Wheel Refinishing
I didn't like my stock silver painted rims with the paint coming off and discolored. So I removed all the paint. The initial intent was to repaint with fresh and re-install. Turned out that the bare rim looked pretty good! The center section is a machined finish, like the new rims, and the outer edge (the section with the ventilation holes) had an interesting patina resulting from the casting process. I put Plastikote #296 Wheel Kote clear finish on the bare aluminum, per the instructions from PlastiKote, and put them on the car. Total cost: $5 per rim. I used BIX Spray-On-Stripper, made of methanol, toluene, methylene chloride, acetone, and propellants. Most definitely something to use outside. It lifts the MB paint quite easily. There are probably many more strippers that will work but this is what the local hardware store recommended. Worked fine.The only difficult part is getting ALL the paint in the brake ventilation holes - not too easy to get off. Found that a brass wire brush will remove the paint but not damage the aluminum by scrubbing.
- contributed by Mike Ramay