Hopefully this will give you all the information you ever wanted to know about polishing. If we can keep this thread going – then maybe this section won’t become 10 questions a day about wheel polishing – like the appearance section became 10 questions a day about headlights (for a while).

Polishing
There are a few very nice guides out there – read them, study them, use them!

First One: Mag and Aluminum Wheel Polishing at EastwoodCo.com

Second One: Getting Ready to Buff – Surface Conditioning and Smoothing at EastwoodCo.com

Third One: Polishing “How To” at Todd2001SS’s website

Everything you need to do this can be had from www.eastwoodco.com.
Below are some direct links to sections you may want to check out.

Main Metal Buffing and Finishing Page
Buffing Category
Compounds Category
Buffing Kits Category

Familiarize yourself with all the polishing products available and their uses.

Other notes:
•Not all polishing jobs require such hard work and so many tools. If you are just trying to get your already polished aluminum wheels just to shine back up – you may want to try Mother’s Billet Polish, it is a very high quality polish that works well. This is different than Mother’s Aluminum Polish.
•Depending on the severity of the wheels’ dullness, you may need some buffing wheels or various bob’s (available at Eastwood) to get the shine you desire.
•High speed with a wheel or bob is not necessarily the best way. You can probably achieve the results you desire with a cordless drill.
•If your wheels are scratched – you are going to have to do more than just use some Mother’s polish and a rag – read the guides above for more info.

Stripping
I don’t know if there are any guides out there on this – but I am sure there are. Either way – it isn’t rocket science – so anyone can do it. I will go ahead and write a “guide” here as to how me and a buddy stripped his ’02 WS6 wheels. But – use it at your own risk – I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong with your project.

Materials needed for stripping:
•Klean-Strip Aircraft Remover. This is available at Wal-Mart in the automotive section. You can always play it safe and just get 1 can for each wheel – although you will probably only use 2-3 cans, which is what I would recommend. Whatever you don’t use, you can take back.
•Soft plastic scraper. (Bondo Spreaders, etc.)
•Latex Gloves (you don’t have to use them, but I would like to watch you use this stuff without them – it WILL burn you – even if you are used to paint chemicals, etc.)
•Masking Tape (Optional – if you have any areas you do not wish to be stripped or possibly bubble up).
•Rags, towels, waterhose…(Terry cloth towels recommended).
(And please – do all of this outside – this stuff is harmful to your health if ingested).

1. Wash the wheels off first. Don’t have to go to town – just get all the top junk off that you can. This will allow the stripper to get directly to the clear coat or paint that you are trying to remove.
2. Tape off wheel if necessary. Tape off any painted or clear coated areas you do not want to be stripped. I would at least double up on the tape – as the stripper is powerful enough to eat through it. The stripper will not damage tires to my knowledge, so there is no need to tape them up.
3. With gloves on, start spraying the stripper. Follow the directions on the can as always. We used several heavy coats of stripper – probably wasteful, but it worked.
4. Let the coated wheel sit outside, out of direct sunlight for 15-20 minutes/
5. Take scraper and scrape gunk off of wheel as much as possible.
6. Then re-wash the wheel with a waterhose and towel (I recommend terry cloth towels because they do not scratch easily) removing all the stripper and loose clear coat.
7. Repeat process until desired results are achieved.


Now you are ready to polish the wheels.
Most wheels that have had clear coat on them are not too bad underneath. In the case of my buddy’s wheels, they were highly polished underneath the clear coat, the clear coat was all that was dull.

If they are not as you want them – start off with the non-abrasive polishes first (again, read up on all the different materials used for polishing). You can probably get by with some Mother’s, applicator pads, and terry towels.

That’s all folks. If anyone has anything to add, please post up.
And Admins – a Sticky would be nice.

 

if i have black posder coated wheels, and i want to polish jsut the lip... do i tape off aroudn the lip and strip it? then polish it?

 

You know - I have never really messed with any powder coated wheels - so I am not sure. If I were you I would ask a company that does powdercoating what you should do.

 

That'd be your best bet. Plus it only takes a few seconds to tape off the wheel. Just an extra precaution to take.

 

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im currently doing this, and its taking alot more than just stripping off the clear coat and paint on mine, there is alot of sanding involved with my wheels to get them smooth underneath the paint. nice thread

 

Yup - previously unpolished wheels are a pain in the hiney. My buddy done his factory SVO wheels, that's a lot of wheel. I helped some - but man - he had the hours in those things. Just remember to work your through the grit's of sand paper - and it will really pay off when you are done.

 

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