Achieving a brushed aluminum finish

[FastKat]

I have a set of aluminum wheels that I want to refinish in a dark brushed aluminum finish. The wheels are currently polished aluminum with a clear coat.... which someone scuffed and rattle-canned silver. I know they sound like garbage but they are still actually pretty nice.

I need advice nearly every step of the way.


I imagine the process being:

1) Wash the wheels with soap like Dawn or engine degreaser?

2) Have someone media blast the wheela to get a uniform finish. What medium, grit, pressure, etc? Satin finish or something else? Must be paint friendly media, right?

3) Brush the wheels with sandpaper by hand? Regular old sandpaper? Use oil as lube or will that make it hard to paint? What grit? Wire brush?

4) Have a painter paint with a dark tinted clear? Or have it powder coated clear? I know painting AL can be challenging - will their surface prep ruin my finish?

Thanks in advance!

 

[SteveH-CO]

You're asking the right questions, but may be overthinking this. But, I'm not sure if you're sprucing up a beater car, or restoring a classic and want the highest quality results.

I have just used a Scotchbrite pad on a drill on clear-coated alloy wheels (whose coating has failed) and then re-clear-coated the wheel with an aerosol, using several coats.

The Scotchbrite pad left a swirled finish (not really brushed like an OEM finish) and the clear coat lasted several years in Colorado (not a terrible salt/wet climate) before starting to fail.

 

[FastKat]

Thanks for the info!

I honestly thought people would be all over this!

My car is a 2009 Pontiac G8 and the wheels are from a 2014 Cadillac CTS-V. It's a good looking modern sport sedan and I want the finish to be nice on the wheels.

Any idea where I would go to find more info? There's not a lot of internet discussion on this topic... more people asking questions than giving answers.

 

[bullnerd]

Pics of the wheels would help.

We have wheel shops around here that do it, any in your area?

 

[FastKat]

The wheels started out from the factory as polished + clear coat. Someone decided to spray silver over the clear.

I have not talked to the wheel shops yet. I want to learn a little so I can ask the right questions and know when I'm talking to a hack. I do know that a hand brushed finish costs a lot of money... I suppose because of the brushing labor?

Pics:

 

[rockwithjason]

you could use something like this to get the linear brushed finish.
https://www.grainger.com/product/6R...3957!&ef_id=V0eHVAAABEeRbjvQ:20160804140250:s

 

[FastKat]

I'm getting a broken link?

The thing that concerns me most is the step from me brushing the wheels to having a shop paint them with a real car clear or powder coat them clear. I know that aluminum oxidizes very quickly and I am concerned that the wait time between me brushing the wheels and the shop painting the wheels will be an issue for proper appearance and most importantly proper adhesion.

 

[crab]

I would buff them out and have a polished bare aluminum finish, that would be the cheapest thing to do and would look the best in my opinion. OK, it's not my car and that's not what you want. Another option would be powder coating, a high gloss black would look good and be very easy to take care of, you might even be able to match the paint for a euro look. For the brushed look, steel wool would achieve the look you're after probably. It's the coating that's going to be a problem. If not professionally applied it wont last and when it starts coming loose it will require a complete do over. A powder coater will media blast the wheels before they coat them, that's automatic, part of the process. That's probably going to be your best option all things considered.

 

[ilovevocs]

Aircraft stripper and a scotch bright pad.

 

[arrowhead]

Aircraft stripper and a scotch bright pad.

x2

Blasting them will just leave a texture your going to have to work at to smooth out again.

 

[FastKat]

x2

Blasting them will just leave a texture your going to have to work at to smooth out again.

Hm. I used aircraft remover on wheels one time and it was a dirty nasty job. Most of the clear came off in a sloppy fight and the powder coating in between the spokes was barely touched. I'd rather just punt the wheels to someone else to have the coating taken off.

I think there is some media that leaves a decent finish?

 

[Zeke]

Harvey Weidman of NorCal has mastered the art of wheel finishing.

http://www.ferdinandmagazine.com/weidman-porsche-fuchs-restoration

What you see there is his proprietary method of a satin finish on alloy. I can't tell you exactly what it is but it involves media blasting. Here is the image page.

If you do it by hand, say using a Scotchbrite, you need to establish a directional pattern

 

[ilovevocs]

Hm. I used aircraft remover on wheels one time and it was a dirty nasty job. Most of the clear came off in a sloppy fight and the powder coating in between the spokes was barely touched. I'd rather just punt the wheels to someone else to have the coating taken off.



I think there is some media that leaves a decent finish?

From your OP I assumed the clear was paint.

Guy in my are does dry ice. If you want a brushed finish your going to have to be selective with the media so you don't create more work for yourself.


Are you sure it's PC and not clear ano?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FastKat]

Looks like I will just have to talk to a competent blaster and painter.

Yea, those old wheels were PC in between the spokes. If you let the remover dwell a long time it would get gummy enough to scrape it with a screwdriver.

 

[coreyd]

Find a powder coater that has a burn oven, it will burn all the old powder coat off and clean them up real nice, then you'll have a nice clean set of wheels to work with.

 

[ZRX61]

One method is using a doodad like a big flap wheel, but it has scotchbrite instead of sandpaper. It's also used to restore the finish on Deloreans

 

[rsanter]

You do not want to abrasive blast them
You want to glass bead them so they have a smoother finish

At that point you can leave them and clear coat them, powder coat them or use a scotch brite type wheel on a drill motor or better yet a die grinder.
The option to have the polished is also a good one

Bob