polishing factory wheels

[jas2234]

So I got bored and decided to strip and polish my 18" silver bullets. (just a word of warning, dont use paint stripper in the house). First off I used aircraft paint stripper and dekote(from eastwood). Stripped them in the basement, so to keep the fumes down I put the wheels in garbage bags and closed them when the stripper was on. To clean off the stripper I washed the wheels with hot water, had to strip them about 3 times, would have been easier in warm weather as stripper works better in warm weather. After being stripped I used 120 grit sandpaper with my orbital sander to smooth the surface then dropped to 220, then 600 before I started buffing and polishing. Total time involved is about 3 hrs sanding/polishing.(not including stripping the factory paint).
Here are several pictures during the process. let me know what you think.

 

[FalconGTHO]

Hmm. Why the need for such coarse grit to start with? And did you/will you clearcoat them?

 

[jas2234]

The reason for so coarse grit is after the paint was stripped the wheel face is pretty rough. I originally thought they would be smooth, with as smooth as the paint was. And as for clear I'm not sure yet. The car never sees snow. And very rarely sees rain. I'll probably see how they look towards next winter then decide.

 

[VTXFrank]

Polished aluminum will let you know with a month or two that you will definitely want to clear coat them. I had a bunch of aluminum I polished on my last motorcycle. That turned into an all out BITCH to keep shined up and I didn't ride in the rain either. Just humidity will cause it to turn whitish all over. Pits real easy too.

Great job on getting them polished up though!

 

[wingless]

Looks nice!

When I polish metal I like to use my right angle die grinder and woven pads.

Bare aluminum is nice, because it polishes better than chrome, but it takes lots of work to keep it nice.

 

[wusthof]

great work dude, but clear em' and be dun with it........my .02

 

[jas2234]

Thanks for the comments guys. Maybe I will clear them. I'm to lazy to spend tons of time keeping them looking good. It would be nice just wash them off instead of polishing them every week

 

[Fallenauthority]

Those look HOT! Great job.....Now I need to find a set of those that the paint is all raggedy on, get em for a good price, polish em and BAM, new shoes for the car.

 

[redstangs9308gt]

Here is some trucker knowledge I am going to lay on you guys. There is a product called AlumniX its a form of acid (not what your thinking) and you can dilute it with water and spray on nasty tarnished alumnium that was onced polished and turn it just as nice and shiny as the day you polished it. Beware of other forms of acid wash for alumnium because it will BLEACH your metal and turn it SNOW WHITE! To date this is the only wash i have found that will not bleach your metal. Side note. The manufacter of truck bodies MAC makes a wash for alumnium but its already diluted and not as strong as the AlumniX. If you have access to a Mac dealer go in and ask for Mac wash for alumnium. It comes in either a gallon or five gallon buckets. Takes all the work out of keeping your metal shiny
We have alot to keep clean. http://www.jpchrome.com/Tools/Portf...size=0&lngDisplay=18&jPageNumber=4&strMetaTag=

 

[2010Elanore]

^^ great advice, I used that before. Works like a charm. Wheels look great too.

 

[moostang09]

Total newb to this but how does it get the 'polished' look? Is there something you put on it or is it just sanding it to get that finish?

 

[Ken04]

Total newb to this but how does it get the 'polished' look? Is there something you put on it or is it just sanding it to get that finish?

I used 120 grit sandpaper with my orbital sander to smooth the surface then dropped to 220, then 600 before I started buffing and polishing.

was this a clue ? Just sayin,,,,,

 

[moostang09]

was this a clue ? Just sayin,,,,,

I didn't know if there was something you bought to put in it. For example when people in the older mustangs swap in am irs and than polish the exhaust... I didn't know that was all jus sanding. Sorry. Thought I prefaced it well...

 

[Ken04]

I didn't know if there was something you bought to put in it. For example when people in the older mustangs swap in am irs and than polish the exhaust... I didn't know that was all jus sanding. Sorry. Thought I prefaced it well...

no worries, just tryin to help.

OP this was cool. I had been thinking about doing this myself but after a long google search I still hadn't come across anything. This was perfect timing, thanks !! (pretend I gave you positive rep)

 

[06Torch]

This looks great but I would have followed up the 600 grit wtih a 1000 and 2000 grit. At this point the sand paper feels like regular paper but it makes all the difference in the world. Polish with a good aluminum polishing compound like Mother's.

Gerardo

 

[J.Cagle]

Hmm, Now I want to strip my 17" gray bullit wheels and try this. Maybe Ill practice on my 2 17" split spoke drag wheels first,lol

 

[Peaky85]

You might want to look into having them done in a clear Powder Coat, it is not terribly expensive.

 

[jas2234]

Thanks guys, I'm gonna check out that polish and see how it works for this year. Might powder coat them next winter if they are to much of a pain to keep nice. I did powder coat the current 17" wheels on right now last winter. My coating oven is 1\2" to narrow for these to fit. gonna build a bigger oven this summer. the reason I didnt use 1000 and 2000 grit was that no one in town had any at the time and didnt want wait for an order to come in. because of that reason it did take more time to polish them.