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  #1  
Old 06-26-2008, 06:30 PM
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E320 8hole whells

Is time for new tires on my 1994 E320, so I am thinking that I can refinish the wheels while the tires are off. I was getting the aircraft paint stripper from Walmart and I am about to clean the paint, clear coat and primer to the naked aluminum.
Now, instead of starting with primer and then paint and clear coat I was thinking of applying just clear coat to protect the aluminum.
What do you think?
What type of clear coat should I use?

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Old 06-26-2008, 09:09 PM
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Any type of clear will work, but whether it will stick or not is another issue. I would recommend a good 2 part epoxy primer for a base, then a suitable silver basecoat and then clear. I have done this for years on my wheels with great results.
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  #3  
Old 06-26-2008, 11:16 PM
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Are the wheels actually painted?

I thought mine where, but they are polished alloys with clearcoat. No paint.
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  #4  
Old 06-26-2008, 11:26 PM
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94s are painted/clearcoated, 95s are polished/clearcoated. 94s seem to hold up a little better. I would imagine that the skip the paint routine in 95 was a cost saver, although they did look nice for a while.
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Old 06-26-2008, 11:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deanyel View Post
94s are painted/clearcoated, 95s are polished/clearcoated. 94s seem to hold up a little better. I would imagine that the skip the paint routine in 95 was a cost saver, although they did look nice for a while.
Yes the 1994 are painted but I am going to remove the paint and the primer and polished the then clear coating. The time/cost saving factor applies to me too.
The question is what type of clear coating should I use for aluminum?
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  #6  
Old 06-27-2008, 12:28 AM
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Clean is the most important thing you can do, especially after buffing the wheel. Get some Wax and Grease Remover from an auto paint store. Then the question is quality/cost - air dryed (spray can) versus catalyzed. A catalyzed clear will hold up much better than anything in a spray can. Catalzyed clears are ususally three part - clear, reducer and catalyst. You're probably looking at near a hundred dollars for even small quanitities of all three, plus you'll need a good mask as the catalyst contains isocyanates which are very dangerous and you'll need a spray gun/compressor. If you go the quality route, i.e catalyzed, it's may be wiser to just go to a body shop. Every body shop runs at least one batch of catalzyed clear every day and probably more than one. You might be able to talk them into pointing the gun at your wheels for less than it would cost you in materials.
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Old 06-27-2008, 12:56 AM
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Clear powder coat

Quote:
Originally Posted by deanyel View Post
. Every body shop runs at least one batch of catalzyed clear every day and probably more than one. You might be able to talk them into pointing the gun at your wheels for less than it would cost you in materials.
Great suggestion!
There is also a clear powder coat - would that adhere to the polished aluminum?
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  #8  
Old 06-27-2008, 01:18 AM
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Powder coating could work well - but it does require about a 400 degree oven that will hold a wheel.
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  #9  
Old 06-27-2008, 07:21 AM
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Check out the product by POR-15 called Glisten PC

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