...remove coating from alloy wheels?

[streetpirate]

Ive got a couple of araya alloy rims that need refinishing, but sanding off the coating is not working very well. what will take the coating off? tarnishing the aluminum is not a huge deal as I can sand and polish it out.

Thanks,
SP

 

[streetpirate]

even down to 180 grit it's taking fffoooorrreeeevvveeerrrr! there must be some nasty chemical that will speed this up

 

[Walker]

if it is annodizing, easy off ovencleaner will take it off.

 

[streetpirate]

dont know if it's clear or annodizing, but Ill give the oven cleaner a shot. never had good luck with the dollar store stuff, so Ill try name brand this time.

 

[streetpirate]

so easy off brand heavy duty oven cleaner works. one wheel I had already sanded on a bit and one was not. sprayed both and the one that had been sanded the coating came 99% off. the unsanded wheel got really clean but no coating was removed. I scuffed it with a red 3m scotch brite pad and sprayed it again, and about 95% of the coating came off. I let it sit for maybe 20 minutes before scrubbing the dried oven cleaner off the wheels. I recommend anyone trying to do this to get some chemical gloves (handy to have around anyways) and use a scrubby sponge to clean off the oven cleaner. it doesnt just rinse off, it needs to be scrubbed

 

[Spincycle]

Drain cleaner used full strength. Submerge a section of the rim in a shallow pan, wait 20 mins, rotate.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Yep the Draino drain cleaner will remove the anodizing. If your trying to remove the clear
then try MEK its pretty strong and will usually take off most clear coats

 

[deven_science]

I've got this issue right now.

Tried the Easy Off. Didn't work.

tried Drain-O. Didn't do much.

Finally tried to wire wheel it off, which worked, but it also roughed up the rim quite a bit. I finally just painted it silver to match the other.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

You have to buy the Drain-o Crystals and then put quiet a bit in the water.
I had some aluminum tubing that had anodizing on them. Soaked them for
about 20 minutes and then wiped them off and polished them. Came out good.
If you have a problem with scratches and its aluminum, wet sand it with 1000 and then polish.

Finished product