Restoring the paint on 1993 Allante chrome wheels
The chrome wheels on our 1993 Allante’s are now 30 years old. Over the years brake dust and dirt has accumulated in the 14 holes that are around the perimeter of the wheels. This discoloration is virtually impossible to remove. In many cases the silver painting that filled the recess around the arrowhead and hole is chipped off.
I decided to restore this paint for the chrome wheels I was putting on my Pearl Red car. My first step was to get a good wheel cleaner and coat the areas. I let it stand a while then brushed it with a plastic oversized tooth bush. This removed some brake dust and stain but not much. After that I used a cup wire brush on my Dremel tool to clean the area. This removed more of the caked brake dust but the stains remained. It was then I decided to repaint the area.
The first step was to mask off the chrome that was not going to be painted. No easy task because the recesses are quite intricate. I used a good quality masking tape Scotch Blue #2080EL. I wanted to be sure not to get any paint leakage under the tape onto the chrome.
I found that once the tape was applied you could easily see the arrow head and recess design lines under the tape.
Using a sharp box cutter knife I followed the line of the recess and removed the tape from the area to be painted.
Following this same technique, I went all around the wheel taping the chrome so as not to get it painted.
Once the taping was completed (about a 45-minute job per wheel) I was ready for the paint. I had in my shop a spray can of Dupli-color High Performance Wheel Coating that was the perfect silver color. Using this I applied two coats letting the paint get tacky between coats. It covered the stains and the areas that where chipped off quite well. If your careful you don’t have to remove the tires from the rims to do this.
I’am really happy on how they turned out. Now I just need to keep them clean!
The Results made me very Happy.
