Refinishing Stock SE Rims

[95Blue240sx]

i have a 95 se, and the clearcoat on the rims is starting to crack and they dont look to pretty. i was wondering if anyone has sanded them down before and repainted/clear coated them. just curious, i dont think ill be getting new rims anytime soon so yeah. thanks

[Dante]

Strip them thoroughly (I got mine sandblasted for $15 per wheel)
Prime & Paint, or just paint if you're using a paint such as Duplicolor's wheel paint. I used this, it looked great, and shows no signs of chipping or wearing otherwise.

But the best thing you could do would be to powdercoat them, it will be around 200 total, stripping included, and it will be very durable.

[Rennen]

I am currently in the process of stripping the paint and clearcoat off of a set of 91-94 SE alloys.

I had access to a sandblaster, but that was taking forever, and it seemed to dull the finish. I tried sanding the finish off, but it seemed that when I found sandpaper abrasive enough to go through the clearcoat, it would scratch the surface.

The thing I have found to work the best is gel based chemical paint stripper. I forgot what it is called, but it was just whatever they had at Lowes. I just applied it with a brush, came back in half an hour and sprayed it off with a hose. It ate through the clearcoat and left the aluminum as it came from the factory.

Just make sure that is says its safe for aluminum, and that you don't get any on your tires(cause it will eat them) my wheels didn't have any tires

-Matt

[RedlineRacer]

If you want your rims like almost chrome looking and have about 20-25 hours to kill, then wet sand your rims. I just did this to my 91 stock rims and they turned out quite nice. It take about $20 in supplies and alot of water. Start out with around 40 grit wet (make sure it is made for wet sanding) sandpaper to take out all the machining grooves. If you have any curb scars, this grit will take them all out. Then do about a 150 grit. This is the most important step. This is when you want to get all of the 40 grit scratches out. Once you finish this, it will be fairly smooth with a lot of really tiny scratches every where. Then go to 200, 400, 600 and finish off with about 800 grit. Now your rim will be super smoooth but dull looking. Now break out your polish. I used Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish (but you can use Braso or NevrDull). Spend around an hour applying several coats of polish and buffing it after every coat. This will probably take you around 4-6 to do this on each rim. You can use power tools to do the sanding, but it will turn out much better if you do it by hand.

[SilviaDriver]

these are the best color ive ever seen on the s14 SE wheels




i would definitely paint my S14 SE wheels that color if i had them

[CoasTek240]

damn those look nice. i have s14 wheels on my s13 coupe and they are painted black, really nice w/ DuPont, but i'm thinking of taking them to WheelDoctor and getting them powdercoated gold, my car is maroon.

[twitchy]

those gold ones are wicked. Mine were professionally refinished before I got the car and heres what they look like (although theyre starting to show age again)

i think its like a hundred bucks a wheel

[twitchy]

holy crap didnt realize that pic was so big....I love my nice paint....Smooooooooooooooooth

[SilviaDriver]

from wat the seller of the wheels i posted..he sold them on ebay hence u see the "ipix" at the bottom right

from wat i can remember he said they did them professionally and was looking for the Bronze Copper look

[crioten]

ive seen whole car shots, but does anyone have a close up of a refinished wheels that are a different color on a s13?

and dayum, those look really nice on that s14...very tasteful

[95Blue240sx]

thanks for the replies. im not looking to paint them another color. i just like the stock color, or polished. so im going to try and polish them.

RedlineRacer - do you think that the way you did yours will work on the s14 SE rims? thanks.

[nissan slut]

what kind of brakes are those behind the bronze wheels? they look like brembos but could they be the gold rotoras?

[Y So Low]

i would get them powdercoated. they'll look nice and last a long time.

[RedlineRacer]

Originally posted by 95Blue240sx
thanks for the replies. im not looking to paint them another color. i just like the stock color, or polished. so im going to try and polish them.

RedlineRacer - do you think that the way you did yours will work on the s14 SE rims? thanks.

Yeah, it will work on s14 rims too. And I imagine it will be a whole lot easy to do on S14 rims because they are only 5 "spoke" compared to S13's are 7 "spoke".

Here's a close up of my rims. The streaks on the rim is ArmorAll.

[KSee777]

someone stole one of your lugs!!

[SimpleS14]

Originally posted by nissan slut
what kind of brakes are those behind the bronze wheels? they look like brembos but could they be the gold rotoras?

Z32 brakes with a painted caliper.


BTW...you can use aircraft paint remover to strip out the old finsh.

[Warwick5s]

i sprayed my teardrops with the rustoleum hammered black finish and a few coats of clear coat. i'll probably do the same to my new rims after i get the tires off them, but i'm not sure if gold would look better.

[Matt_240]

i wetsanded mine too and sprayed it with hightemp black paint. then sprayed a couple clear coats.

[RedlineRacer]

Originally posted by KSee777
someone stole one of your lugs!!

I broke my wheel stud a few weeks ago when I was polishing that wheel. It really p*ssed me off. I've gotten two wheel studs so far from NAPA, and neither will work. I got to find the right diameter.