Refinishing stock 1st gen wheels?

Picked up a set of 5 spoke wheels for $50, but it looks like the finish has started coming off. I haven’t had a chance to delve into it to see if they would clean up somehow, but my initial thought it to repaint them. Seems like I’ve seen where someone here took a wire wheel and completely stripped them, but I can’t find the post now.

Any suggestions on what to do? Skuff them up and repaint, or can they be cleaned up and left as is?

 

I just had my FJ Cruiser wheels refurbished at Alloy Wheel Repair Specialist. They acid dip the rims to remove the original coating and road grim, then apply a new powder coat. They look fantastic and have a lifetime warranty. They have locations all over the USA.

My rims have a machined face, so there's more involved. The price I paid included dismount, remount, and balancing.

The price to do your wheels should be less than I paid since there's no tires mounted and there's no machined face.

The cost for my 4 wheels was just over $600.

 

Thanks! I'll look into that. I tried to used aircraft stripper on mine, but I suppose they're not painted like I thought. All it did was leave behind an orange residue/film and lifted nothing off of the rim.

 

They're probably powder coated, and that's very different from paint. It's more like a plastic coating that's baked onto the bare metal.

 

I recommend having a wheel repair shop that does repairs/refinish/powder coat finish on your wheels. I had my 1st generation OEM 15" aluminum alloy wheels that I bought off of Craig's List with mold growing on it cleaned/powdercoated in black by West Coast Wheel Repair in Fremont about 2 years ago. I'm very happy with the way my OEM aluminum alloy wheels look when I drive down the street. If you like your stock OEM wheels, you might want to consider this as an option.