Some previous owner painted my truck's rims white. I don't know what he used but it didn't hold up well over time, it looks like crap. I'd like to strip it down to the bare steel to match the other rims I've added since. I've got a can of Varsol in my garage, would that work? And would I have to take the rims off the truck, protect the tires, etc? Thanks.

 

I've spent some time "playing" with my dually steel rims.

My only suggestion after my experience is to have them sandblasted at a shop. It's cheap, simple, and fairly quick. They could even paint them for you.

$40 per wheel at my local shop for a blast and paint.

 

If you check your local welding shops they may also be willing to powder coat.

If you want diy, there is an aviation paint stripper at discount/advanced that has had a lot of love from different forums.

 

second on the blasting method. It will do a far superior job over any of the other methods. And actually, if you took it to somone who had an outdoor unit rather than a blast cabinet they could probably do it with the tires on the wheels layed down on the ground. Just a though, I would probably dismount them.

 

Aircraft Paint Stripper. Then hose em off and blow dry before it has a chance to rust. Sand blasting would be fine if you like the pitting and all the prep work afterwords to smooth them back out.