Removing paint

[ion-xe]

So I took the tyres off the rims by boiling them. They were ballooning quite badly so I did the duct tape trick. During the boiling process the chrome faded, so I decided to paint the rims black. My question is how do I remove the left over chrome paint? Is it possible to sandblast the rims?(I have a light duty sandblaster at home).

 

[NCNitro]

You can easily strip the chrome off the rims using Easy Off oven cleaner in the yellow can. Just spray them heavily, come back in about 10 or 15 minutes and rinse them off, it's that simple, and the easy off will not harm the plastic at all. I have left it on rims overnight once just to see what would happen, the rims were perfectly fine the next morning and all the chrome was gone.

 

[JettaManDan]

you can also scuff the rims with some scotch brite and some sandpaper - but i think you'd need an adhesion promoter to make the paint stick...

 

[ion-xe]

You can easily strip the chrome off the rims using Easy Off oven cleaner in the yellow can. Just spray them heavily, come back in about 10 or 15 minutes and rinse them off, it's that simple, and the easy off will not harm the plastic at all. I have left it on rims overnight once just to see what would happen, the rims were perfectly fine the next morning and all the chrome was gone.

I'm in South Africa so I can't get that exact oven cleaner... I'll try some of the oven cleaner we have on the inside of the rim first to double check that it doesn't cause damage to the plastic

you can also scuff the rims with some scotch brite and some sandpaper - but i think you'd need an adhesion promoter to make the paint stick...

I was afraid I'd have to sand it lol
I have some spray paint from Tamiya for plastic. I think it's a good idea to add adhesion promoter anyway

 

[NCNitro]

If you paint over chrome, even after scuffing the chrome, the chrome can still flake off under the paint leaving big blotches on your rims. I would get the chrome off no matter what, if you plan on painting them.

 

[ion-xe]

If you paint over chrome, even after scuffing the chrome, the chrome can still flake off under the paint leaving big blotches on your rims. I would get the chrome off no matter what, if you plan on painting them.

Your oven cleaner advice worked like a charm! Only a few bits of chrome remaining. Would've sanded it, but it's in hard to reach places. Going to sandblast it on thursday with a fine grain sand and low pressure. They are basher rims so I don't mind if the sand blasting leaves them a little rough. Rather that than having the paint flake off

 

[NCNitro]

Hit it again with the oven cleaner to get the last little bits off. It won't harm the plastic at all. I have used it to strip chrome off rims, bumpers, just about any chrome plated plastic it works great on.

Then if the plastic is white you can actually dye it rather than paint it and it will not scratch off at all that way.

 

[ion-xe]

Hit it again with the oven cleaner to get the last little bits off. It won't harm the plastic at all. I have used it to strip chrome off rims, bumpers, just about any chrome plated plastic it works great on.

Then if the plastic is white you can actually dye it rather than paint it and it will not scratch off at all that way.

I let the rim lie in the cleaner for a good 10 minutes, but the last few stubborn patches remained.

I actually tried to dye the rims a few days ago. I removed some of the chrome with acetone(it took some rubbing). Couldn't find RIT dye anywhere so had to use some other dye(Can't remember name). Underneath the chrome it's as if the rim has a varnish coat of paint. The dye colored the whole rim except where the chrome used to be. So the whole rim is now dye'd black except for the important visible front part.

I'm gonna put the rim in oven cleaner overnight. Will acetone ruin the rim if left overnight?

 

[NCNitro]

That I couldn't answer honstly as I have never tried it. I belive Olds97lss has put rims in acetone overnight to remove tires, but I am not 100% sure on that.