Letter 329

Refinishing aluminum and chrome wheels

I am in the midst of opening a wheel refinishing business, my partner and I are looking for the fastest and most cost effective way of refinishing wheels. At present we strip the clear coat either mechanical (sandblasting) or chemically depending on the condition of the wheel, we then treat the corrosion with acid, the next step is spinning them on a machine using various grits of sandpaper.

We then treat the wheels with an aluminum prep and spray them with a urethane clear coat.

Yes I would also like some information on refinishing chrome plated wheels.

If you have any suggestions on how we can improve our system I would certainly appreciate it.

Are you familiar with the system we are using? Can you suggest chemicals, clear coats, etc. which may aid in doing a quality job?

Thanks Again

CALVIN VENEDAM -

Refinishing used aluminum wheels probably involves a lot of preparation, whether you strip chemically or abrasively. A clear organic finish will not offer the weatherability of anodized aluminum plus a clearcoat, but it may be more practical.

Please see our Introduction to Chrome Plating regarding your interest in refinishing chromed wheels. You might want to talk to Atotech, as I know that they have substantial experience, and large installations plating nickel-chrome onto aluminum alloy wheels.

Good luck with it.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

I heard there is a wheel polishing machine company out of Orlando that sells machines that uses a robot and is fully enclosed so it takes away the manual process. If anyone knows how to reach them please let me know. I think the company is VIS or something. Thanks

James Donald
trucking - chipley, fl

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Ed. note: Sounds like vispolish.com, James.