This Thread was orig done by rcklssr6 From VWvortex but is a great DIY for anyone wanting to polish your wheels.
To start, I'll just say that with the right tools/techniques it is not that bad of a task. However if you are the type of person that wants things done in a hurry and tends to rush, this is not for you. Also if you are looking for absolute perfection, this is not for you. Polishing metals to a mirror shine is a process and even in professional jobs there are still some imperfections, fine scratches, hazing... just keep in mind that you always notice what you know is there (like that little scratch on your door that you friends say they don't see ) so don't drive yourself crazy it will look great.
First gather up your supplies. You will need:
1. Aircraft stripper, cheap brushes, plastic sraper of sorts (An old credit card will work)
2. Sand paper-maybe! Water and dish soap for wetsanding. You may not need to sand, and if you do, start with the highest grit possible. I'll touch back on this later.
3. Microfibre towels.
4. Break parts cleaner.
5. Aluminum polish.
6. Buffing wheels/rouges (compounds). These are the most important. I very highly suggest getting these supplies from http://www.caswellplating.com. They have high quality products, and great prices. I ordered the "Aluminum Polishing Kit" and it had everything I need, and then some for only $35.00. Not bad considering polishing shops are charging around 200-250 a wheel for full polishing! I also suggest getting the wheel rake for cleaning the buffing wheels, it helps alot.
6.A tool for using the wheels. I used an angle grinder with an extension. (the extension is also sold at caswellplating.com) Unfortunatly an electric drill won't work, unless it is very very high speed, and I haven't found one. But, the good news is that angle grinders can be found cheap. I got an awesome makita 4 1/2" grinder from home depot on sale, 2 for 79.00! I sold the extra one to my fater for $30.00 lol.
STEP ONE:Now that you've got your supplies grab your wheels and set them up so that you can easily get at them from all angles. A set of saw horses should do. As far as leaving the tires on or off, it's up to you. I left them on because I did not have alot of work to do on the edge of the wheel, but if you have alot of curbing to fix it would be alot easier to take the tires off. Now grab your aircraft stripper and a cheap brush and start giving the wheels a good thick coat. If you are stripping wheels that have textured areas like the inners of fat fives, make sure you coat it really well or it will be hard to remove the clear later.
You will see the effects of the stripper almost immediatly but let it sit for at least a half hour. I also helps to add a seconed coat of stripper after 15min. If you let it sit long enough the clear coat will pratically fall off. If you don't let it sit you will really have to scrape at it, and it sucks lol. Your wheel should look like this after when its ready to scrape:
Now grap your plastic scraper and go at it.
Make sure that you get ALL of the clear off now. If there are spts that yu can't get off, reapply some stripper and it should come right off.
STEP TWO: Now that you have all of the clear off, give the wheels a good cleaning with soapy water to get all of the stripper off. Now look at your wheel:
You can see the fine scratches/haze. You will also see "ripples" that run in a circle patten around the rim (fat fives). Now you have a decision. You can start polishing now and get a great shine, but you will always have the ripples. If rippels are fine for you skip to step four. If you want mirror shine like me, grab your 1500grit paper and start wetsanding. Just make sure that you sand in one direction only. Reason is that when we move to the next step you will go in the opposit direction, and it will make it easier to see if you are removing the scratches left behind by sanding. Make sure that you get all of the rippels out and that the haze left by your sanding is even through out thw whole wheel. (Bad pic, but you can see where I began sanding against the rippels on the left.)
To remove what little curbage there was I carefully used an orbital sander with 900grit paper. Go gentle and be careful not to touch the face of the wheel!
STEP THREE: Now that the sanding is done clean the wheel again and grab your buffing tool. You want your Sisal Wheel and Black Compound.
Now for information on buffing techniques, applying rouge, etc... head over to http://www.caswellplating.com and download their free complete buffing booklet http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/Buffbook.pdf So get to work with the sisal wheel and make sure you have the wheel spinning perpendicular to the direction that you went with the sand paper. The sisal wheel will remove the sanding marks and leave finer scratches of its own. Take your time and make sure that you remove all sanding marks/scratches or they will show up later. Your goal is to see nothing but fine scratches frome the sisal all going in the same direction. If you see areas of crosshatching go back and buff it some more.
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When your done, use the brake parts cleaner and microfibre towel to clean off all of the used compound.
Your wheel should have a nice even haze.
STEP FOUR: Now grab your Spiral Sewn wheel and Black Compound .
Start working you way around the wheel, now in the opposite direction that you went with the sisal wheel. This is where you will spend most of your time. It is hard but try to remove the scratches left behind from the sisal wheel. You will know that it is working because you will finally start to see your project shine!
STEP FIVE: After your done with the spiral wheel, grab your Loose Cotton Wheel and Black Compound.
Use the wheel once again in the opposite direction as the last step. However when using this wheel use very little pressure and move it briskly across the workserface. This will help polish your rim to a more even and better shine. YOUR ALMOST DONE!
STEP SIX: Ok put down your tools and grab your polish and a clean microfibre towel and start polishing. Put some elbow grease in it, but don't press too hard or you'll put scratches in your nice new mirrors. I suggest using Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish. Here's a few pics of the final product:
Now that your done, go grab a beer or 12 and get ready for the other 3 wheels Remember you will probably still have some very fine scratches/blemishes in the wheels when your finished, thats just how it is. But mount them on the car and challenge anyone not on their hands and knees to find them. Good Luck
To start, I'll just say that with the right tools/techniques it is not that bad of a task. However if you are the type of person that wants things done in a hurry and tends to rush, this is not for you. Also if you are looking for absolute perfection, this is not for you. Polishing metals to a mirror shine is a process and even in professional jobs there are still some imperfections, fine scratches, hazing... just keep in mind that you always notice what you know is there (like that little scratch on your door that you friends say they don't see ) so don't drive yourself crazy it will look great.
First gather up your supplies. You will need:
1. Aircraft stripper, cheap brushes, plastic sraper of sorts (An old credit card will work)
2. Sand paper-maybe! Water and dish soap for wetsanding. You may not need to sand, and if you do, start with the highest grit possible. I'll touch back on this later.
3. Microfibre towels.
4. Break parts cleaner.
5. Aluminum polish.
6. Buffing wheels/rouges (compounds). These are the most important. I very highly suggest getting these supplies from http://www.caswellplating.com. They have high quality products, and great prices. I ordered the "Aluminum Polishing Kit" and it had everything I need, and then some for only $35.00. Not bad considering polishing shops are charging around 200-250 a wheel for full polishing! I also suggest getting the wheel rake for cleaning the buffing wheels, it helps alot.
6.A tool for using the wheels. I used an angle grinder with an extension. (the extension is also sold at caswellplating.com) Unfortunatly an electric drill won't work, unless it is very very high speed, and I haven't found one. But, the good news is that angle grinders can be found cheap. I got an awesome makita 4 1/2" grinder from home depot on sale, 2 for 79.00! I sold the extra one to my fater for $30.00 lol.
STEP ONE:Now that you've got your supplies grab your wheels and set them up so that you can easily get at them from all angles. A set of saw horses should do. As far as leaving the tires on or off, it's up to you. I left them on because I did not have alot of work to do on the edge of the wheel, but if you have alot of curbing to fix it would be alot easier to take the tires off. Now grab your aircraft stripper and a cheap brush and start giving the wheels a good thick coat. If you are stripping wheels that have textured areas like the inners of fat fives, make sure you coat it really well or it will be hard to remove the clear later.
You will see the effects of the stripper almost immediatly but let it sit for at least a half hour. I also helps to add a seconed coat of stripper after 15min. If you let it sit long enough the clear coat will pratically fall off. If you don't let it sit you will really have to scrape at it, and it sucks lol. Your wheel should look like this after when its ready to scrape:
Now grap your plastic scraper and go at it.
Make sure that you get ALL of the clear off now. If there are spts that yu can't get off, reapply some stripper and it should come right off.
STEP TWO: Now that you have all of the clear off, give the wheels a good cleaning with soapy water to get all of the stripper off. Now look at your wheel:
You can see the fine scratches/haze. You will also see "ripples" that run in a circle patten around the rim (fat fives). Now you have a decision. You can start polishing now and get a great shine, but you will always have the ripples. If rippels are fine for you skip to step four. If you want mirror shine like me, grab your 1500grit paper and start wetsanding. Just make sure that you sand in one direction only. Reason is that when we move to the next step you will go in the opposit direction, and it will make it easier to see if you are removing the scratches left behind by sanding. Make sure that you get all of the rippels out and that the haze left by your sanding is even through out thw whole wheel. (Bad pic, but you can see where I began sanding against the rippels on the left.)
To remove what little curbage there was I carefully used an orbital sander with 900grit paper. Go gentle and be careful not to touch the face of the wheel!
STEP THREE: Now that the sanding is done clean the wheel again and grab your buffing tool. You want your Sisal Wheel and Black Compound.
Now for information on buffing techniques, applying rouge, etc... head over to http://www.caswellplating.com and download their free complete buffing booklet http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/Buffbook.pdf So get to work with the sisal wheel and make sure you have the wheel spinning perpendicular to the direction that you went with the sand paper. The sisal wheel will remove the sanding marks and leave finer scratches of its own. Take your time and make sure that you remove all sanding marks/scratches or they will show up later. Your goal is to see nothing but fine scratches frome the sisal all going in the same direction. If you see areas of crosshatching go back and buff it some more.
When your done, use the brake parts cleaner and microfibre towel to clean off all of the used compound.
Your wheel should have a nice even haze.
STEP FOUR: Now grab your Spiral Sewn wheel and Black Compound .
Start working you way around the wheel, now in the opposite direction that you went with the sisal wheel. This is where you will spend most of your time. It is hard but try to remove the scratches left behind from the sisal wheel. You will know that it is working because you will finally start to see your project shine!
STEP FIVE: After your done with the spiral wheel, grab your Loose Cotton Wheel and Black Compound.
Use the wheel once again in the opposite direction as the last step. However when using this wheel use very little pressure and move it briskly across the workserface. This will help polish your rim to a more even and better shine. YOUR ALMOST DONE!
STEP SIX: Ok put down your tools and grab your polish and a clean microfibre towel and start polishing. Put some elbow grease in it, but don't press too hard or you'll put scratches in your nice new mirrors. I suggest using Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish. Here's a few pics of the final product:
Now that your done, go grab a beer or 12 and get ready for the other 3 wheels Remember you will probably still have some very fine scratches/blemishes in the wheels when your finished, thats just how it is. But mount them on the car and challenge anyone not on their hands and knees to find them. Good Luck
