?'s About Stripping Painted Wheels

[rayfinkle5]

Found a few sets of wheels I am interested in but all of them are painted. If I strip the paint off will I find the factory finish underneath? My fear is that the wheels were painted to cover something up. I am most interested in a set of early CL-S wheels that have the bare metal (polished?) finish. My goal would be to return them to their original glory. What should I look for when inspecting them? Will I be able to tell if tell if the paint is covering up a flaw?

Thanks.

 

[SykVSyx]

You can strip the paint off and get somewhere to restore them to their OEM finish regardless of any flaws you might find.

 

[RedRyder]

On CL-S rims, the faces of the spokes are machined, they look polished from a distance but if you look closely and run your finger along the finish you can feel how it’s “stepped” from the machining. The sides of the spokes are a little darker alloy, it looks like it was painted a slightly dark silver or something. If you want I can dig up pics of my old CL-S wheels.

If you find painted OEM wheels it either means the owner didn’t like the OEM finish, or they got curbed up. So the only real way to know would be to ask the seller, or strip the paint yourself.

If you’re looking for CL-S rims specifically, it’s not that hard to find them in OEM finish, I’d just keep looking until you find a set.