Polishing Alloy Wheels

[seano14]

Hey dudes. i posted in a thread in another section but didnt really get much response.

i remember quite some time ago (maybe before we all jumped ship to this forum) that there was a thread in here about polishing alloy wheels.

i've got some old NA fairlane alloys here that have the clearcoat coming off rather badly.

what's the best way to go about fixing them up? i remember a few of you were doing it to the EA turboblades

[XRated]

Okay, this takes aaages if you want a really good finish.

Firstly you need to apply paint stripper to the wheel and leave it for a bit. After a while, you will be able to wipe/high-pressure rinse all the clear coat.

Then you have to work your way down using wet and dry sand paper. I forgot how coarse. Once you've rubbed back most of the blemishes, it comes down to going down to a finer grit until ALL the scratches are gone.

Once you've gotten this far (should take a few hours minimum per wheel), get some metal polish such as Autosol, and rub the hell out of it again. If you have a buffing machine or drill attachment, it's much better as you can "burn" the finish in.

It's up to you if you apply a clear coat after the final step.

You will have really buff arms after it!

yep what Xrated said. me and initilD were buffing up some of his wheels today. did half of one, came out very good. used sandpaper then applyed autosol with asoft buffer drill attachment. need to keep buffing till all the polish is gone and then your left with a nice shiny finish. will get initial D to put up a comparison picture of what weve done soon.

[needturbo6]

sounds good John_xr6, ive been thinking of doing this to my turbo blades so it might give me some enthusism

[InitialD]

Originally Posted by John_xr6

Will get initial D to put up a comparison picture of what weve done soon.

Will you know? :P lol

Ill take some pics tomorrow

[EFShelby]

My rims are polished but had it done by a pro the first time as they were the grey finish that they come standard with. Once they were done there is still alot of maintenance in keeping them nice as i don't have a clear coat on them. One good benifit is that you can fix any scratches your self and any possible gutter marks by doing the things in previous posts.

[InitialD]

As promised, here are a comparison pic of 2 of my 16" wheels

The one that hasnt been polished was the best condition of the 5.

[seano14]

Originally Posted by InitialD

As promised, here are a comparison pic of 2 of my 16" wheels

The one that hasnt been polished was the best condition of the 5.

wow, excellent job there! the worst wheel on my car looks about what your original one looks like... so its great to see what a good result you can get!

[InitialD]

Yep ;)

All John_Xr6 and I did was use some "Meguires Cutting compound" on it and scrub the rim, then some light sanding to get any leftover bits off, then simply Buff it up with Autosol and a Drill attachment

Still got 4 others to do :(

[needturbo6]

very nice looking!!