Working on a set of Saab Super Aero wheels for the C900 convert project. They are factory painted gray and have polished lips. The paint is decent enough but the clear has lots of cracking. Anyone wet sand and polish anything like this? Tips? Yes, I can take them to be refinished but not looking to add that to the project list just yet. (90% results at 10% cost will be just fine thank you)
Aircraft coating remover. That'll strip the grey off too, then you can repaint it as you wish.
WonkoTheSane said:Aircraft coating remover. That'll strip the grey off too, then you can repaint it as you wish.
Tal-strip. Wear goggles and don't get it on you. Brush it on, let it sit in the shade for half an hour. Brush on another thick coat, then press some heavy duty garbage bags onto it to keep it from drying out.
After that sits overnight, hit it hard with a pressure washer. Don't forget the goggles. This will leave you with a raw aluminum unpainted wheel...ideally.
*This is bad for the environment and your neighbor's lawn.
For factory machined aluminum that is then clearcoated, I don't know how or if you can get back to that look.
If you were to take them to a wheel refinishing place, they would bead blast them to remove the finish and then put them in a lathe to clean up the lips. At home you could probably accomplish the same thing (more or less) by jacking up the car, putting it in gear, and holding a piece of sandpaper to the lip as the wheel turns.
I'm assuming (you know what that means!) that the factory clearcoat would be removed fine with Talstrip (Thanks for the reminder on the name, Tyler!). On the stock Miata daisy wheels, there's a beautiful machined flat on them that is painted over silver from the factory, and that was fine after hitting it with Talstrip. I just masked off that area, painted the rest black then clearcoated the whole wheel.
I was unaware of any wheel manufacturing companies in Poland.
I don't have any suggestions, and you probably already know this, but just in case you don't: Aeros/Super Aeros are notorious for rubbing the rear wheel arches, due to a shallower (by ~1/2 inch) offset plus the axle isn't positioned precisely in the middle of the arch. The solution is to center the axle by slotting the holes in the bushing brackets for the lower control arms, mounting them backwards, plus lengthening the upper links by a half inch. Some people add spring spacers but I don't think it completely solves the problem.
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