finish on my 03 wheels?

[NMaier]

On my 03 I have the aluminum rims. They are not the polished/machined finish. They look painted... are they?



If they are painted... could I strip the paint and polish them myself? I have done this before on a few sets of motorcycle wheels. I'm just not sure about the stock finish. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Scrappy]

they are clearcoated on the whole rim and inside the holes are painted. I have sanded the clear and machine marks off of 2 of my rims, and they look pretty good. The only reason I have only done 2 is it took me a day apiece to do it by Hand. I am looking for an easier way to do it.

 

[NMaier]

cool... thanks.



You could try using some aircraft paint stripper to remove the clear and the painted from the wheel... works real well.



I use this method on my motorcycle wheels when I strip and polish them.

 

[Scrappy]

the only reason I did it that way is that I wanted to keep the paint inside the holes intact. But it might be easier just to strip the whole thing and then repaint inside the holes.