Wheel Polishing

[surebimmer]

I know a few of you guys on here have done your own wheel polishing. What products work what don't.

My GF'a wheels need some work. There is a clear coat of the aluminum and some of it has started to peel off. I need to get the clear coat off and then polish the wheels. It all happened when we had to put snow cable's on her 19".

[der affe]

aircraft paint stripper to remove the clear, (unless it is anodized on, then you have to have it bead blasted off)

if they are actually polished now (which it doesn't look like in the pic) start with 250 if they are small scratches and go progressively finer on the grit up to 3500. then polish with a polishing wheel and some WHITE polishing compound on a high speed die-grinder. not a dremel!!! you will be doing it for 10 years. polish the sanding scratches until they blend into the rest of the polished wheel.

clean the built up compound goo off with white flour (like what you cook with). it will remove it without scratching the newly polished alum

[Erik]

Also comes in a spray can.

[PiercedE30]

Also comes in a spray can.

FTMFW! Get the non-spray can bottle otherwise you will go through it like mad and spend twice as much. Get LOTS of sand paper (220,320,400,600,800,1000) and if you want to get the lips to SHINE get some 1500 and 2000. I only start doing wet sanding once I get to 800 and everything above that. Take your time. You will get pissed trying to get the epoxy off the aluminum. Let the stripper do it's job. Make sure you have a scraper of some kind to scrape the stripper/epoxy off of the wheels, it makes a HUGE difference in trying to get the paint off. Wear gloves when using the stripper, you WILL burn yourself.

[surebimmer]

Sounds good. I'm going to try this out. I'll report back and take some pictures. Can this be done with the tire still mounted to the rim or just easier better to dismount the tire from the rim?

[PiercedE30]

Dismount. The tire may be damaged by the air craft stripper.

[surebimmer]

Ok thanks. Now i have to find a set on wheels tires to roll around on untill i can fix these.