sand blasting alloy wheels?

[Gaz]

A friend of mine has a sand blaster/ compressor etc...

What would result if i used it on a set of imitation split rim speedline alloys i have laying around?

is there any advice u can offer me? they are quite corroded/flaky on the outer edge..

is it safe to go over the whole wheel? and then primer, and re paint?

I was also thinking it would be nice to take them back to the alloy, and simply clear lacquer them ? or will they not come up very nice?

My friend was also worried it might pit the alloy? ? ? is this likely? and if it is, can it be sorted with a bit of wire wool or something??


I did try rubbing one of them down by hand, but takes fekin ages.. hence why i'd like to get the blaster on them.

Cheers in advance.

[Coxy]

dunno, but it's worth a try!

I've got a set you can practice on. As long as you only use a fine media like sand I guess you should be alright as it will fetch all the lacquer off pretty quickly.

Only problem would be the plastic "fake" bolts.

[JasonB]

All depends what pressure / strength the blast media comes out at.

A few years ago I had a set of MR2 alloys done and when I picked them up the whole wheel looked like a rough sand cast finish!
It took me ages to polish up the spoke faces back to what they were.
The place did mostly structural steel work and must have been blasting large chunks of grit at the wheel.

Also just had a set of Lexus 5 spokes done (in a different place) and I spoke to the guy about my concerns. He dipped the wheel in chemicals to take off 80% of the paint and lacquer the gave each wheel a light pass with the compressor turned down to minimum pressure.
A much better result - still needs a little flatting before painting.
Been told to use an etch primer to start with for b etter adhesion.
Be warned that polishing alloys to a 'chrome like' finish is very,very time consuming. Large flast face can be done OK but spoke edges, rims etc can take for ever.

JB