# Bead blasting / Acid dip ??



## andyollie (Dec 5, 2005)

need a set of polished alloys cleaned up, i.e remove the lacquer but not harm the polished alloy. Not going down the home paint stripped route because it can be a time consuming process and leaves lumps of paint behind sometimes. Is acid dipping / bead blasting the way to go?

Does anyone know what finish either of the two above leave?


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## snoop69 (Jun 16, 2007)

I would say that of the two,bead blasting would be safer if you
mask up the polished area.

Im sure that acid dipping would remove the shine & you would have
to re polish afterwards.

I used Nitromoors on my wheel (bike) & there wasnt much 'lumping'
left behind.

The wheels need to be sanded after anyway to ensure all the paint
stripper has been removed before painting etc.


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## L200 Steve (Oct 25, 2005)

Bead blasting tends to leave a slightly satin finish. Depends on the hardness of the alloys, with some hardly being affected, whilst other softer alloys marking up pretty badly. If the bead blaster knows what they are doing, they should turn down the pressure of the blast for the softer alloy types?

Depending on who does the acid stripping depends on whether the finish (polished) degrades and goes dull. Your may have to have them lightly polished afterwards.

Is there no-one in NI doing plastic media stripping? Look this up, as this is the biz. Low pressure, lightweight media - leaves zero marking of the alloy whilst still quickly removing the old paint from your rims:thumb:


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## EliteCarCare (Aug 25, 2006)

A chemical dip is less likely to damage the surface of the alloys, you'll probably have to get them polished up again but it shouldn't take long.

Bead blasting, depending on the media which is used can damage the surface, especially with a soft metal. In the States some companies bead blast using finely crushed walnut shells, this does the job or removing all the unwanted paint etc but it's kind to the surface. Don't know if there's anyone over here doing it?

Hope this helps.

Alex


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