What's your strategy when you can't just run a hose over the rims you're sanding? I've heard something about using a soapy solution. Also to just wet the paper? How do you guys do it? I wanna finish my rims this winter and I obviously can't do it outside with a hose.
Wetsanding
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Genuine Rolla
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Just make sure that the sand paper and the rim are always wet. You don't want to get dry spots. I like to use a spray bottle and constantly spray the area that is being sanded. helps remove the sandings off of the paper and wheel.
ive done some wheels at my apartment(no garden hose) and used a bucket of water and a spray bottle with water. just keep them wet
a larger sponge is what ive always used for any westanding.
simply squeeze a little at a time according to what you need, and dip once dry.
works quite well.
a SMALL dab of soap in the bucket/sink/whatever you're using will help a little as well... but it must be a very small amount or it'll make it a b***h to westand
when i polish the semi rims and rails at work, i use a 1000 or higher grit sandpaper. get a bucket of waterand i would dip the sand paper in the water and start sanding. you can never have too much water when wet sanding. sometimes if you move onto another area the water might dry... just rewet before sanding again so the paper doesn't get clogged up.
Using water helps in many ways.
1) Keeps the airborne dust down.
2) Keeps the sand paper from clogging up and becoming less effective
3) Keeps the small particles from redopositing and embedding back into the metal.
When I polish machined wheels, I start with 120grit. Lightly sand until the machine marks are gone are nearly gone.
Then I work up from there:
180
400
800
1000
1200
1500
Each successive grip is essentially removing the lines from the previous grit.
The hard part is removing the initial machine marks. The 120 will usually make pretty short work of this once ou bust through pait/clear coat (if present). The other grit up to and including 400 should move fairly quickly. The real patience comes with the 800 and up. And this point you are at a good shine and trying to remove haze and cloudiness.
You will spend most of your time at 800 and up removing fine scratches. Since these grits remove very little material, be prepared to spend some time. On these grits it is especially important to flush the paper often and wipe down the wheel thouroghly with a clean/well rinsed damp sponge if you are not able to provide a continuous flow of water. These grits will redeposit metal very easily. It will look like little bumps on your rim.
Once you get everything down to a 1500 grit finish, buff buff buff buff and buff again. If you don't have posihing wheels, a terry cloth towel works very well. Once down to 1500, Mothers will work well for you. Jewler's rouge and a polishing wheel works best, but mothers and terry cloth will provide pretty amazing results.
Also, when doing this, it is VERY important to always sand in the same direction. If you sand one way then go 90 degrees from it, you are really going to delay the process and never get good results.
Depending on what kind of rim you are working on and what equipment you have to work with, if you have a way to spin the wheel, it will go MUCH faster.
I have been known to put a car on a lift, (I have a hydroulic lift in my garage) start it and put it in gear and let the engine do the work. But I don't recommend this unless you have a very stable setup. A floor jack is not stable. You could easily kill yourself or someone, physically mame yourself, destroy your car and other property.
1) Keeps the airborne dust down.
2) Keeps the sand paper from clogging up and becoming less effective
3) Keeps the small particles from redopositing and embedding back into the metal.
When I polish machined wheels, I start with 120grit. Lightly sand until the machine marks are gone are nearly gone.
Then I work up from there:
180
400
800
1000
1200
1500
Each successive grip is essentially removing the lines from the previous grit.
The hard part is removing the initial machine marks. The 120 will usually make pretty short work of this once ou bust through pait/clear coat (if present). The other grit up to and including 400 should move fairly quickly. The real patience comes with the 800 and up. And this point you are at a good shine and trying to remove haze and cloudiness.
You will spend most of your time at 800 and up removing fine scratches. Since these grits remove very little material, be prepared to spend some time. On these grits it is especially important to flush the paper often and wipe down the wheel thouroghly with a clean/well rinsed damp sponge if you are not able to provide a continuous flow of water. These grits will redeposit metal very easily. It will look like little bumps on your rim.
Once you get everything down to a 1500 grit finish, buff buff buff buff and buff again. If you don't have posihing wheels, a terry cloth towel works very well. Once down to 1500, Mothers will work well for you. Jewler's rouge and a polishing wheel works best, but mothers and terry cloth will provide pretty amazing results.
Also, when doing this, it is VERY important to always sand in the same direction. If you sand one way then go 90 degrees from it, you are really going to delay the process and never get good results.
Depending on what kind of rim you are working on and what equipment you have to work with, if you have a way to spin the wheel, it will go MUCH faster.
I have been known to put a car on a lift, (I have a hydroulic lift in my garage) start it and put it in gear and let the engine do the work. But I don't recommend this unless you have a very stable setup. A floor jack is not stable. You could easily kill yourself or someone, physically mame yourself, destroy your car and other property.
lol i thought of that when i was doing my own wheels and then i thought of ferris bueler and i reconsidered.
yeop exactly what i did to polish the lip on my wheels...^^^
If you used 1000 grip on a machined surface lip, you spent a LONG LONG time. That or you never got it completely baby butt smooth and there are still tool marks in it from the machining process.
i work at a bodyshop and went to trade school for bodywork
just wet the area ur sanding, not the entire wheel. u dont need to soak it either, just get it to the point where the paper will just glide along the wheel. when ur hand starts to slip off the paper or u hear friction, reapply water to the area
just wet the area ur sanding, not the entire wheel. u dont need to soak it either, just get it to the point where the paper will just glide along the wheel. when ur hand starts to slip off the paper or u hear friction, reapply water to the area
I hate to disagree, but I disagree. Just wetting the paper will not work if you are trying to polish a soft metal like aluminum. The dust (smart particles of metal) will burnish themselves back onto the surface. The idea of water usage when polishing metal is to remove the dust and to keep the paper unclogged to prevent said burnishing.
Ah, respectfully noted. My apologies. I guess I read what I wanted to read and not what you typed. :-)