Borbet a's- How to refinish?

[Jbpka06]

I just picked up this set of borbet A's and they could use a little loving.



Does anyone know if these wheels came from the factory with just clearcoat over the bare aluminum or is there a coat of silver paint on there too? Is the lip polished or painted? I need to know in order to refinish them.

I am planning on stripping the existing finish off and I just want to know what I will be left with and whether or not to plan on painting the wheels or just clearcoating them.

[asubimmer]

just don't go ALL the way down to the metal, just sand it a bit

[Jbpka06]

Why not go all the way down and start over with primer and such?

[asubimmer]

I hear that the new paint/primer won't stick as good. who knows

[Jbpka06]

Should i polish the lip or paint it?

[AndrewBird]

Take them to a powdercoating place. A local one near me will strip and powdercoat wheels any color you want for $40 a wheel or $50 a wheel with clearcoat over the top of the color.

[e30sd]

having actually run powdercoated wheels for a number of years and not talking out of my ass, only powdercoat them if you plan on using them on a show car. just paint/clear them, you'll have better all-around results.

[Jbpka06]

I cant afford to powdercoat so its not an option. Should I polish or paint the lip?

[Lair]

I put a set of type A's on a 944 I used to have. The lip is clear-coated, and the best way to polish them is to remove the clear with stripper. Once the clearcoat is gone, a simple rubdown with Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish will make them gleam.

The only problem is stripping the clear off the lip without screwing up the silver paint.

[Jbpka06]

Well i plan on painting the wheel with Wurth silver and clear, so i'll just mask off the lip and then polish it up.

[Avus E30]

make sure you polish before you paint may be common sense but still wanted to say it

[Jbpka06]

well i'm glad you said that because i figured polishing would be the last step. haha

[Avus E30]

when you polish you are gonna have trouble not screwing up the paint. youll want to do paint prep then polish then tape off the polish and then paint

[Jbpka06]

That doesnt sound too bad, and type a's look super easy to mask.

[Lair]

Technically, you won't be polishing anything. Polishing makes an object smooth. The lips are already smooth, they're just covered with clearcoat.

"Buffing" is what you'll be doing after you strip. Buffing makes an object shine, and that's all you'll need to do after the clear is off.

Once the silver paint cures completely, you can buff the lip all you want.