Restoring rims

[Tsundere]

I bought an old pair of rims, they are in great overall shape for their age (late 80s), plenty of life in the braking surfaces, no signs of damage etc, but they are looking a bit tired.


I've started by giving them a clean and I'm currently removing the rubber marks from the braking surfaces using one of those rim cleaning blocks, and they are doing a great job, but as I clean I'm finding areas where the coating has been worn away leaving shiny patches.


What I'm wondering is whether I should gently remove the rest of whatever that coating is, so the rims are nice and uniformly shiny and smooth, or perhaps there's a way of restoring the rims to look more like they did when new. I'm not sure what the coating is, it could be some kind of anodizing or maybe a lacquer. Obviously removing braking surface is completely counter to common sense so I would much rather find a way to restore the surface.

I'm also open to the idea of repainting them, they may look nice in black with the build I'm working on, but is it wise to paint rims? If yes which paint works best and how to prep?
Any ideas or advice would be most welcome.

 

[foz]

Looks like the anodising partially worn off. If you're going to actually ride them, then just use as they are. Paint won't work, it will come right off when braking. If they're only for display then painting might look ok

 

[Mickeyspinn]

As foz pointed out thats anodised....that won't be coming off in a hurry ...when you build em up the one that has it left on build that into the front wheel....braking will even the finish to suit the rear then!