I have a 91' GXE. I pretty much have NO money right now, but in about 2 weeks, summer starts, so I'm going to have alot more time on my hands. I saw some posts a little while ago on this, and the polished rims did look really nice (besides the center missing), so I was thinking of doing it.
Then the search came back up, and read somewhere that if you don't clear coat the wheels after polishing, then they will rust up or something, so they don't look as good. Reading more, if you clear coat them, they won't reflect or look as nice, unless you know what you're doing, and even then, the heat from the brakes may turn the clear coat brown, which'll look even worse.
So would it be worth doing? I have a dremel, so I could get into the small parts, but I'd have to borrow a buffer from someone to actually finish up and polish them. I think the polished pictures looked real nice, enough so that rims wouldn't be a top priority (untill I had enough for 18"'s and a little bit of a drop), but would it be a good idea to try? It would be quite awhile before I could afford them, I have more pressing issues to fix on the car first (injectors, front brakes, front suspension, front axels)

 

If your eventually going to get 18's, stick it out with the peeling GXE's. That's a lot of work for something temporary. Just my .02

 

But I could probably get it done in a full day? Would I have to clear coat it again? Thats my only problem right now... I'm it'll stay nice, shiny, reflective, except for regular brake dust cleaning, I think it would be worth it. But if I have to clear coat it.... My mechanic friend might be able to help me out with shining them up (he knows pretty much everything about cars, -->he's a top mechanic... like to learn more from him)
But I'd like to know about the clear coat issue...

 

sounds like you made up your mind that you want to do it. gotta remember stock rims are not chrome, they wont polish to a mirror shine. they will look better, then before perhaps. if you think its worth your time then, by all means go for it.

 

hey if you think you have them time to do it then go ahead and do it. I do thin it will need to be clear coated though or you will be polishing them all the time to keep them nice and shiny.

before I polished stock GXE wheels I would just find some stock SE wheels off of a 91-94 max. I like that style better, it is already shiny and you can get them cheap...like under $100 I am sure.

I am sorry but I just dont like the daisy wheels that are on the GXEs polished or not.

 

You can do them faster if you jack up the front end and put the car in gear. Let the car idle and the wheels spin while you polish them. This will get most of the larger surfaces.

 

I just did mine because my clear coat was 'boiling off' (crusty... blah you know all of em look like it) as for the brake dust, i'm pretty sure no matter what you do you'll get it. Regular matenience will keep it pretty

If you remove the clear coat regular polishing or something is needed to stop salt water and other enviromental issues that will pit, rust and stuff to the rims. To what extent I dont know.

My rims arn't that shiny because I skipped a few steps and did a quick job on all 4 because I didnt want to put so many man hours on ALL 4 - 1 I can do.. not 4 (making it super bling).

One thing I did notice that on one of my rims I saw large pits after I removed the clear coat - the coat hid it.

If you still want more info I can post my experiences