Have a F350 DRW, it has alloy rims that are pitting, can a person have them refinished away where?

 

Sort of. Theres a place locally that does that. Really all you can do is polish polish polish. If the pits are deep, theres not a lot as far as I know. But a thorough polish job will remove the bulk of the small scuffs, scratches, and imperfections.

 

Aluminum alloy's are tough for that problem. They are nice looking but do start to pit if you let them sit. Like twelvealpha said, superficial pits can be buffed out. If your's are deeper, you might want to look into a place that refinish's rims like "AAA Rims" Once you get them done though, a clear coat would be a good idea.

 

Thanks I will try googling AAA rims these are past buffing stage, theres spots that the surface has lifted off and are ruff.

 

There are places that will "rebuild" alloy rims. They will fill the pitting, straighten as needed, polish and clear coat the rims.

This is one place - I don't recommend it over any other, just posting the link as an example: http://www.rimpro.com/

Do a google search on alloy wheel repair

The only drawback is that you will be without wheels until thet repair your set.....and of course it ain't cheap.

 

I have the pre-05 lariet wheels. They are bright polished aluminum. The clear coat has fine scratches and the wheels have damage from lead wheel weight addition and removal. The damage has dented the aluminum, caused the clear coat to peel, and turn the exposed aluminum blackish grey.

I called a local wheel shop near me for a strip, polish, and re-clear. I was shocked. These wheels brand new from Ford run about $450 each. Aftermarket reproductions go for about $250-275. The wheel shop quoted me $375 per wheel.

 

Use paint stripper to remove the cleat coat then sand out the gouges and polish the wheel. Clean all surfaces and reclear coat. Make sure you use the clear coat for wheels. Costs much less than sending it out. I am doing this to a set of summer wheels this week.

 

Oldtom my spots are more then gouges its like the surface has lifted in spots and they are rough pitted areas(not many) up to the size of a 50cents piece, almost like its a chromed surface but there factory rims so I think there aluminum alloy. How thick is this clear coating and if this is what your talking about then what grit paper do you use and what to polish with?

 

Excellent information redford. I have bookmarked several of the sites that have been offered up in the thread. This is good stuff.

 

First you need to make sure they are alloys, use a magnet. Some factory alloys were polished and looked like chrome and others were brushed finish. All were clear coated to protect the finish. The clear coat is several mills thick. My wheels got small nicks in the clear coat and over time the dirt and water got under the finish and lifted it. Now some areas are 1-2 inches in size. The stripper is removing the clear. Make sure before you paint that you clean ALL surfaces to be painted our you may have adhesion problems. A paint job is only as good as the prep work. The use 320 grit for the gouges and progress to finer grit until the repair matches the surounding area. You should feather the repair as you would body work on a fender.

 

Oldtom did the magnet there alloy.Do you have to take the tires off the rim to refinish?

 

No but you need to be careful you don't damage the tires. Some strippers may damage the rubber. If you are removing the tires anyway it would be best.

 

OldTom forgot to ask what kind of clear coat does a person get and where? also what kind of sprayer do you need?

 

The wheel clear coat comes in a spray can. I got mine at the local NAPA dealer. They have it in several colors in case you want to add some color to the wheels.

 

Thanks OldTom I think I will give it a try when the weather warms, Wondering if I would strip the clear coat and sand and polish with out the clear coating would that be like some of the wheels come and you would have to use a mag polish of some kind of polish more offen.