Looking for ideas on restoring Ravine wheels

[MrMark52]

As the title Ravine wheels on my 2003 are in pretty bad shape, have been since I bought the Jeep. The issue isn’t so much the road rash as it is the peeling paint.

Just looking for ideas/suggestions on how to proceed to clean them up and what to repaint with. From the few threads I’ve come across, it sounds like using aircraft paint stripper to remove what’s left of what I figure is the OEM paint, repaint, then apply clear.

any suggestions on process or materials to use would be appreciated. FYI - tires are mounted on wheels, and wheels mounted to Jeep. Spare is Ravine as well so I’ll probably rotate the spare to the ground and so on to gain a tire rotation at the same time. My guess is this will be more than a day job.

 

[Chris]

While I'm not entirely sure of the process, they are alloy so you'd have start by stripping them entirely, cleaning them up, and then polishing them up. Once that is done and they are all clean, you would take them to a paint shop and have them painted.

Keep in mind these things are painted with automotive paint, they are NOT power coated. It's not a good idea to powder coat wheels. Instead they use a special kind of automotive paint from what I am told that works well on wheels.

This would of course be more than a day job, and there are many, many wheel refinishers out there who do this for a living, usually for reasonable prices. That might be worth looking into if you don't want a big project.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

This is all you need.

 

[PCO6]

... My guess is this will be more than a day job.

I've finished wheels in several different ways and you're right it can take days. I've come to the conclusion that it's best to farm them out!

The worst I've done has been respoking and painting wire wheels for old MG's, Triumphs, Jags, etc. There's a lot more available now and at reasonable prices but that's what we used to do.

I did a pair of Jeep MOABs for my trailer a few years ago. I blasted them in my cabinet (not fun) and painted them with Duplicolor spray bombs. They have held up OK but not great which is no surprise. If I'd properly sprayed them with automotive paint the result would have been much better.

I had a set of MOAB wheels powder coated about 2 years ago. I took my worst wheel and my best wheel in and the shop said it didn't matter ... "bring me your worst" and he was right. They cost $100 CDN ea. (about $75 US). They turned out great and that's very reasonable when you consider what almost any new wheel costs.

Last week I took in a set of rough and pitted Jeep Turbine wheels for my MJ. It was a different shop and process. They blasted them, painted them silver, turned them in a lathe to remove the pits from the areas that were originally polished and then powdered coated them with clear. The cost was $125 CDN ($95 US) per wheel so again pretty reasonable. I posted them earlier today in another thread but here they are again ...

 

[MrMark52]

Thanks all!

To clarify - i was thinking more like taking 1 day to do the spare and when done, put it on the ground (let’s say LF). Then the next day, take the now spare and restore it and move to LR, then restore the now spare, restore it and install on RF, take the now spare, restore it and install on RR, take the now spare, restore it, and it becomes the spare.
Doing it this way, I can keep it as a DD (otherwise a 28 foot motorhome becomes my DD since the Ms likes her Buick - and at 6-7 mpg, probably not economically feasible to remove all 5 and take to a restorer. Besides, being retired I’ve got plenty of time, so between paint stripper and Jerry’s sage advice - that is probably somewhat the direction I’ll take. Otherwise I’m playing in the streets and chasing things I shouldn’t be chasing ).
And I agree with @Chris , powder coat is probably not a real good idea. For starters, the tires would have to be removed as for as much as i paid for the tires, I don’t think they would stand up to the heat. Not to mention adhesion to aluminum (yes, it can be done after bead/sand blasting - used to do it to some air cleaner components that a company I worked for manufactured and sold - but industrial air cleaners don’t see the same environments that car wheels do).

Ive seen some YouTube videos of people cleaning up/stripping allow wheels and repainting. In most cases, they are seemingly polished aluminum wheels with suggestions that they were clear coated - and the clear coat must be removed prior to folling the @Jerry Bransford method of polishing out the surface corrosion.

But the Ravine’s are not polished best I can tell. It’s a gray paint that peels off as what seems to be a thick gray poly plastic film. And then very likely clear-coated to give a somewhat Shiney appearance, but not as Shiney as polished wheels like we’re on my ‘03 GC that I had until I split it in two running into a tree back in 2011.

Again, some of the YouTube videos showed using Duplicolor spray bombs for repainting. I went to their website, it does look like they have a color that’s close, silver or gray. I might give those a whirl.

Again, to all who have responded, many Thanks - always appreciate your inputs. Looking forward to replies to the above or new thoughts from anyone else who might be reading. Not sure when I’ll be getting to the wheels - all the parts to replace my exhaust system from the exhaust headers all the way to the back bumper arrived via UPS yesterday. With low temperatures and rain in the near forecast, and no garage to work in, the wheels will have to wait.

 

[MrMark52]

So, a picture is worth a thousand words - here’s what I got (sorry their dirty) (oops, wait - there’s more than 1 - sorry) -

This picture is a good example of the “paint” on the wheels and how it is flaking or peeling away. Note how the paint follows the wheel contours at around middle left of the indentation. It tells me the whole wheel, or at least the indented interior spoke area was painted.
Question is, is it a factory coating or not and if so, what color.

Here you can see both flaking paint and where I wiped the brake dust away with my finger. The flaking paint is somewhat in contact of the wheel weight - my finger wipe is more centered between the spokes. The finger wipe area is as smooth as a baby’s behind (could be the original cause of the flaking). Note also that on the 4 wheels on the ground, there’s probably less than 5% of the paint left on them (that I can tell considering they are dirty).

This one you can see the orange peel of the paint. Both Shiney areas are where I finger wiped the wheel.

Notice also that in the pictures showing the lug nuts you don’t see any flaking - makes me wonder what the heck is going on. It’s as if paint was never applied in that area because none of the wheels have paint peel in the areas of the lug nuts.

And finally, am wondering if doing nothing more than somehow getting the paint residual removed, then putting a buffing wheel on rouge on the drill and going to work somewhat polishing. Don’t want and don’t need a chrome-like shine, but just something that makes the wheels look like they’re supposed to wheel clean.

Thoughts?

 

[Fouledplugs]

So, a picture is worth a thousand words - here’s what I got (sorry their dirty) (oops, wait - there’s more than 1 - sorry) -

View attachment 198503
View attachment 198504
This picture is a good example of the “paint” on the wheels and how it is flaking or peeling away. Note how the paint follows the wheel contours at around middle left of the indentation. It tells me the whole wheel, or at least the indented interior spoke area was painted.
Question is, is it a factory coating or not and if so, what color.

View attachment 198505
Here you can see both flaking paint and where I wiped the brake dust away with my finger. The flaking paint is somewhat in contact of the wheel weight - my finger wipe is more centered between the spokes. The finger wipe area is as smooth as a baby’s behind (could be the original cause of the flaking). Note also that on the 4 wheels on the ground, there’s probably less than 5% of the paint left on them (that I can tell considering they are dirty).


View attachment 198506View attachment 198507
This one you can see the orange peel of the paint. Both Shiney areas are where I finger wiped the wheel.


View attachment 198508View attachment 198509

Notice also that in the pictures showing the lug nuts you don’t see any flaking - makes me wonder what the heck is going on. It’s as if paint was never applied in that area because none of the wheels have paint peel in the areas of the lug nuts.

And finally, am wondering if doing nothing more than somehow getting the paint residual removed, then putting a buffing wheel on rouge on the drill and going to work somewhat polishing. Don’t want and don’t need a chrome-like shine, but just something that makes the wheels look like they’re supposed to wheel clean.

Thoughts?

Look around your local area for an alloy wheel repair shop. They can make them look brand new, striping them, repainting them true them, and have any cracks, dings, and dents repaired.

Alternatively, you could work on finding some used genuine Mopar Ravine wheels in the used market through Facebook marketplace, craigslist, and/or eBay. Allowing you the ability to take your time and have them refinished, spreading the cost across some time to ease the cost.

Once you have the additional wheels done, you could sell your stockers for some return on cost. Although, dont expect it to be a big chunk of change.

With that being said, you may have better luck finding a set of used genuine Mopar Ravine wheels in better shape.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

I'd almost say those were cleared at some point. The finish on mine are starting to deteriorate, but only with some minor bubbling around the wheel center caps. S. Florida is one of the harshest areas for finishes.

If I refinish, I plan on having them blasted, and use CeraKote on them. I'm debating using that on all add-ons as well.

 

[Hog]

This is all you need.

View attachment 198272

Shit.. I didn’t know they sold it in a can... I’ve been busting my ass for years!!

 

[MrMark52]

Look around your local area for an alloy wheel repair shop. They can make them look brand new, striping them, repainting them true them, and have any cracks, dings, and dents repaired.

Alternatively, you could work on finding some used genuine Mopar Ravine wheels in the used market through Facebook marketplace, craigslist, and/or eBay. Allowing you the ability to take your time and have them refinished, spreading the cost across some time to ease the cost.

Once you have the additional wheels done, you could sell your stockers for some return on cost. Although, dont expect it to be a big chunk of change.

With that being said, you may have better luck finding a set of used genuine Mopar Ravine wheels in better shape.

Thanks Fouledplugs! Being retired I’ve got more time than money right now - but I have been perusing all those venues for a set (found a set of 4 on Craigslist last week for $150 that looked really, really good - but tires were shot. So would either need to got with a new set, or move the Firestones with between 5k and 10k miles on them over which would set me back another $100). Agreed, I could probably sell the Firestones/Ravines and get most of my money back, at least for the wheels.
The wheel restorer route might be a good way to go.