Has anyone polished their factory wheels?? If so do you have any pics? I was thinking of doing this but was wondering if it was worth all the work. The clearcoat is coming off of my rims and looks loike crap.

 

MAX420 (no longer a member) did it and I saw it in person and it didn't look that good. Probably where he took it wasn't a good place either. Not too many other members here with chrome stockers.

 

Whats happened to Max420?

 

Sold his max and bought a camaro.

 

it looks nice, but not worth the time and effort.

before:



after:

 

a real camaro i hope..

 

how ?? write up.. please... damn that looks nice.. but that means have to leave yor center caps off... cuz you cant polish that right???? anyway how can you polish your rims like that.. how much grip paper??? how must know.. and how long did it take

 

I friend of mine used a buffer on his wheels with some type of buffer stuff(it was liquid) and that worked good but it's gonna be hard to get in between the spokes

 

damn, that looks nice!! how would you go about doing that??? someone fill me in please!!

Ben

 

me too very ineterested in a write up!

Sohaib

 

Yeah, I too think that it looks good! The only problem as said is that you'd have to leave your center caps off unless you spray painted it or something? I don't know?

 

thanks for the compliments.. wish i had the time and energy to do the other 3 wheels.

first i got a power drill and bought a foam applicator pad attachment that accepts peel and stick sanding discs. like this one:



then i got plenty of sanding discs as i could, in as many grits as you can find. get the peel and stick kind, real easy to change:



i cant remember what grits i used.. but i know i went to all the stores and found the discs in as many grits as possible. when sanding, its important to start with something real coarse to make sure you remove all of the imperfections. then you gradually move towards finer and finer grits. each grit will make the sanding become finer and finer, until eventually all of the sanding marks are gone. unfortunately, they dont make sanding discs in very high grit papers.. or at least no store around me carried them. so what i did was, i finished with my finest paper and switched to an orbital buffer and buffed with rubbing compounds for a REEEEEAAALL long time. just like the sand paper, you move up to something finer. i went from real coarse stuff rubbing compound to a mild rubbing compound to a really fine polishing compound. the thing to remember with sanding.. the more grits you have, the better it will be in the end. eventually, your finer grit stuff will take out all of the sanding marks and give you a smooth finish. when i was happy with the finish, i polished the **** out of the wheel with some metal polish. when satisfied, clear coat if you want. clear coat will take away from your shiny finish though, unless you know how to spray them correctly. if you choose not to coat them, remember, wheel cleaners and such will do damage to bear alloy aluminum (like our wheels).

as far as the buffing goes, use a buffer and not your power drill. the rpms on the drill is way to high and it will tear apart your terry cloth bonnet that you will be buffing with.

also, when sanding metals, its important to get a face mask. you cant inhale metal shavings. not healthy. while im on the subject of health, you may want to get a pair of earplugs, or if you are ghetto, a big set of headphones. since you will be buffing and power sanding for a LONG time, and i do mean long, you may want to protect your ears, unless you like them ringing for days.

the center caps, toss em. its a plastic cap with metal foiling, you will need new oem ones.

like i said, this aint no easy task. thats why i havent gotten around to the other 3 wheels. this method doesnt apply just to wheels, you can do it to anything metal if you want. depending on how much time you put into it, you can get you stuff as reflective as a mirror. our wheels are easier to do than most others because the outside face of the wheel is perfectly flat. its nearly impossible to polish the inside of those tiny spokes.

one more note, remember to keep the sanding disc/buffer pad flat when working. if you lift up and sand/polish with the sides or edges, your drill or buffer may skip or jump which might cause a knick or damage to the alloy aluminum. aluminum is a soft metal, so its easy to knick it with a out of control tool spinning at 3500-5000 rpm.

good luck.

walka.

 

 

 

 

Just imagine doing the little slots on the SE wheel

 

yeah i got se and gxe rims

 

If you like, do what I did to mine.

 

Well what did you do??

 

replaced them with something else

 

I wish I had the cash.

 

I was just joking he actually polished his. Check out his home page.

 

It wont open for some reason. I thought maybe he did something a little diffrent.

 

try this

http://maxima.cardomain.com/id/e_is_chillin

 

I guess its sandpaper and water for me. Along with a little mothers polish. Can't look any worse. I thought I'd use some stripper first to remove the clearcoat. After I'm done I'll try to post some pics.

 

Sry you had trouble loggin in. Hope it works out for you. I had them that way for a few years. Mothers Aluminum polish worked wonders for a shine, but it takes a toll on your hand (rubbing) lol Peace.

 

take the "www" out of the link and it'll work like awsm66 said

it's just http://maxima.cardomain.com/id/yournamehere

sorry about your spoiler

 

dont bother trying to remove the remaining clearcoat first with some sort of laquer thinner.. just a waste of time. the sanding will chew right through it all with ease.

 

cool thanks, any Idea what grit should I use??