the paint on my hx rims are starting to chip after 2 years. so i decided to give it a bit of a makeover to have it looking better. it looks like the black paint is still pretty good and just a little bit of chip so i decided to leave that alone. now the silver lip is in terrible condition and decided to polish them instead of repainted the whole thing. since its just the lip i want to redo i went with sanding it to polish them instead of using paint stripper, i didn't want it to drip onto the black part. in the end i want to have black with polish lip hx rims. i started working on them last night, but it didn't get too far, i was hoping to finish one rim. I started sanding them with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the silver paint. i went to home depot and grab 20 sheets of 220 grit sandpaper and 3 sheets of 150 grit. i got the 150 grit to see if it will remove the paint faster. I will update this post as i am getting them done. i'm hoping it will turn out great.

The process that i am using. starting out with 220 grit to get to the polish part of the rim and working my way up on the grit. 220 grit, 320, 400, 600, 1000 and them i am going to wetsand them at 1500 and 2000 grit. then i am going to use blue magic wheel polisher and finishing up with royal blue wax.

 

Sounds like a thorough plan of attack. Periodic waxing should preserve your handy work well enough; are you wanting to avoid using clear coat?

 

are you talking about using clear coat after i polish them, i might if that helps. but i will probably just use the blue magic wheel polish to keep them clean.

i forgot to add that, i took my car to wheel works and had them re balance my wheels. before i took it in the wheel weights were clipped on the outside so i had them stick the weights on the inside, looks hell of a lot better.

 

Yeah, there is a trade off though, they might lose some of their lustre. If you're looking for that ultra polished look your wax approach is probably best. Just have to keep on top of it.

 

here are some pics that i just snapped

Before the weights were moved



After the weights were moved



the worst rim out of the 4



riding on spare tire, not driving with them on though just so my car can sit on something

 

i think you might find this helpful

http://www.civic-eg.com/viewtopic.php?t=2

 

dam... lol i want the hx wheels so bad now

 

thanks, thats one of the 2 DIY that i saw that convinced me to want to re-do my the lip.

IMO hx rims are one of the best OEM civic rims available. yes even over the SI's, too bad these hx rims didn't come in 15".

 

i like the HX rims too

these are my favorites though to come with any Civic
2008 Mugen Si rims
http://inlinefour.com/mugpfowh.html

 

lol 17 inch stock civic wheels i hate the new civics with their bigness