DIY Wheel Polishing

Figured I'd post this case anybody felt like polishing some wheels. This also works on intake plenums, turbo's, intercoolers, piping, and pretty much all aluminum or alloys.
 
First tape off the lip of the wheel, then using a sander take off all of the clear, paint, and primer. Don't use stripper it will just make a mess and you will end up doing double the work. Go down to bare metal use 120-200 grit.
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/1.jpg[/IMG]
 
Now use a dremel with the sanding wheel, this is to do the parts of the wheel you couldn't get to with the sander. Also go down to bare metal here.
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/2.jpg[/IMG]
 
After you get the wheel to bare metal comes the time consuming part. Start with 400 grit and wet sand the bare metal until all scratches from using the sander are removed(usually about 30min a wheel) This is after 400 grit.
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/3.jpg[/IMG]
 
Now you have to go to finer grit paper on every step. The goal is to get the metal as flat and uniformed as possible, this is what reflects the light so you get that polished mirror look. Wet sand and spend about 20 min per grit of paper.
 
 
After 800
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/4.jpg[/IMG]
 
After 1000
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/5.jpg[/IMG]
 
After 1500 and 2000
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/6.jpg[/IMG]
 
You should have a hazy finish with some reflectiveness, now get the mothers polishing ball and polish. This is nothing but very high grit polish maybe 5000 grit or something. Put it on a drill and go over it a few times till you are happy with it. Apply it, but don't let it sit like wax cause it's nothing like wax, rub it off after using it.
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/7.jpg[/IMG]
 
Now it's time to paint. Mask off everything you don't want to paint. Get wax and grease remover and wipe down all surfaces that will get painted. If you don't wipe it down it will bubble up and won't stick good. Then paint
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/8.jpg[/IMG]
 
Don't let the paint completely dry and pull the tape off. If you wait to long the paint will dry and rip off at the seam of the tape and the painted surface. Now you have to use Mothers Billet polish, get it at Advanced Auto $14.00, but it's worth it.
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/9.jpg[/IMG]
 
Apply this by hand rubbing till a black haze appears then wipe off with a cloth. The more you do this the flatter the metal becomes and the more reflective.
 
Finished, sit back relax and admire your work, but not too long cause you still have 3 to go.
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/10.jpg[/IMG]

man that is alot of work...

End result looks good....but aircraft paint stripper would have saved you a lot of time and you would be able to get into all the cracks that you couldnt with the sander and the dremel. Or even pay someone 10 bucks per wheel to media blast them. And there are buffing wheels for cutting and polishing. 
Im thinking  after the aircraft stripper, you could start at 800-1000 grit( as there would be no scratches from the sander) and move to 1200 then to the buffing wheels.

no offense but it just doesn't look that shiney,
this is what mind looked like after around 50 hours of work
I also used a random orbital buffer with the compound instead of a drill attachment 
[IMG]http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae295/selah777/finallydone.jpg[/IMG]

This is how they look on my buddies car.
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/a.jpg[/IMG]
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/b.jpg[/IMG]
 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v364/PurePlaya101/c.jpg[/IMG]

Nice, I like it. A lot of work, or not. Its the passion to take something and make it your own unique thing is what I like. 

I have used paint stripper in the past, and will use it to this day. It does not work well on powder coated wheels.. like a lot of Advans, an AMG wheels. It will not eat through that thick primer they use. I used a wire wheel on my Advans just to remove everything. I was going to polish them out til I painted them. You can see them on my AWD S14 build.

And yes Striping will make a mess, but go to a do it your self carwash to wash it off. the power of the water will work faster. Just make to wash the area when done.. Always nice to make a clean area so you can keep coming back since a lot of those places have cameras. Just hefty bag the wheel for transport.

[IMG]http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/zz305/Gee702/8c4e6284.jpg[/IMG]

I tried that route before polishing motorcycle frames lol. Too much work! Now I pay the polishing shop a few hundred to polish lips and I paint the faces in my garage lol. Been there done that haha. Here's my finished product

How big were the flakes in your wheel GEE702?

Shit so icey...

polishing... everyone that has done it, knows its a lot of work. 
the OP did a great job and the wheels do shine, specially on the pics mounted on the car

now how about a thread on fixing lip scratches/curbage

[QUOTE=VIPanda;425758]How big were the flakes in your wheel GEE702?[/QUOTE]

I used mid size .008 looks too small for me lol im gonna use large next

wheels kinda has a stainless look to it.

wow this is amazing, I'm thinking of stripping my old advans and doing the same thing

I will throw in my .02 after redoing some rims.   Use aircraft stripper.  I am not a big fan of the spray on actually, but have really fell in love with the brush on.   Gets you the pint point areas you want redone easily.     I go with 120-220-400-800-1000-1500-1500wet-polish for my steps.   Some may say too much, or too little, but that is what I have done.    Good tips - go against the way you sanded in the previous step (perpendicular).   You can easily see which scratches/marks you have gotten out that way.    If you can see the previous step of sanding, you can see it on the final product which I am sure you don't want.     Other tips- wear rubber gloves sanding, which will reduce the cuts to your finders from abrasion with sandpaper and makes clean up easier.  The cheapo surgerical ones will work.

i like the result. looks way better!

i've been wanting to do this to my wheels, but my question is. how often do you have to maintain the wheels? other than your regular wheel cleaning techniques, what else ir required to maintain the polish-ness on the wheels? reason i'm asking is because you're stripping it to bare metal and the only thing from the metal and every day use air and what not is the polish. would i have to keep applying polish every so often?...

After I did it I sold the wheels to a friend. They still shine and I don't think he has done anything special in caring for them.

I recommend finding some type of sealer.   Depending on your weather will greatly affect how long they remain polished without watermarks or whatever.   For that, I cant say exactly how long one will remain good.    I recommend finding a good sealer though, which will help keep the shine, but with some protection.

cool, thanx for the info guys...

damn! thats alot of work

This applies to polishing anything really.. I mean I did it on wheels, but I'm sure these steps work on polishing anything.

like the pillars on my car

[QUOTE=Kouki Monster;429341]like the pillars on my car[/QUOTE]
 
Exactly. :runcoold: