Sometimes you can add new life to an old set of Vintage Mustang Styled Steel Wheels. These were off of a 1965 Mustang GT Convertible. Often old chrome can be cleaned with a good quality chrome cleaner and extra fine steel wool. Extra care has to be taken, so you do not add scratches or swirl marks into the chrome. Rust can even be removed as long as it is on the surface, and has not penetrated the chrome very much. If the tires are still good, you should scrub them clean with a good tire cleaner before cleaning the wheels. Once the chrome is clean, then the old paint should be removed, and prepped for painting. You’ll notice that I did not mask of all the edges prior to painting. It is hard to achieve a soft finish on the edges with masking tape. I have a technique to get the edges to look like a factory finish. The original center caps were cleaned the same way as the wheels, but you have to careful not to scratch the plastic emblems. I painted one of the wheel Ford Argent color to see how it would look on the car, but ended up painting them Charcoal instead. Styled Steel Wheels (Rally Wheels) came in both colors. Now you can purchase the center caps in a different color other than the original red. I can also refinish old hubcaps using the same technique. 1966 Mustang hubcaps take the longest because they have both Argent and Charcoal accents.
