DIY aluminum wheels refinishing

[Eric Sanborn]

I second the cudos for The Eastwood Company.  Tons of great stuff.  I
have used one of their aluminum clear coats before.  I didn't have
great luck however as it was designed for cast aluminum wheels and I
used it on a polished road bike frame.  It tended to bead up.  I think
an etching primer would have helped.  That was 12 years ago and I knew
less about surface prep at the time.

As for anodizing it gives amazing results on 6000 series Alumimums as
the company I work for regularly gets that done.  However I have never
sucessfully anodized cast aluminum.  I am not saying it can't be done,
because I just don't know.   I do know from my attempts it didn't
stick.

If you want to try anodizing I recommend looking in your local phone
book.  Give them a call and see what they think.  They will likely
tell you the only way to know is to try it.  Unless you have an extra
to ruin I wouldn't as the ones I have tried were left with specs of
the anodizing that did stick.

Based on our local shop I figure (just a guess here) that you could
get 4 wheels done in Type II clear for about US$150 ish.

Some day I need to either refinish or replace my wheels too...

-- 

Eric Sanborn
http://sofadog.net/4ktq/