND aluminum corrosion from being driven through a few winters, still they did not take me too long and the end result speaks for themselves. If you are interested, I can help you in that I can 99.99% get them back to that brand new look or I can walk you through how to do them yourself, it wouldn't hurt to call CCW but I bet there is large time delay and I am sure they will not be cheap. You can do this work with the tires still on BTW, except if you ship them back to CCW they will insist the tires be pulled off, or you can ship them to CCW with the tires on and they will charge you for removal, re-install and re-balance (of course!). Here are those ole skool Toyota wheels I did for my friend - he was VERY happy with the outcome as he was thinking that the wheels were not salvageable. I even refinished the backsides as well for him. They will be good for another 30years now, unless he drifts the car off the mountain! Before: After: Hope that helps. Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted October 8, 2006 Author Share Posted October 8, 2006 Well Yasin, you just made my day... If I can get them anywhere near looking that nice, I'll be content. Mine new out of the box didn't have as nice of a polish on them!! I'll try that product you showed in the black can, thanks my friend... **Edit ** BTW Yasin, can I find that ExTreem stuff at a store?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 J - No problemo! Glad to help. Yes Xtreem ss available at pretty much any decent (large-ish) parts store, if not you can also buy it online pretty cheap as well. Try that first and let me know how it turns out, failing that my offer stands. I would be interested to hear CCW's comments prices on re-finishing the wheels. As your wheels are a true 2 piece, they would also unbolt your center spoked section as well as part of the re-finishing process. Good luck! May shiny wheels be in your future! Regards - Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aguyandaredhead Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 J, If you decide to order new ones because you cant get them to look like you want I will buy them. I am going to have to powdercoat mine anyway. I would rather do it to a wheel that already needs it then to a brand new set. Just thought I would throw that out there. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted October 9, 2006 Author Share Posted October 9, 2006 Powdercoating them, thats an idea! I supose they would have to be taken back apart to do that huh? I would think the oven heat would affect the silicone used between the alum wheel halfs, bolted together. Whata you think? The centers on these wheels are shot peened, then black anodized. I was thinking on having the lip anodized awhile back, since I don't care for the polished look as much as a dark wheel... Sorry to say, I'll be keeping them either way it ends up going. Thanks for the offer though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Yeah they def will have to be taken apart......I was coming to the theard to suggest powder coating them. You can have it done to a color you like and give it that one off. I love those wheels, but I couldn't deal with tring to clean them. Brings back memories as a kid cleaning the damn BBS wheels!! LoL..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003z Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 The silicone could probably handle the heat. I use silicone plugs to protect screw holes when powdercoating. Taking them apart would give better results than masking though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZ-E Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 HAH here I was reading this thread thinking that you did something horrible like curb your wheels or something to that effect. Slownrusty said it best, it really isnt that bad and like him I have used all other polishes, and the extreme metal polish is by far the best. It works wonders and you would be hard pressed to find something better less doing it professionally. Just clean them up and polish again, and they will be looking just as beautiful as once before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b__sosick Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 if it doesn't work i guess you'll have to throw em away! I'll take em off your hands if you want j!!! :] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Don't powdercoat aluminum wheels. I've seen a couple wheel failures from wheels that were powder coated. Two possible causes: 1. In a racing environment, wheels temps sometimes get high enough from brake and tire heat to cause the powder coating to soften. On multi-piece wheels if there is powder coating under the bolt heads or nuts holding the peices togther, they loose torque and the lateral load tear the wheels apart. Saw the results of that on a set of BBS wheels that were re-coated and raced on a Viper. 2. The heat from powder coating can add another aging process to the aluminum used to manufacture the wheels. It can take the material from a T6 up to a T7 or normalize it back down to T0. Either change reduces the strength of the underlying material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 If all else fails, I had good luck with 800-FIX-ARIM. They fixed a rim for me where the tire had debeaded and the car had slid a hundred yards down the road on the rim. Looked like new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003z Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Don't powdercoat aluminum wheels. I've seen a couple wheel failures from wheels that were powder coated. Two possible causes: 1. In a racing environment, wheels temps sometimes get high enough from brake and tire heat to cause the powder coating to soften. On multi-piece wheels if there is powder coating under the bolt heads or nuts holding the peices togther, they loose torque and the lateral load tear the wheels apart. Saw the results of that on a set of BBS wheels that were re-coated and raced on a Viper. 2. The heat from powder coating can add another aging process to the aluminum used to manufacture the wheels. It can take the material from a T6 up to a T7 or normalize it back down to T0. Either change reduces the strength of the underlying material. good points. I know for sure that the coating can soften in race conditions. Not sure if the 400 degrees is enough to change the material composition, but thats not my area of expertise, so I will defer to you. I do know that when people ask me to do wheels, I refer them elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 How about anodizing them? JohnC, have you ever known CCW to anodize the whole wheel, instead of just the centers? I wonder how that kind of finish would hold up? Thanks for all the responces guys..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 How about anodizing them? JohnC, have you ever known CCW to anodize the whole wheel, instead of just the centers? I've never seen a set with anodized rims. You can always call and ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Not sure if the 400 degrees is enough to change the material composition, but thats not my area of expertise, so I will defer to you. Aluminum allows in the material types typically used in wheels are the heat treatable alloys (2xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx). The initial heat treatment for these alloys is evenly heating the material up to 1,000F, holding the temperature for a short time, and then quenching in water. This dissolves the alloying materials in solution and holds them there at normal temperatures. This gives the material a T4 temper and is stabilized by letting the material sit for a few weeks at room temp. Most aluminum allows are given an additional heat treatment to get the highest levels of strength. This involves evenly heating the material to 400F, holding it for a couple hours and then immediately removing it form the oven and air coolling back to room temperature. This process is called Artificial Aging and brings the material to a T6 temper. This second process is where an improper powder coating can add another level of artificial aging and reduce the strength of the material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003z Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 cool info, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 240Z Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 yeah, i dont think that the heating of wheels during powdercoat will damage them it is correct that you dont want any powdercoat between surfaces that bolt to each other because the powdercoat can and will flake off, resulting in loose bolts. if i were you id take the wheels appart, polish the outer lip, as well as the inner part, then try to clean off the black part of the wheel, if you cant get it off the black, repaint them yourself or have them blasted and then powdercoated or do something cool like having them annodized, if you spend time and money on painting them, do them something diffrent that nobody else has.. like gunmetal grey or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruez Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Aluminum allows in the material types typically used in wheels are the heat treatable alloys (2xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx). The initial heat treatment for these alloys is evenly heating the material up to 1,000F, holding the temperature for a short time, and then quenching in water. This dissolves the alloying materials in solution and holds them there at normal temperatures. This gives the material a T4 temper and is stabilized by letting the material sit for a few weeks at room temp. Most aluminum allows are given an additional heat treatment to get the highest levels of strength. This involves evenly heating the material to 400F, holding it for a couple hours and then immediately removing it form the oven and air coolling back to room temperature. This process is called Artificial Aging and brings the material to a T6 temper. This second process is where an improper powder coating can add another level of artificial aging and reduce the strength of the material. I would add that on stock and most "over the counter" type aluminum wheels powdercoating is fine. Many wheels come coated from the factory.. However, like you stated, billet type and specialty lightweight racing wheels "heat treated alloy" I would not touch due to their composition. I have had a few requests of that type and had to turn them down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.