racerbvd

I had one of my sets restored back to OEM finish by Wiedman, took a year (literally) and cost $2K for the concours condition, I have also had some powder coated black (I have a great powder coater up here, PowderTech Plus) and I'm pretty sure that he could come very close to the OEM finish. This wasn't an option for me since it was a concours weenie car, but had I known in advance how long & much it was going to cost, I dang sure would have tried my extra set 1st...

neunfünfeins

Reviving this thread to ask... does anyone know of a good anodizing business for ClubSports on the East Coast? Cost per wheel?
I don't need concours, just nice. Don't want to spend a fortune, and don't really want to ship them cross-country to Wheel Enhancements if I can help it.

Some goon prior to me muffed up my wheels with (presumbably) an acid-based wheel cleaner. I've used the wheel protectant trick to "hide" some of the mottling, but I would really rather just refinish these to like-new condition. There's 27 years and 90k miles worth of road rash, impact wrench dings, and mild curb rash as well.

One of my good friends does polishing plating and powdercoating but not anodizing... I know his $32K wheel polishing machine would make these perfect and look like chrome for around 500 bucks total, but I'm fighting to stay original if I can get them re-anodized for somewhere in the same ballpark.

MAGK944

You say you don't need concours but then say you would like them in like-new condition.

Anodizing is very specialized, done by large companies, I haven't heard of any small operations doing anodizing and that's probably what you are looking for. The large firms generally won't do one-offs and if by chance they do it would likely be very expensive.

If I was in your situation I would powercoat. These days there are advanced powder coatings in many finishes, including coatings that you probably couldn't tell side-by-side from an anodized finish. You get the stock look and it would be considerably cheaper than anodizing.

Matt O.

If you choose to get rid of them, I'll buy them from you. Been looking for CS wheels for a long time...

neunfünfeins

Well I'm still holding out hope that I might get some good suggestions on the anodizing.
Like-new does not have to mean concours. The wheels aren't perfect to begin with, and neither is the car certainly.
Yes I always have the option of going to my powdercoating buddy, and we could probably find something very close to the same finish... but it wouldn't be the same.

Matt, a couple of months ago I might've taken you up on your offer.
Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of the CS styling... I don't think it does a whole lot for the cars aesthethically, and I swear I've seen plastic Camry hubcabs with darn close to the same look. But I've come to respect them for their originality to the car and for being forged and lightweight. It also doesn't hurt that some of my buddies like them more than I do. I want to run some different wheels, but I know if got rid of these I'd regret it someday, so I'm hanging onto them. And in that case, they need a makeover.

You know what it is, really? I don't like the fronts. I think the rears look great, with how the faces are dished in. But the fronts bulge out (more than D90s) and look silly and mismatched to me. If they could have tweaked the geometry to give the fronts less offset and a similar profile as the rears, I think they'd be awesome.

FLT951

Plastidip has a ton of possibilities that are worthy. Pull up a screen of photos. look at the colors. One can per wheel and you have a solution that is not permanent or can be. I did it to some grunge wheels I was going to off and they turned out great. Going to redo in a few months to a different color just for change of pace.

Willard Bridgham 3

Send them to Wheel Enhancement and get them re-anodized, it's worth it.

JET951

It wasn't acid that damaged the anodised finish ( heavy in Alkaline) , it was the very very very common Alkaline based wheel cleaners , 95% of all alloy wheels cleaners on the market are Alkaline based , the alkaline solution will not damage a painted alloy wheel finish ( be it just straight paint or more common silver paint & then a clear coat )

But the common wheel cleaners will destroy the anodised finish "Fuchs" forged & anodised wheels in a fraction of a second

Remember 99.99% of all alloy wheels on cars sold to the public are "painted " and / or clear coated as well , hence why the cheap to make alkaline based wheel cleaners are so common

The Fuchs wheels ( all anodised ) where only used on some Porsche's last century & then only up to 1991 ( the 1991 928S4 was the last Porsche to get the expensive forged & anodised Fuchs wheels )

Porsche / Fuchs always recommended a PH balanced wheel cleaner for the Fuchs wheels , interestingly even battery acid will not damage the anodised finish ( I Strongly NOT recommend battery acid ) but its interesting none the less

raleighBahn

So you have tried cleaning with P21, rubbing in Vaseline (petroleum jelly), then buffing it out? I did this (as per owner manual), and mine look great.

neunfünfeins

You are correct. Alkaline, acid... it's all the same to me because I don't use any of that crap.
The only chemical I used on them was an iron remover (the kind that turns purple) that is acid-free and neutral pH, and that was just to help cut through the layers of baked on brake dust. It was safe for them.

Okay I admit I didn't try Vaseline... wouldn't that just be a dirt magnet? I put a wheel protectant on them that I use on my polished wheels, and it helped a lot, but nothing will really restore the original appearance other than getting them smoothed out and re-anodized.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I realize I have lots of options, but... I was really just looking for answers to my original questions:
WE is a bit pricier than I wanted to spend especially with shipping, but if that's really my only viable anodizing solution...

raleighBahn

Definitely try it. It is the verbatim instructions from the owner's manual. Put a bunch on, then buff it off. Once you buff it out, it's not like a bunch is there.