cleaning paint off plated rims

CWB · Jul 22, 2008

my "55 100 has about an inch of 40+ year old industrial yellow over what im pretty sure was originally plated wheels. what"s the best and hopefully cheapest way of removing the paint without hurting the shiny plating?

ScottyHOMeY · Jul 22, 2008

An inch?!?!? Okay, it's heavy.

Mechanical (blasting, knotted wire . . .) removal will obviously dull any galvanizing that might be left on them as it takes the yellow off. Chemical (oven cleaner or other strippers) will react with the surface enough that it might leave it clean but I wouldn't count on it being shiny when you're done. More likely, you'll have a varied, spotty finish that relates to the varying thickness of the yellow over the zinc.

If you're really intent on shiny galvanized, I'd try chemical removers first. Potential problem there is that the corrosives in the cleaner will show up any place where the zinc has worn or scratched through to the steel. If you were to get lucky and find the zinc pretty much intact, you could lacquer it to make it shiny and pick up the flaky look of the zinc. (It does look nice.)

Were it mine, I'd clean them up well and put the dull aluminum paint to them. The costlier alternative is to have the shop that will hot dip them clean them up and do the job.

cleaning paint off plated rims

CWB

New User

ScottyHOMeY

Well-known Member

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