Refurbing alloy wheels

I picked up a set of tatty disco wheels for not much money. I want to put them on the Defender, but clean them up a bit first.

One half of me says polish them carefully for 60 hours each by hand. The other half says go at them with a wire brush on an angle grinder. The third half is confused and says paint them black.

Any tips on how to get a good result with little effort?

pay to have them done properly - they come back looking like new. Well worth it i rekon.

Although, steelies are best for LR's

theshanclan said:

One half of me says polish them carefully for 60 hours each by hand. The other half says go at them with a wire brush on an angle grinder.

Click to expand...

get 3 or 4 different grades of wire brush / mop. work through the grades with a bit of paste and they'll come up fine. however, problem is keeping them looking like that, as they'll oxidise and tarnish pretty quick. either try laquering them (no experience of this), resign yourself to doing it every year or so, or just paint them black, silver, white or any other colour which can easily be cleaned and touched up.

have them bead blasted ( not shot blasted ) then etch prime and spray the desired colour.

vivnap said:

have them bead blasted ( not shot blasted ) then etch prime and spray the desired colour.

Click to expand...

Tempting:
Guyson Bead Blast Cabinet Sand Blast Grit Blasting on eBay, also, Other Industrial Tools, Industrial Tools, Business, Office Industrial (end time 27-Jan-09 20:30:00 GMT)

be aware - they take an awful lot of air (CFM) to work properly.

Yes - only joking. But I emailed the bloke selling it because he is only five miles away....

they are a good cabinet. if you got a compressor of about 14 cfm or above you shouldnt have any trouble with lack of air !

I asked the guy if I could use it before he sells it. Unfortunately not. I don't have a compressor.

If anyone on here wants to buy it, I would be happy to transport in return for you doing my wheels. Say up to 100 miles.