This is on a 96 XJ that came with the 2 tone 5 spoke alloy wheels...



I've got something coming up where I'd like to get the old truck looking as good as she can, so I'm looking for a quick fix for my wheels.

What's happened w/ the previous owner (who's a surgeon but cant drive a car worth a dang btw) is the edges of the rims have gotten slight curb scratches which has caused the clear coat to crack off over the last 10 years. You can see the metal has turned slightly dark under where the coating has cracked, but is showing some brown more toward the lip of the rim. The rest of the wheels going toward the center are all nice, it's just this outer band of about 1" that's showing wear.

After watching some videos my best idea is to slowly flap wheel (dremel) or hand sand just the outer band until the color evens out, hit the wheel all over with 2000 or 3000 grit for adhesion, then clear coat it. All the videos show stripping off the clear coat and then basically repainting, but for me that's gonna take too long.

1- This outer edge of the wheel seems to be just clear coated bare metal. If I start with 400 and finish w/ 2000 and sand until the entire band looks uniform, will the color look even after it's clear coated? Or like the videos show, will I need to use some kind of tinted sealer to restore an even color? I'm trying to avoid taping off the rest of the wheel just to do this band area.

This repair doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to get the wheels looking good enough that they don't attract your attention.

 

That tire needs replaced ASAP. Those cracks are the only things holding it together.

 

Remove the wheels from the vehicle, remove the tires from the wheels.
Use aircraft stripper to remove clearcoat and paint.
Use find abrasives to remove surface scratches. If the wheel is machined with surface grooves, well your sorta stuck with taking the to get remachined, or find a junkyard with a better wheel.

On mine, I removed the clearcoat and polished the bare aluminum and then waxed it. They need liquid compound and wax about every 6 months.

Hope this helps

 

Looks like galvanic corrosion from a steel wheel-weight and the aluminum rim material.. Best would be as BruceB said above. Remove tires, strip and polish or smooth and repaint with a quality 2-part automotive paint.