18" Work Equip 5x120.65 Restoration Progress *With Pics* HELP!

[Bullydawg]

Well, I was going to run them as is... but I bought some sand paper, steel wool and shit, got drunk, and while I was taking some sand paper to the curb rash, I guess I hit the wheel face. I was going to run them on my Typhoon as is with the weird looking pitting faces that are either Chrome or Annodized, but then I scratched them... then it started bugging me.

Being that I am drunk I decided to see what type of finish the faces are because I was curious, and well being drunk, I do what I want. Here are some photo's to see where I am currently at. I have 3 in storage and this is the one I brought home. I bought them thinking they were polished and dirty as hell, but I was wrong. I am still unaware of what type of finish on the faces I am dealing with, but I will update as I go. If you are a pro wheel restorer, please subscribe in case I have any questions! Oh, and I even busted out the DSLR for some pictures. First ones are with my iPhone, and the ones where I started sanding and from there on, they will be with a DSLR.

Subscribe and enjoy! I have 3 more sets of 3 piece wheels I will eventually restore (and create threads)! Let me know what you think and feel free to give suggestions. This is my first wheel restoration!

[Bullydawg]

Here is the picture I saw when I decided to bid on them in the Auction... I thought they were polished and just tarnished/dirty...


Here is after 30 minutes of scrubbing the faces and the curb rash I am going to have to figure out what to do with!


After an hour or so of scrubbing with the rough side of a sponge... I should have just dealt with the lips and ran them as is for a while... Tires are still good and I wasn't planning on pulling them to separate the wheels... Oh well!


Here is after curiosity won! So much for running them as is!


Here is a shot when I claimed WAR! You can see the weird pitting in the non sanded part... Are these chrome or what?


And here is the flaking in the lug area, which is what leads me to believe they are Chrome... But you tell me! I am no expert!

[Anonymoose]

Doing a good job so far If you can split them it will make it a lot easier and you'll be able to clean the bolts and the lip around the bolts properly. Otherwise you're gonna have half polished / dirty parts amongst the nice polish.

[Bullydawg]

Yeah. I will split them soon enough, I just need to get around to having the tires pulled...

[180roman]

The original finish is chrome coating I believe..

I have a few sets that i have to decided what to do with as well, as the chrome also got that same kind of pitting from age.

[Bullydawg]

Yeah, it's going to suck... But I am sure with enough beer, a dremel and sander (need to buy), I'm sure it will eventually get done. The first wheel usually takes the longest anyway.

[Bullydawg]

After a week of contemplating, I finally took the dive and bought a dremel with some attachments... Hopefully it will blast through the chrome... For the centers, I am thinking of doing a brushed look and clearing them if I can get all the chrome off evenly. Hopefully the dremel will be in shortly.

I'm not supposed to keep "car parts" in my dorm, so I might move the wheel out to my car when I am not working on it. I also hope the dremel is quiet enough to run in my room... lol

[Icana4dit]

If i were you, I would track down a chrome shop that can strip the chrome for you.

[Bullydawg]

I have thought about it, but that probably isn't going to be very cheap at all... Being in Japan makes it much harder because I can't read Japanese... Then after here I am going to England. How much does it usually cost to have a shop chemically strip them?

I'm going to try to sand one out and see how it goes. If things go sour I'll take them to a shop to be stripped.

I have access to a sand blaster, but I am not sure if the sand is going to make things a PITA to sand out if I decide to polish them. Should I go the sandblaster route?

[Bullydawg]

The more I look into it, the more I think I am going to hold off on these wheels I have them Chemically stripped when I get to England... I can't find any Chrome Plating places within 2 hours out here in Japan.

I guess I will pull out the Speedline Mistrals to start a resto on. I'll get back to these in about 5-6 months when I move out to England.

[1badg35]

good call.. dremel is not your friend on this one. chrome needs to be removed properly if there is pitting on the surface.

[Oh, Word?]

Not sure what a the faces would cost in England, but I had a chrome place here in the states strip 4 lips for me and it cost $200.

[Bullydawg]

If I could get it done for $150-200 I guess it wouldn't be too bad... If I can get the wheels completely refinished for under $450 with the faces being chemically stripped, I wouldn't be too upset. I am sure after the resto I could easily make money off the wheels if I ever decide to sell...

[Anonymoose]

Yeah man itll be about that here, can get good deals around but safe with 100-200 pounds.

[parttimeprojectionist]

sandblasting wont touch em..but it think you figured that out.