Refinishing aluminum snowflake (or honeycomb for that matter) rims is not an easy task but it is well worth it in the end. I does take some time and alot of elbow grease to clean these things up after 20 some years of road work. Now of course there are better ways to do this, but I don't have a machine shop and a lathe big enough to handle a job like

this. Come to think of it, I don't have a lathe at all. The picture to the right illustrates the complete re-machining of the wheel. If you want this done to your wheels, contact Dave at Restore a Muscle Car. He can do this for you. You can e-mail him here: Dave Hall dave@restoreamusclecar.com

There are just a few things that you need to do this; 1.) A Dremmel tool with all of the attachments and then some; 2.) A metal finishing pad (kinda like an SOS pad); 3.) steel wool; 4.) sanding sponges; 5.) varying grades of wet sand paper (1500 - 2000 grit); 6.) aluminum polish; 7.) gold or silver paint (depending on which color suits your car); 8.) clear coat paint; 9.) air compressor with paint gun; 10.) and last but not least ... TIME! I will also mention that all of the sanding material and steel wool, try to get the fine material and not the coarse stuff. They all do have different ratings on them so make sure you read it. It you use material that is too coarse, then you will have a hell of a time removing the fine scratches from the surface of the wheels.

Ok, now that you have your tools ready to go and a couple of weekends set aside you

are ready to get going. The first thing to remove is any major nicks and scuffs. I used the Dremmel tool with a brass/copper bristle wheel to do this. You don't want to use the steel/carbon

wheel because that is too harsh on the face of the wheel. It takes some time and a steady hand for this. Make sure you just use the edge of the brushes and not to use alot of pressure.

Once you have removed any nicks and blemishes from the face of the wheel, move the edges of the rim and the back of the rim and clean those as well. Now since the edge of the rim is hidden by the tires, use the sanding sponges and metal finishing pads here to remove any sticky material left from the tires. When sanding, makes sure you move with the grain and curve of the wheel and not against it.

Now that you have all of the dirty work done, you can get to the fine sanding and polishing. Start with the 1500 grit wet sandpaper and go over any areas that seem to have a somewhat dull of scratchy finish. Finish it off with the 2000 grit paper again stating that you need to work with the grain and curves of the wheel and NEVER against it. This is what takes a bit of time, but it does put a nice shine on the rims.

As you can see from the photos above, the one on the left side was done for a Pontiac Trans Am Special Edition from 1978. The one on the right side was done for any other Trans Am from 1978 to 1981 that had the WS6 package. Click here for a release from 1978 about these rims. Also check this page out for difference between the rims for most years 1970-1981. As you can see, only the wells on the inside of the rim is painted and not the entire rim interior. You basically need to mask of just about the entire rim. Now this wouldn't be too bad if the spokes were all the same width ... but of course they aren't. One more thing to keep in mind through this entire process is take your time! You are not in a race to finish this. It would be a shame if you took all this time in prepping the rims only to screw it up with spotty paint work. Now I can't sit here and describe how to do a correct paint job. It would just take to long to write down the process about flexing your wrist and equal distance. If you do not know what you are doing with the paint, take it to someone who does. Like I said, it would be a shame to waste all that time only to finish off by doing a half-ass job. I will tell you that some people like to finish off the paint job with a couple of coats of clear coat to protect the rims. I don't see a reason to do this since the factory didn't do it either. But hey, they are your rims. Once the paint is dry, you have a nice set of rims to show off your beauty.

I have had so many requests for the color codes for the Gold paint used in refinishing these rims that I thought rather than keep on emailing people with the codes and where to get it from I figured I would just post the information here. You can get the correct color paint for the gold rims from PPG Industries (which sells locally in select stores). Now, just to let you know that the original paint code doesn't make a difference. They used different paint types back then and you can't use the original paint code from 1978. this paint code is also from paint from PPG Industries. You can't take this code to a Sherwin Williams and expect them to mix this. Call PPG Industries and they will give you a list of a local store in your area that can mix it for you. The color code from PPG for the Special Edition Gold rims is #82352 in lacquer or enamel paint. If you need the Argent paint for Non-Special Edition cars, the single stage enamel is #8568, or the lacquer paint #2593. You can call PPG Industries at 1-800-848-2683, or visit their website below and make sure you mention www.78ta.com:

Now for those of you who have the tools (and also for those of you who stuck around long enough to read this far down the page), there is an easier way to accomplish this. If you have these tools, then keep reading. You need an Air Compressor (one with enough horsepower to keep up the RPM on air tools), air tools such as a sandblasting kit, dye grinder, glass beads for sandblaster, buffing/polishing wheels, polishing compound (Emery compound and Tripoli compound), and possibly still the Dremmel tool with attachments.

The first thing to do is to blast the wheel clean of all of the major dirt and debris such as break dust and corrosion from time. It is best to do this outdoors and also get a pair of goggles and face mask so you don't inhale this stuff because it does get pretty messy. Use the air compressor and sandblasting kit with the glass beads to blast clean the back side of the rims. Keep the nozzle of the sandblaster about 4 to 6 inches away from the surface of the wheel. If you get it to close you might do more damage than good. Because if you get too close for too long even the glass beads can cause pitting of the soft aluminum. It is best to only use the glass beads on the front if you have major corrosion or paint to remove. So the glass beads just makes it easier to clean the back. Once the rims are clear of the major dust and debris, you can use what you read above to clean the front of the wheels. You can use the Dremmel tool to do this or the metal finishing pads, but you don't have to use the fine grit sandpaper. You can also try using the glass beads in the inner rim to remove the adhesive from the tires or you can use the Dremmel to do this. Click HERE to see the difference between the glass beads and using the Dremmel.

Now you can start with the polishing wheels and compounds. Start by getting your wheel firmly attached somewhere to make it easy to work on. I attached mine to a vice which is bolted to my workbench. Make sure that you use some kind of cloth or something on the vice so that you don't scratch the rim. You need to do this because you will be using quite a bit of pressure with the buffing wheels to get

that high shine to the rims. now you can use the buffing wheels with the Tripoli compound to try and remove any scratches from curb rash, or fine scratches from the Dremmel tool. I used the buffing wheels with the dye grinder for this phase. If you don't have an air compressor with enough horsepower to keep the rpm's up, then you can always use a high speed drill with the buffing wheels. The drill just makes it a little harder to maneuver around the rim. Once again, remember what I said above by always working with the curve of the rim and not against it. Work from the inside of the rim and work your way out always following the curve of the rim. Apply the Tripoli compound and Emery compound to the buffing wheel as needed to up the effectiveness of it. There is more to polishing than this, but go check out www.caswellplating.com for more information on polishing aluminum. You can also download this .pdf document on polishing.

Once again, if you are not sure on doing this, then practice on the back of your rim first so you don't do any damage to the front. This still is quite a bit of manual labor involved in this project but it is far less than sanding everything by hand. The money spent on polishing wheels and compounds was still less than $100.00 so I think it was well worth the cost. Click HERE to see the difference between wet sanding the rims and using polishing compounds and buffing wheels to finish your rims. By using the polish, you will see a huge difference in the shine of your rims. With enough time and labor, you can get your rims to have that "Mirror" shine to them. Or click here for more photos.