Crizz
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In another thread I was asked how I refinished my 12-hole-rims on my ´90 Explorer. Okay, folks - here we go
As I bought the ´90 XP in Nov. last year, I ´just used to get a second car for wintertime and the dogs. But the "virus Explorer" broke out, and the longer I have it, the more I do to keep it in a good condition.
Like I refered to earlier, the car is in a good condition depending on it´s model year - but the rims wasn´t at all, they looked very poor, so I decided to refinish ´em.
First the rims need to be cleaned carefuly using some kind of cold cleaners, aloy cleaners or engine cleaners to get rid of any kind of dirt, dust, grease or oil.
After that, I drove out the rivets and the plasticbushes for the centercaps.
( Using a 5mm dia. boltdriver and a small hammer )
Next part was getting off the clearcoat. I have one advantage, cause I own a sandblasting-cabinet already. But, shotblasting with glas-beads was a new experience ( it took 3 hrs. to get the first rim done, but only 45 mins per each on the others - took some time to learn how to
) Using glasbeads instead of sand keeps the surface smooth and compresses it, sand would be too abrassive and would make a hard, rough surface
After shotblasting, the rims need to be dusted off and cleaned with silicone remover befor you apply a coat of the basic color you like. I know, they look very pretty after blasting, but if you would apply clearcoat on aluminium it turns to a dark grey !
Alternatively you can start to get them ready for highgloss-polishing, but it´s much more expensive than laque-coating and more sensitive to salt and so on.
After some layers of basic coat ( I used a very light silver, applied on 4 layers ) you can apply clearcoat. It makes the color more durable and gives the rims a polished-like gloss. Remember to wipe the surface with a tack rag before applying next layer.
At least you need to decide how the rivets should look. I first removed the clearcoat and used Nevr-Dull to polish them before clearcoating them again.
You even can paint them black or in your car´s colour, would be nice, too.
But, before I was able to drive them in again, I saw Keskin-Screws on Ebay. Keskins are "look-like-screws"-rivets.
Here´s how the rim looks with the original rivets :
and here with the "keskins" :
Before you reassemle the rim ( rivets, tire ) let the coat dry at least 3 days.
To drive in the rivets, you need some pcs. of 1"-square woods, I cut them off from a tiling batten, and place a hole at the headside a little smaller than the dia of the rivets. If you coat the rivets, place a thin peace of leather between the wood and the rivet before driving them in the rim, so you can avoid scratches. If you use Keskins, drill the hole in the woodpeaces in the same dia the Keskins´ heads are.
No matter how you decide - it´s not work done in an hours, but it´s worth it.
If you don´t have the possibilty of shotblasting, you can get the damaged cleacoat off using chemical stripping and very fine sanding paper, but blasting will be the way for best results.
Chrome-like polishing is much more difficult, and I guess the only acceptable finigh will be reached by specialists with the right machines. Polishing aluminium "hand-made" is real difficult because alum. is such a damned soft metal.
Anyway, I hope some of you guys will be inspired to refinish your wheels instead of trashing them.
( hope my english was readable....) have fun ! Chris
As I bought the ´90 XP in Nov. last year, I ´just used to get a second car for wintertime and the dogs. But the "virus Explorer" broke out, and the longer I have it, the more I do to keep it in a good condition.
Like I refered to earlier, the car is in a good condition depending on it´s model year - but the rims wasn´t at all, they looked very poor, so I decided to refinish ´em.
First the rims need to be cleaned carefuly using some kind of cold cleaners, aloy cleaners or engine cleaners to get rid of any kind of dirt, dust, grease or oil.
After that, I drove out the rivets and the plasticbushes for the centercaps.
( Using a 5mm dia. boltdriver and a small hammer )
Next part was getting off the clearcoat. I have one advantage, cause I own a sandblasting-cabinet already. But, shotblasting with glas-beads was a new experience ( it took 3 hrs. to get the first rim done, but only 45 mins per each on the others - took some time to learn how to
) Using glasbeads instead of sand keeps the surface smooth and compresses it, sand would be too abrassive and would make a hard, rough surface
After shotblasting, the rims need to be dusted off and cleaned with silicone remover befor you apply a coat of the basic color you like. I know, they look very pretty after blasting, but if you would apply clearcoat on aluminium it turns to a dark grey !
Alternatively you can start to get them ready for highgloss-polishing, but it´s much more expensive than laque-coating and more sensitive to salt and so on.
After some layers of basic coat ( I used a very light silver, applied on 4 layers ) you can apply clearcoat. It makes the color more durable and gives the rims a polished-like gloss. Remember to wipe the surface with a tack rag before applying next layer.
At least you need to decide how the rivets should look. I first removed the clearcoat and used Nevr-Dull to polish them before clearcoating them again.
You even can paint them black or in your car´s colour, would be nice, too.
But, before I was able to drive them in again, I saw Keskin-Screws on Ebay. Keskins are "look-like-screws"-rivets.
Here´s how the rim looks with the original rivets :
and here with the "keskins" :
Before you reassemle the rim ( rivets, tire ) let the coat dry at least 3 days.
To drive in the rivets, you need some pcs. of 1"-square woods, I cut them off from a tiling batten, and place a hole at the headside a little smaller than the dia of the rivets. If you coat the rivets, place a thin peace of leather between the wood and the rivet before driving them in the rim, so you can avoid scratches. If you use Keskins, drill the hole in the woodpeaces in the same dia the Keskins´ heads are.
No matter how you decide - it´s not work done in an hours, but it´s worth it.
If you don´t have the possibilty of shotblasting, you can get the damaged cleacoat off using chemical stripping and very fine sanding paper, but blasting will be the way for best results.
Chrome-like polishing is much more difficult, and I guess the only acceptable finigh will be reached by specialists with the right machines. Polishing aluminium "hand-made" is real difficult because alum. is such a damned soft metal.
Anyway, I hope some of you guys will be inspired to refinish your wheels instead of trashing them.
( hope my english was readable....) have fun ! Chris
