Polishing Wheels

[Captain-Obvious™]

Not sure if this is the right section but, Anybody want to give me a write up for polishing wheels along with a list of the things I'll need. I'd prefer to keep this as cheap as possible so no power and Don't worry I got plenty of time on my hands so no worries about how long it takes or difficult it is.

[DC2NR]

Dunno but this might help a little

http://www.clubcivic.com/board/showthread.php?t=96334

[Captain-Obvious™]

you need a power buffer for that one

[DC2NR]

A power buffer would be useful ... but you can still always do it by hand

[Captain-Obvious™]

yeah your right

[joshk5145]

depends on what kinda wheels you have mothers make an aluminum polish that you just rub on with a certain rag (i forgot and i'm too lazy to go out to the garage to look) anyways they have it at wal-mart and it works great on mine

[NoWAyItZTOMmY]

u had to sand down your rims. if your clear coat suckz.start off with 100 girt and move your way up so no marks show up. sand it down till you hit metal. then you should be in the thousands. once ur in the thousands. there should be no scratches or nothing. when there is no scracthes. all you do is buff it with a buffer. and mothers shine. and ifnish.

[twinj]

Try searching H-T thats where I founda write up on it.

[SixSquared]

1. Use can of airline paint stripper to remove clearcoat.

2. Wash wheels with pressure washer to make sure it's all off.

3. Buy a LOT of sandpaper from 800 grit up to 2000+.

4. Start with 800 grit paper. Sand your ass off.

5. Move up progressively through the grits until you are working with the 2000+ grit.

6. Get Mother's Aluminum and Mag Wheel Polish.

7. Get a box of shop towels, too.

8. Polish your ass off.

9. Start over for next wheel.

Done.

[N/A EK]

How to polish your rims...(***Copy fron H-T***)


Taken from a quick writeup i did on a local forum.. questions, comments, editing welcome. A side project i started in the middle of winter and finally finished. takes about 4-5 hours/rim. took way longer than i expected but once i started i couldnt turn back. anyway.. here's what i wrote.----------



Things you'll need.

Gloves - buy a 100 pack at the drug store, if you dont use gloves get ready to have black hands for a week.
Sandpaper 150*, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1500
2 cans of mothers polish
6" Buffer
Small palm sander
A few rolls of that blue paper towel stuff from canadian tire..


* Be carefull with 150 grit..use only to sand down curb scrapes or really bad areas.. you'll need to speed 3 x time with 220 grit to get rid of the sanding marks that the 150 will leave behined.

Step 1: strip rims with heavy duty paint stripper - follow the instructions exactly, do not do it on a humid or cold day or expect to do it agian!

SKIP TO STEP 4-8 if rims are smooth after stripping - use your own judgement. Sir rims and many other OEM rims have concentric machined rings that need to be sanded off so you need to start off with 220 grit

Step 2: Sand down with 220 BY HAND use a wood block for flat parts. take your time and make sure you dont see anything but the sanding marks that the 220 will leave behined. I sand dry with 220. this step will take the most time! do a good job.

Step 3:

Use 320 with the palm sander along with lots of water.
Palm sand as much as the rim as you can but be carefull not to let the sanders lip hit anything! let the sander to the sanding and use lots of water.

clean with clean rags and water.

hand sand areas you cant get at with the palm sander

sand again with the palm sander and fresh sand paper.

Step 4: (same as step 3 with 400 grit)
Step 5: (same as step 3 with 600 grit)

Step 6: Hand sand with 800 grit - take your time and get everything! I used this maroon colored paper from home hardware - it didn't last long using lots of water but it worked so well. buy 4 sheets of this stuff! Thumb Up I did 2 good passes with this stuff.

Step 7: Do the same with 1500 grit. the rim will look very smooth and very DULL. if it looks even and dull than you did a good job.

Step 8: Smear a decent amount of mothers on the whole rim. WITH A NEW CLEAN bonnet buff until you start to see circles/haze - you'll see the rim start to get very shiney but will leave a buffing patteren. keep doing this but dont let it get competely dry.. hard to explain but you cant really screw anything up at this point, just might have to do it over. turn the bonnet inside out for the next 'step 8' that you do.

Step 9: WITH A NEW CLEAN bonnet buff the rim. If you did the buffing part right the rim will look like a mirror in seconds. if it still looks hazy than keep experimenting with step 8. you will surprise yourself

[southside]

1. Use can of airline paint stripper to remove clearcoat.

2. Wash wheels with pressure washer to make sure it's all off.

3. Buy a LOT of sandpaper from 800 grit up to 2000+.

4. Start with 800 grit paper. Sand your ass off.

5. Move up progressively through the grits until you are working with the 2000+ grit.

6. Get Mother's Aluminum and Mag Wheel Polish.

7. Get a box of shop towels, too.

8. Polish your ass off.

9. Start over for next wheel.

Done.you start much lower than 800grit you start at 220

[khaxnguyen]

http://www.importatlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162584
i did my blades... too lazy for the next two. but ermm power buffer is the way to go... buffing by hand wont get it shiny... or shiny enough.

[SixSquared]

you start much lower than 800grit you start at 220

I've always started at 800 and it looks fine.

[southside]

http://www.importatlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162584
i did my blades... too lazy for the next two. but ermm power buffer is the way to go... buffing by hand wont get it shiny... or shiny enough.boyyyyyyyyyyyy stoooooooooppppppppp you must be :crazy: remember Wax on Wax off Wax on Wax off

[RBS]

I've always started at 800 and it looks fine.

only fine? what if you were polishing a wheel with some a$$ crazy scratches and curbage? starting off 220 is a very smart thing to do, for one if used right can remove scratches and smooth out minor curbage, and 2... makes the entire face of the wheel perfectly smooth for the next higher grit. ive hand polished more wheels than you prolly have seen on here and ever single last one of them has a perfect mirror shine with NO deep scratches and NO curb scratches because i got rid of them all using a low but fine grit. starting at 800 will do FINE yes, but if you want it better go lower first.. just my :2cents: ya dig?

[khaxnguyen]

boyyyyyyyyyyyy stoooooooooppppppppp you must be :crazy: remember Wax on Wax off Wax on Wax off
nooooo you're loc0, crazy in the head.... WHACK! :crazy:

[southside]

nooooo you're loc0, crazy in the head.... WHACK! :crazy:1siccEj2 showed me this way So ha :tongue1: Naw prolly does come out better with a buffer but my uncle stole mine and I havent seen it since.

[khaxnguyen]

1siccEj2 showed me this way So ha :tongue1: Naw prolly does come out better with a buffer but my uncle stole mine and I havent seen it since.
:doh: ermm we use the same technique... i'm not sure what i'm saying is different from what he's saying. :thinking: bleghh u do what u do.. i'm talking because i know the results. =P who are you? jw...

[TypeRPersonality]

I really don't recommend doing this unless your wheels are in bad shape. Reason being is it takes too much time (approximately 20 hours). And you have to polish them every 2-4 weeks to keep them looking good.

I tried to polish my Si's a year back. I really regret it especially since I spent so much money and it didn't end up looking so good. And they were in good shape before hand too.

[khaxnguyen]

haha.. failure! =P i kidd.. well i think my wheels are polished for almost a year now and i havent done any maintainance to it except washing it wen i wash my car. =P

[RBS]

the wheels do not fade if you wash them at least once a week... when you polish your wheels and allow them to collect dirt and debris yes it WILL fade

[SixSquared]

only fine? what if you were polishing a wheel with some a$$ crazy scratches and curbage? starting off 220 is a very smart thing to do, for one if used right can remove scratches and smooth out minor curbage, and 2... makes the entire face of the wheel perfectly smooth for the next higher grit. ive hand polished more wheels than you prolly have seen on here and ever single last one of them has a perfect mirror shine with NO deep scratches and NO curb scratches because i got rid of them all using a low but fine grit. starting at 800 will do FINE yes, but if you want it better go lower first.. just my :2cents: ya dig?

The stuff I've polished was never curbed or anything. I've done one set of wheels, and they were a near mint condition set of GSR fat 5s. The rest of the stuff I've polished is engine stuff.... intake manis, valve covers, yadda yadda.