Alloy wheels and clear question

FarmBoy

Newbie
I'm wanting to clean up a set of alloy wheels that the clear delaminated and there is oxidation. I stripped them with Kleen Strip and that worked well. I will polish the faces and then begin coatings.
I want to coat the recessed areas with black SPI epoxy as an accent. They were originally dark grey. I am debating how to get a clear to adhere well to the polished faces though. I saw some posts about adhesion promoter but it was not conclusive (to me) of the best process for a lasting job. I have some familiarity with Sharkhide but not in an automotive application.
1. What would you recommend for the final coating and will a "plastic" adhesion promoter work well on these wheels?
2. What recommendations do you have - a flattened, satin or gloss - would be the better look on these wheels? All opinions are welcomed.
3. If I go with the Sharkhide - my second choice- will it adhere to the epoxy well?

I'm a new member who is practicing body and paint work to prepare for some real deal restorations down the road. This forum has been a great wealth of information that I am now getting to practice my application of.
Thanks for sharing!
FarmBoy
 
I wouldn't clear them, sharkhide may be a decent temporary coating-I've never used it. I do believe it washes off with solvent when the time comes to re-polish and reapply
 
I polished and cleared some of the aluminum trim on my mustang with SPI adhesion promoter and universal clear. It's been on a couple of years and is still in good shape although it doesn't get driven often. I am redoing my bike right now and I polished the aluminum components for the filler head on the tank. I cleared them with Cerakote. It's only been on for a few days so I don't have any durability information. But from what I can tell from their website a lot of people use it to clear aluminum wheels.
 
Prplpny68 said:
I polished and cleared some of the aluminum trim on my mustang with SPI adhesion promoter and universal clear. It's been on a couple of years and is still in good shape although it doesn't get driven often. I am redoing my bike right now and I polished the aluminum components for the filler head on the tank. I cleared them with Cerakote. It's only been on for a few days so I don't have any durability information. But from what I can tell from their website a lot of people use it to clear aluminum wheels.
Was going to mention cerakote mc 160 myself. Haven't personally used it yet, but it has a pretty good history now among those who use it. This includes friends on other forums & the gun industry. Not as shiny as just polished aluminum, but it sounds pretty long term so I will eventually coat some of my custom parts with it.
 
Prplpny68 said:
I polished and cleared some of the aluminum trim on my mustang with SPI adhesion promoter and universal clear. It's been on a couple of years and is still in good shape although it doesn't get driven often. I am redoing my bike right now and I polished the aluminum components for the filler head on the tank. I cleared them with Cerakote. It's only been on for a few days so I don't have any durability information. But from what I can tell from their website a lot of people use it to clear aluminum wheels.
Was going to mention cerakote mc 160 myself. Haven't personally used it yet, but it has a pretty good history now among those who use it. This includes friends on other forums & the gun industry. Not as shiny as just polished aluminum, but it sounds pretty long term so I will eventually coat some of my custom parts with it.
 
Jim C. would be the one who is highly experienced on this process, I'm sure he will be with you shortly.
 
I have a buddy who is a regular at a Ceracote shop. He's a custom gun nut! I will see what he can find out from them. The Sharkhide is a good product for its intended purpose of aluminum protection but it is only an OK shinny finish. These wheels are going on my daily driver which is a super sweet 1998 Lumina with the paint delaminating very time the wind blows. That project is for a different thread. I appreciate the info and look forward to hearing more ideas. Might even try a couple of methods and post results.
 
well I have done ceracoat but never the clear on a polish or chrome surface so I have no input there. I have never heard of this sharkhyde stuff. only thing I can comment on is the spi adpro with activator in it. it does work really well. I have used it on a lot of polished things as well as chrome. don't think though that the clear will be bonded as well as if it were blasted metal and epoxy coated but the bond isn't bad at all. they are wheels though and if a big rock comes up and smacks the crap out of it then yes its gonna chip.
 
Sharkhide should not be considered as a foundation for any other coating, it's just a temporary 1K lacquer-like substance that really can't be part of a normal refinishing procedure.
 
I have used Sharkhide on aluminum bulk trailers that haul cement to help keep the spillage from adhering. It was Ok for that. Also used on aluminum bumpers and some aluminum wheels on concrete mixers with better but still just Ok results. It is awesome on aluminum pontoons.
Thanks for the great advise everyone. I will look into Ceracote more and pull the trigger on something soon as I get the polishing steps figured out. I still have most of a gallon of Kleen Strip left to erase my failed attempts.
Thanks
FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared"
 
Cerakote mc 160 is a different type of product. It is a micro thin ceramic type coating which thankfully looks to be a simple 1 part air dry formula. Tert-butyl -acetate is the solvent in it , which is also recommended for cleaning prior to spraying. N-butyl -acetate can be substituted, which I found locally at any store that sells conversion varnish.

​I noticed some late model chevy polished aluminum truck wheels, for example, look to have a such product.
 
My buddy said the Cerakote shop he uses for gums is getting into this side of things - automobile applications- they have tools and product on order to begin work in about a month. My wheels have been offered to them as a test run to see what can be produced. THANKS for putting me on to that idea!
If anyone has concrete questions I would be happy to give answers from my 30 years working for a concrete producer. That about all I can contribute to this forum at the moment!
Thanks
FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared "
 
The best thing you can contribute are the results-let us know how it works out. I can think of a lot of polished aluminum parts on my car I'd like coat, tunnel ram, valve covers, carbs, wheels, some trim....but past experiences with trying to do this has been poor for me and always ended up being a removal mess at some point.
 
I use sharkhyde on all of my transmssion cases or anything else that needs clean aluminum on a build. Never touched a polished wheel so I have no idea how it works for that.

I did use it on an aluminum firewall for a 20's Marmon. Wasn't polished but the finish was brought up to 5000 trizact and then sharkhyde. Wanted a consistent look. Came out nice and it's about 5years old. I saw it last fall and it looked great.

I don't know what it is but Sharkhyde is some nasty stuff. Nothing I've ever used is as strong smelling as that stuff is. I do like that it's so thin that I can't see how it can chip. I've never seen it chip and I think it just goes into the pores.

About 8 years ago I sprayed some Dupont Emron clear on the engine oil pan and accersories that are aluminum on my truck. I can say it's mostly chipped off and the aluminum looks terrible. Just a daily driver shop truck. That was well prepped aluminum and clear didn't like it.

Do us a favor and do each wheel a different process and report back.
 
I'm working on the sanding now to remove machine marks from manufacturing. The work my way through grits to get it there. My understanding is in the Cerakote process they will be chemically dipped to clean. In not sure after that but I'm still investigating.

Anyone know what kind of heat and duration of that heat the Epoxy will take? I'm thinking there may be a baking of some sort with this coating as is done on firearms.

Thanks
FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared "
 
Like I mentioned before, I'm new to the Cerakote thing, but all I did was polish my aluminum pieces and clean them with solvent-based and then waterborne SPI grease remover, then sprayed the Cerakote. And it stuck. There is no need for baking anything as it air dries. Read their tech manuals before you get too far into it.

One thing I will say for sure is wear a respirator before you even take the cap off of the bottle. That is some of the meanest stuff I have ever gotten a whiff of. Ever.
 
Prplpny68 said:
Like I mentioned before, I'm new to the Cerakote thing, but all I did was polish my aluminum pieces and clean them with solvent-based and then waterborne SPI grease remover, then sprayed the Cerakote. And it stuck. There is no need for baking anything as it air dries. Read their tech manuals before you get too far into it.

One thing I will say for sure is wear a respirator before you even take the cap off of the bottle. That is some of the meanest stuff I have ever gotten a whiff of. Ever.
Pretty sure tert-butyl -acetate is the same stuff in the old Imron that messed up a good number of painters years ago. Safety equipment definitely has improved since then.
 
Thanks
I defiantly have to take a look at the process closer.
Thanks for the safety tip - when I was a kid I painted about a dozen plus concrete mixers with zink chromate with an N95 paper mask. It made for some tough boogers. You now understand my quote at the bottom!

Thanks again
FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared"
 
that take your breath away vapor you get with cerakote is ammonia. that crap will knock you on the floor its so strong.
 
I'm starting to polish a wheel now in some free time and I'm learning a lot about scratch refinement - if that's the proper term. I started too coarse and wow are 36 grit ( with some aluminum chunks imbedded in the rollock) scratches hard to get back out. I was thinking it was needed to get machine marks from manufacturers out - which it did but...
Going to order some Cerakote MC 160 and experiment $110 + for 32oz.
Thanks for all the replys.
FarmBoy

"I ain't smart enough to be scared "
 
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