So here's the situation:

Bought five factory 1997 gmc yukon rims. The factory paint is already starting to flake off. Was wanting to know if it's safe to completely remove the factory paint. I mean it doesn't work like gun frame anodization in helping to increase strength, does it?

Want to strip them down then sand them a little. Then after that it'll be engine paint/primer, then a couple of coats of rustoleum black spraypaint then a spray of clear coat. Trying to do this as cheap as possible. I dont have even a couple of hundreds bucks to throw around let alone a grand. Got a carwash with power sprayers just down the road too.

http://www.kleanstrip.com/product/aircraft-paint-remover

Find someone in your area that does bead blasting/ sand blasting/ media blasting.  Saves you hours of time and no mess.

Hmmm. ok.

This stuff works like a charm. Brush on, wipe off.

 
Yup stripper first then blast them.

This took me somewhere around 20 hours to do four 16" wheels, and about $80 in materials (cleaners, paint, gloves, scrapers, etc).

They looked great for a couple years, but ultimately, without bead blasting or sand blasting, your new paint will chip too.

Whatcha think is better? duplicolor or rustoleum. Auto shop by me carries duplicolor but I've never heard of em.

duplicolor is a major brand.  check out some you tubes. https://www.youtube.com/user/duplicolortv

Of the two, duplicolor by a long shot.  Though you can get actual automotive paints and primers in spray cans which are in a league of their own and leaps and bound better.....of course if your prep sucks then it's a moot point.  

Another question. If I remove paint from a rim, will it hurt the function of the rim like removing anodization from an aluminum pistol frame would hurt its function? Or are aluminum rims heat treated?


ETA: reason I'm asking is because the rims I bought have some peeling and flaking on the fronts of them.


Was going to remove the remaining paint on the face of the rims, sand down with rotary sander then replace with duplicolor high gloss black engine enamel. Paint on the face of the rims is chipping but the paint on the rest of the rims is fine. Was just going to remove the front paint and leave the rest of the factory paint.


Or if I use the rotary sander will it remove the flakey paint and smooth out the rest of it to where it wont be noticeable?

What paint?  those should be flat aluminum in color unless you bought the cheap steel faced wheels?

Op, I know you said you're on a budget but the 88-98 truck wheels are worthless and I mean like nobody will even pay $100 for a set of 4 GOOD wheels.  What I'm saying is don't invest at least $100 (blasting and painting will cost this) when you can buy a set of wheels off a 88-98 K1500, tahoe, suburban, for like $50 that dont have issues or at least aren't clear coating peeling which I think is what you are seeing on yours now if you have the spoke style wheels.

Also you can use any 6 lug chevy/gmc truck wheel off any 99-06 and some of those in 16" barely sell for $100 (WITH TIRES).

I've worked at a body shop for 23 years and when we repaint wheels, we sand blast them and then soon as were done blasting, we get primer and paint on the rims. Sand blasted steel and even more so aluminum acts like a sponge. Even touching bare metal with out wearing rubber gloves will transfer the oils and such from your skin and hinder your work. The fact that your rims have paint falling off, has allowed contamination to get into the metal. Blasting, priming, and repainting will slow all this down, but it most likely will not last as long as the factory coating did. I would steer away from chemical strippers, as if not cleaned off perfectly, can also cause problems with the new primer and paint.