Rally Wheel Restoration

Q: Rally Wheel Restoration

A couple of years ago I bought a set of 14’s and a set of 15’s from a local guy that advertised in the paper for $20.00 a piece. Yesterday I pulled out one of the 15’s and spent about half an hour at the sand blaster and barely made a dent on removing the old paint.

A: Heres how I clean up Rally wheels. Friends will pay testament to this as I’ve had as many as 30 at a time being stripped and derusted on an assemblyline .

1. Buy 2 new plastic garbage cans with a bottom thats a little larger than the wheels youll be stripping.

2. Go to the local pool supply place and get a couple gallons of muriatic acid. Be sure and get the industrial strength stuff.

3. Go to Home depot and get the spray on paint remover (brush on stuff wont get into the cracks as good)

4. Be sure and use a pair of goggles,long rubber gloves and an apron for all stripping and derusting.

5. Place the wheel in garbage can and spray with the paint remover, turn over and do the backside and inner part of rim. Leaving the rims inside the cans will contain the spray and concentrate the fumes which help to soften the paint. You can do as many as 3 wheels in the can at the same time.

6. Remove wheels when paint is bubbled and pressure wash clean Remember that paint stripper is still active and will burn skin it contacts.

7. Once the wheels are clean move them to the second “tank” which has the muriatic acid and water solution.

8. Submerge the wheel completely in solution and soak just long enough to dissolve any rust. DO NOT LEAVE IN SOLUTION MORE THAN 2 HOURS Any rust thats not dissolved in this time is probably too heavy for a nice wheel anyway.

9. Immediately after removing from solution pressure wash and put in a clean can to mist a coat of OSPHO or similar etch and derust converter.

10. Remove OSHPO after a few minutes not allowing it to dry before removing.

11. Dry off wheels with compressed air paying close attention to the crack that the rim and center are joined at. Solution if not properly removed will creep out while painting.

12. You can then store wheels for later painting or paint the next day after you know they are completely dry.

I did some wheels several years ago and are still bare and showing no signs of rust. The trash cans should be drained into proper containers and disposed of properly. With 3 cans you can do several wheels at the same time and in a days time can do about 5 or 6 sets. IVe also made some mask kits from vinyl that can be reused several times for about the same price as the ones others sell made of masking tape.

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