Aluminum Wheels

[immaculate]

Is it possible to machine buff aluminum wheels? A guy I was talking to said he sent in his aluminum wheels and they came back looking like Chrome, but it requires a certain product (jade or something) and machine buffing it.

Don`t know if this individual knew what he was talking about or anything. Anyone do anything like this before?

[CharlesW]

While I haven`t done it, I had some aftermarket wheels stripped of the clearcoat and polished. They were definitely shiny when they were returned. As I remember, it wasn`t cheap, but new wheels aren`t cheap either. Around $100 per wheel is what I think I remember. That was for removing the factory clearcoat and polishing. It did not include having them clearcoated again. I just polished them regularly. If I were to do it again, I would definitely have them clearcoated after polishing. I had forgotten just how much work it was to keep unfinished wheels looking good.

Charles

[dr_detail]

It sure is possible to polish out aluminum wheels.... a lesson hard learned for me in my first six months of detailing... Don`t ever spray wheel acid on a `72 Corvette with polished aluminum wheels!! :doh

Ten hours of hard labor later, combined with lots of sweat, and the gratitude of learning how, they were back to looking better than new.

P.S. Thank heaven for understanding bosses, :flamed and loyal customers. :angel

[immaculate]

dr detail? , what`s the process you used to get them looking back to new?

[dr_detail]

I took a look on the web, and they were actually later model wheels, more like `75 or `76 anyway...

First, I masked and re-painted the holes. After they were dry, I masked them off and proceeded to go to town on the real work, fixing a big ol` boo-boo. I started out with a light sanding of 1500g paper. Next, I buffed them out using the dinosar (20lbs I think) Sioux Poliser equipted with a 7 1/2" used cutting pad. BAF-PRO Machine Cleaner #2 with a little Liquid Ebony mixed in was the first buffing step. Next step was BAF-PRO Polish #1 using the same spurred pad, then again with a new pad. I now switched to back to back 7" Lambs Wool pads and used Mothers Mag and wheel polish. I then went to town using the Mothers by hand until I could see myself. I removed the masking, touched up some of the paint, then grabbed the carnuba paste wax and wha-la... better than new. the whole process took 2 days (10 m-hrs)

I`m sure today that there are products that would be by far, hands down, without a doubt, much easier... but hey I was learning and that`s what was around :)

[immaculate]

Oh man, sounds like a headache. :) Sounds like you got some good experience in though. Thanks.

[rhillstr]

A do-it-yourself approach that I`ve used it to affix a flannel buffing wheel to drill then buff the wheel with compound. Compound selection depends on wheel condition just as when buffing paint. There are many but I played around with the standard stuff Tripoli and Rouge.
Link:
http://www.swmetal.com/compounds.html

Also I posted a while back the result I achieved polishing my aluminum rims with Poorboy`s Pro Polish. I tried to find it but I think it`s gone now. I was pleased none the less.

[tguil]

I polished the 20 inch polished aluminum wheels on my Hemi with 3M Finesse It II rubbing compound and my pc with a Meguiar`s burgandy pad. These wheels have enough big surfaces to allow this. There was minimal hand work involved. I sealed them with Meguiar`s NXT. I chose to use regular rubbing compound rather than metal polish because I am not 100% sure that they are not clear coated. They turned out darned nice.

Tom :cool

[tguil]

Oops -- Perfect-It II rubbing compound.

Tom :cool

[Anthony O.]

Originally posted by immaculate
Is it possible to machine buff aluminum wheels? A guy I was talking to said he sent in his aluminum wheels and they came back looking like Chrome, but it requires a certain product (jade or something) and machine buffing it.

Don`t know if this individual knew what he was talking about or anything. Anyone do anything like this before?

Rolite works great and will give you amazing results. Here is a link http://www.topoftheline.com/rolmetpolkit.html

Good luck,
Anthony

[immaculate]

Thanks a ton everyone! Good links, looks like that`s the stuff I need. :google Thanks

[Beemerboy]

I had polished aluminum rims on my Jeep. I spent hours doing research on how to keep them shinny. I ended up buying a adapter for my high speed rotary buffer. Its a large hard cotton bob that you can put pressure against. Used a good quality polish and here is the results, they looked like a mirror

[immaculate]

:eek :wow I`ve never seen anything so beautiful in my whole life. *sniff*...beemer...it`s people like you that provide the motivation I need to just keep truckin.

My goal is to achieve that type of perfection on aluminum wheels.

[dr_detail]

Beemer, they honestly look so shiny & polished I think I can see my @#$% getting hard in the reflection!!

[Beemerboy]

Thanks all it was a lot of time to get them this way