Wheel polishing lathe

[Kershaw]

I wanted to polish the lips on my RS before they get new tires. I was considering rigging up the motor and belt drive from either my old table saw or planer, but then I thought, "hey, I already have a spinning hub perfectly built for rotating these rims." I jacked my ix fully off the ground, put it in 3rd, and let it idle. Dangerous? Yeah, maybe. Effective? Yep, definitely. Used 1500 grit wet sand. I should have removed the tiny bolts, but retorquing all 120 is a pain. I might do it the next go around in 2 years though.

[Mr. Tasty]

I like it. Work smart, not hard.

[TobyB]

...and don't stick your finger in there!

hee

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[LateFan]

Didn't leave a million parallel scratches on there?

[Mr. Tasty]

Didn't leave a million parallel scratches on there?

wet sanding with a fine grade (1500+) sandpaper?

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Lol sweet should finish with 2000 grit and then get a polishing wheel for a cordless drill or angle grinder and some compound and make them bitch'ss shine! then do the final polish with aluminum polish like normal what i did with my oz turbos and its incredible

Here how mine finished

[ST1G]

Hmm, pretty good results. Didn't catch a finger did you?

Lol sweet should finish with 2000 grit and then get a polishing wheel for a cordless drill or angle grinder and some compound and make them bitch'ss shine! then do the final polish with aluminum polish like normal what i did with my oz turbos and its incredible

Bro, punctuation matters.

[straight6pwr]

i rigged up an old bench grinder motor to my style 5s, but I would do it your way the second time around. not enough torque to keep em spinning when applying pressure to do the sanding. i did remove the bolts so that the finish would match behind them, then used double stick tape to hold the face to the lips when spinning.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Hmm, pretty good results. Didn't catch a finger did you?




Bro, punctuation matters.

For that st1gy. I give you this badge

[Kershaw]

I have 2000 grit, but I wasn't going to take the time for another round of sanding with the bolts still in there. I will give it a swirl with a drill powered polisher abs aluminum polish once they're installed.

[BillBrasky]

Here's an instructional video if you want to take your lathe to the next level or if you've just had a few Molsons and want some old fashioned Canadian entertainment.

[AndrewBird]

I did the same thing with a set of E21 weaves I put on a MK2 jetta I had. Used a grinder with a flap disk first to take off all the rash, then sanded them nice and smooth. Worked great.

[DER E30]

I'm gonna do this in a few weeks when I get new tires. Gotta take the old ones off or pull the valve stems though. The last time I tried it the valve stem came around and beat up my fingers, every stupid rotation...:( I hit the PO's curb rash good though!

3rd seems like a decent gear, and if the jack drops it or whatever, the m42 has no chance in hell of moving the car anywhere

[e30m3s54turbo]

I polished mine by hand. At the final it was 2000 grit.

[LJ851]

I did a similar thing.