speedyd718

so i've been working that last month or so on a set of cl-s wheels that i bought off craigslist. they were i awful shape; clear peeling, scuffed, gouged, and badly oxidized.

they were a set of winter wheels that a guy was selling. i got them for $100. i decided i'd strip, sand, polish and have them powder coated. what's the verdict?

they're wrapped with 225-55-17's, since i'm never lowering. i think they look pretty good. definitely worth the effort.

SG81

iTrader: (1)

wow, the wheels look a lot better. they look great on the RL too (better than they do on the CL)

vas25tl

Damnit i can't see pictures. I'll check on my phone.

silver3.5

nice. 225/55/17 looks thick as heck. RLs should've came with the CL-S wheels as standard and optional 18". so much better looking than those tiny 16".

vas25tl

Could you please elaborate on the process of bringing the wheels back to life? How much did it cost and the process?

TIA.

vas25tl

Do you have any more pictures of the car with the wheels? My RL is also black, I'm very interested to see how it looks.

Thanks!

speedyd718

first i used aircraft paint stripper to take off the clear coat. you can get it from any auto parts place. you spray it on, let it sit and it peels up. i did it a couple times to make sure that all the clear was off.

then i started sanding with 180grit dry. (i used some 80grit on the heavy gouges but i wouldn’t recommend it, too harsh). i sanded until i removed the oxidation/pitting, minor scratches, and machine lines on the face. then i worked my way through the grits. (180dry, then wet 220, 400, 600, and 800). i didn’t want the “chrome/mirror” finish so i stopped at 800. if you want that then go past 800 to 1000, 1500, 2000. then i used some mothers aluminum polish (recommend the power ball here) to get them to what you see in pic4.

i was going to just shoot them with some duplicolor clear coat and save some money but i went ahead and had them powder coated. the shop taped off the faces to coat the triangles. using a 2parts mix of wet black and 1part mix of sparkle silver powder paint, to get the gray color. after they cooled they pulled up the tape on the faces, and polished them with 2000grit to take off the tape residue from the oven (make sure to tape off the triangles so the gray isn't scuffed). after that the tape was removed and the wheels were clear powder coated.

all in all before powder coating I was only in the $100 for the wheels, and about $100 in for materials to strip, sand, and polish. The powder cost me $400 vs probably $25 for clear paint coat (but i wanted the guaranteed durability). most of all it take A LOT of time. i took it on as something to do, since there’s not much modding to be done for the rl (for cheap anyways). hope that helps.

speedyd718

bump for a few more pics

Ken1997TL

Wow, that looks great. I've been tempted to keep my 16" wheels for winter use and go with some 17" wheels for summer. CL-S wheels have always looked good on any Acura I've seen. Time to take the plunge!

Blazing GT

I peep the pradas haha

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Not bad!