This morning I went back at it. There were some places that had begun to dry and I thought I might have to wet it with stripper again, but I decided to see what happens first. Here is what it looked like after 18 hours of soak time.
I rolled it out to the driveway and went after it with a bucket of hot soapy water and a large soft bristle brush that was made for washing wheels on cars. Followed by a clear water rinse from the hose.
After drying it all off and rolling it back into the garage I could see that all the clear coat had been removed but the wheel looked splotchy, you could see where the clear coat had been.
Now this is where it gets good. I went at it with Blue Magic polish, and man! What a transformation! I couldn't be happier, it looks like chrome. Sure the wheel has some scratches and nicks but hey, it's 40 years old.
Check out the cloths I used, this came off a wheel that looked clean.
And now the final results!
This whole process was not hard at all, took a little time but not hard.
Thanks to ggGary for putting me on to Blue Magic, that stuff is amazing.
Couple of notes: I don't think it needed to sit overnight. The finish looked completely lifted after a few hours. That stripper is wonderfully odor free. Also the final thing I did was run a small buffing wheel over it. Not really necessary but brought the shine up really nice.
Must be time for a celebratory beer!
