removal of clear coat, toyota landcruiser RV rims?

[SIERRA BANDIT]

hi all.
i have a set of landcruiser rims off a RV and the clear coat is peeling, im just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to remove the clear coat without damaging the machined finish. i was thinking maybe hot pressure washer?

[GUtripper]

Bead blasting (like sand, but softer and less abrasive)
Chemical stripping?

[Jonezy01]

Chemical would be easyiest mate just used some alloy acid which can be bought from any truck place.

[VooDoo]

Acid wont lift clear. Get em media blasted and repolished (soda works ok too)

Harsh chemicals will affect the finish. If its harsh enough to strip the clear it will also eat the metal.

[fester2au]

Paint stripper will work fine but it will also remove any painted areas as well unless you are realy careful whihc is next to impossible. Any form of blasting will alter the machined finish so forget that and any chemical used to clean the alloy will not necessarily touch the clear coat but will also dull the alloy surface where the clear is compromised. However repolishing by mechanical or hand means will generally restore the shine after chemical clean unless the acid is very harsh. The clear coat is simply paint so deal with it as you would paint. Best bet would be to paint strip the lot and then repaint the painted bits.

[badger]

I have had 4 goes with paint stripper on my sahara rims now. They still arent anywhere near cleaned. Im considering putting them on the wheel ballance machine and trying to sand them:P

media blasting and having them repolished is more than the rims are worth

[Dozoor]

The jello stripper should work , Quik strip.

spray on isn,t as good.

[fester2au]

I have had 4 goes with paint stripper on my sahara rims now. They still arent anywhere near cleaned. Im considering putting them on the wheel ballance machine and trying to sand them:P

media blasting and having them repolished is more than the rims are worth

I've done a few over the years and whilst some can be a bit stubborn it usually doesn't take more than a second application. I use the brush on stuff like Selleys or K&H in the tins, need to put it on pretty thick, doesn't work to scrimp on application. Alos make sure you put the stripper into a second tin in small amounts and apply from there, don't be tempted to double dip into main tin as any paint residue on your brush will gradually degrade the stripper a bit. Temp and humidity has a lot to do with effectiveness as well. Works on powder coat as well. I also rub it in with a toothbrush as it starts to bubble or soften.

If the paint stripper isn;t working for some reason I expect sanding will still be hard work on that design rim. However I had some Momo rims years ago that had a pattern sort of like a jelly bean rim but the edges of the holes were raised up and a flat ring around the hole at the same curve as the dish in the rim. They had been bead blasted and fully painted so edges were rough as instead of machine finished. I had access to a brake lathe so mountd them on there and just sat there with the wet and dry. Worked great but still took many hours per rim.

When you say not cleaned do you mean they still look grotty or the clear coat and paint is not coming off. The paint stripper will not clean the alloy but if you can get it to only little patches of clear still on and you are using a powered buff to repolish a corse wheel should burn off the little bits still left.

You could also try scufffing the clear with say 120 grit paper carefully to just degrade the surface strength a bit if it is that hard and this may help the stripper to bite a bit better, just don't get carried away with the 120 on the bare alloy as it will mean more sanding buffing to restore the polish.

Another thing is applying the stripper and wrapping in plastic but this can be tedious.

[jsttry]

I guess you purchased John's rims then?

[badger]

I used the K&H stuff in a tin, and i did scuff the surface first, by clean i was meaning there was still alot of flakes of paint on the rims. I also put on some gloves and scrubbed with a scourer after the stripper had done its thing before i washed them off. The rims have some corrosion on the surface where stone chips had been thru the paint so i think ill have to sand them anyway

[chunderlicious]

if you go to an auto paint place they have good quality strippers, not that supershit or K&H shit. if you get the stuff from an auto place (the better quality stuff is cheaper then supershit) it will tear the paint off awsome. one coat on my lux got every bit of paint off, took 5 or 6 coats of supercrap stuff to get it off on an old lux i had.

[SIERRA BANDIT]

thanks for all the input guys, ill try paint stripper, if that fails ill get them soda blasted

[SIERRA BANDIT]

I guess you purchased John's rims then?

yea i did good price i recon