I just purchased a 4 set of 14" Pontiac aluminum factory wheels from an E-bayer who lives in my area for $50.00. On a scale of 1-100 they are around 85. No dings, cracks, dents, or chips. Some slight curb rash on 2 of the lips and the clear coat coming off in a few places and the usual grime, oxidation, and stains. I want to restore them as best as I can myself...shouldn't take too much since only surface defects are present and should be a good DIY project. Does anyone have information on this process or know of where I can go to purchase and what kind of products I can use to clean and reseal the wheels? I plan to document the process with photos and my trials, errors, and successes and post it to the web for others to use (if there is not currently a site for this project). This forum is GREAT and you members have such a wealth of knowledge and are very responsive to helping others. Thanks all!
Paul

Here is how I did my GT style wheels, But the same process can be used for the 14" wheels.
http://www.fierofocus.com/articles/0301Wheels%20-%20Dave%20Kopeilski.htm

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Happiness isn't around the corner...
Happiness IS the corner.

I used a semi-paste paint stripper to get the clearcoat off. It works nicely. Let it have time to work on the finish and it will scrape off with a plastic putty knife.

I used 400 then 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper with running water to smooth them out. I then hit them with a drill mounted buffing wheel with Wenol compound to get the shine.

AutoZone (and others I'm sure) sells Wheel Clear Coat spray paint (in 12 oz. can) that goes on very thick and dries clear.

So far so good with mine.

Hey Paul , Welcome To The Forum ! There's a article on the Michigan Fiero Club site that deals with refinishing rims .
http://www.michiganfieroclub.org/

Hope this helps .

Galen Smith
Red 85 Sport Coupe
Founder of Suncoast Fiero Club

To strip the clearcoat the only thing to use is Low Odor Aircraft Remover. A quart $8.99 at Pep Boys was more than enough for me to do a set of Tech wheels. Put on the first coat, kick back for an hour and remove most of the clearcoat with a small spatula, then rinse with water. Let dry and then apply the next coat, wait an hour and remove the rest of the clearcoat and most of the dark gray paint. Do one more coat and the wheels will be down th the bare metal and ready to polish. You can get everything you need to polish them from Eastwood. http://www.eastwoodco.com/
I didn't polish mine, I shot them with Rustoleum gold and then Eastwoods' Diamond Clear.

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Notchbacks Rule
84 Coupe(project car)
85GT(show car)
86???(looking)
87SE Gold(daily driver to be)
87SE Silver(daily driver)
88Coupe (daily driver)

Thanks everyone!

Paul

Once you get the clear off, clean the wheels and look at the surfaces closely. You may find they are fine and don't need anymore work (other than new clear).

It's amazing how bad the clear makes the wheels look. Once you hit them with any type of sandpaper you will be doing all of the wheels again.

I stripped some 16" GA wheels and realized I should have just recleared them but I hit one with sandpaper and was stuck. It's a fair amount of work to bring them to a high polish but not too bad to just clean them up.

Just a thought.

[This message has been edited by TK (edited 09-24-2002).]