Morris Minor Owners Club

Could be any alloy wheels really - but mine are covered in a thick clear conformal coating - which has started to peel away in parts. Anyone got any ideas how to remove this coating? I have tried a number of solvents, a hot air paint stripper gun - even a propane blow torch, and nothing touches this stuff. Is there nothing for it but bead blasting ?

There are firms around that recondition alloy wheels, mind you I don't know what they charge.

I bet they charge like a Bull ! And me an impoverished about to be unemployed Scotsman!! It's DIY time.

Yes but you could try going into one of these places and act dumb, ask how they do this and that. May work, you may pick up one or two points.

I can use the bead blaster at work - in my own time (of course - hah ha) - but I had hoped to get the worst of this off with solvent etc so i would just be blasting away at the alloy wheel to remove slight oxidation marks where the coating has failed

I would have thought there will be a paint stripper that will remove the coating - it's just a case of finding one that is suitable.
I wanted one to remove paint from fibreglass so checked out the labels on every product in DIY stores I could find.
Nothing available yet common for boat refinishing - it's a case of going to the proper suppiers.
Maybe a look in Yellow Pages for your local automotive paint supplier and then ask what products they have that could work ?
I tried a hot air stripper maybe 25 years ago on car paints and decided that it's not viable way of stripping them - far better on household paints.
What are you going to do with the wheels ? Keep bare alloy and polished or recoat with lacquer ?
You could try paint stripper again but this time "buff" the surface first with wire wool.
A neighbour had a set of aftermarket alloys bead blasted and then resprayed a couple of year ago - cost £20 per wheel.


Paul Humphries

Angle grinder/sanding disc - or a more gentle sander, if you happen to have one, or access to a free one...

Both good ideas - but I have tried Trichloroethylene and celly thinners and brake fluid and ethylene glycol - and it just shrugged them all off. Didn't turn a hair at the propane blow torch either. I think the shape is too awkward for abrasives - and I don't want to scratch the alloy surface under the coating. maybe get something for removing varnish tomorrow - but this is tuff stuff on these wheels!

What about Nitromors?

You will probably need something stronger than a varnish remover as its some form of salt resistant lacquer so its going to be tough stuff.

it was the same with the bull bars on my rangerover they had to be sand blasted that was the only way

i have a very rough circular wire brush that can be fitted in a power drill, i tried this on some alloys a while ago and it worked quite well, it was only if you looked very close you could see they were not really shiny... if that is what you are after. ive also bought some wolfrace alloys and im looking into getting them chromed probably be too dear though...

I like those black fibre wheels that fit in your drill. Do a good job in stripping paint/varnish. Only down side I found is they are good on flat surfaces but If you catch a edge, tends to destroy them.

You'll probably need some form of polishing wheel to finish them off anyway.

It shouldn't cost more than £35 per wheel for a full media blast and powdercoat. The laquer on old alloys was to a pretty high standard and baked on at high temp to resist all attempts at impact scratches kerbing etc so will be very tollerant of you attempts at grinding it off, infact when it gets hot it'll just clog up your paper or wire wheel.I'd be very carefull about putting too much heat on alloy.

Thanks Jonathon - but you know me - hard-up Scotsman, so it needs to be DIY. It certainly is tough and resistant. The efforts with propane blow torch didn't even warm up the alloy - very thick wheel (6J x 14) and aluminum conducts the heat away very quickly. Thought it might have at least scorched the coating - but nothing!

Roy,
It sounds like you might have to bite the bullet and dig into those deep pockets, if you are ever to Triumph.

My friend has run a Bead Blasting business for about 20 years, and found the best way to strip wheels was to purchase a chemical bath and dip the wheels overnight - is there any place local to you that could do this? Prior to this, he used an oxy acetylene flame to burn off powdercoating (lacquer is not as tough). Put up a pic of the wheels so we can see your problem.
Loads of my bike friends remove paint, lacquer etc in order to mirror polish - it does wear your fingers out though.
If the wheels are on your TR7, just cover the car, leaving the wheels exposed, and nature will run it's course

Pete

Ian - the pockets are empty! PO - I think the car would rot away before this stuff peeled off the wheels. I am also trying to do all this without taking the tyres off the wheels!!

Just use wet and dry then - start rough, then get smoother - like your fingers will be - works though.
Put up a pic though to let us see how bad they are.

Pete

They're clearly bin fodder, and so long as they're either 4" or 3.75" PCD, I'll dispose of them for you. Just pay the postage ;)

If the laquer is quite thick, careful use of a scraper might get the worst off (I managed to nearly successfully strip laquered wood/ veneer door trims with one). But I've yet to find anything Nitromors doesn't burn through and it' cheap enough if you buy in the right places (5 quid a small can at the hardware store, £9 at the motor factors, 2 quid in Woolworths!).

Those nylony abrasive wheels already mentioned are well regarded by a few people I know who'd cleaned up wheels too.