Wet sand and polish? Whats the best aluminum polish.

[The Count]

Alright my wheels are kind dirty or scratched. I`m not sure what it is but it won`t come off with wash or clay or fingernail scraping, the wheel is totally covered in swirls which I think they were made that way but I could maybe get them out. So I was gonna wet sand them with like 800 then 1000 then 2000 then maybe 0000 steel wool? Then polish them. Whats the best polish is blackfire the best or what do you guys think



Heres the pics



Ok I can`t figure out how to post the pix, can I have some help?

[Accumulator]

The Count- I`d sure think long and hard about taking off the clearcoat. I`d bet you`ve never had uncoated, bare aluminum wheels or you wouldn`t be thinking about it.



I`d live with how they turn out after something like M105 or else have them professionally refinished.

[The Count]

I think they are bare actually. Plus I was thinking if you can wet sand paint why can`t you wet sand wheels. Plus wouldn`t the polish give a good coating as a clear? And have them proffesionally redone I don`t know where and aint got the cash, whats so bad about bare rims?

[bill57]

Are the wheels stock (did they come with the car originally)? If not, what is the wheel manufacturer`s name?

[David Fermani]

I`d avoid using sand paper or steel wool personally. Blackfire`s metal polishing system is awsome. Their Heavy Cut Compound is probably the most aggressive I`ve ever used. Especially when used with the wool polishing balls. After using it you`ll need to do atleast 1 more finishing step to move its marring and finish out.

[The Count]

They`re centerlines and do you think bf will cut threw it enough?



I got pics but don`t know how to post them help please



You think wool gets marring out? And it would get the little pits and other spots out? Thanks guys, keep it comin.

[David Fermani]

They`re centerlines and do you think bf will cut threw it enough?



I got pics but don`t know how to post them help please



You think wool gets marring out? And it would get the little pits and other spots out? Thanks guys, keep it comin.

Here`s an example of what the Blackfire system can do. Taken from Todd Helme @ Bella Machina. (hope you don`t mind)

The coolant tank (for a 360 Ferrari) was sent to me by a gentleman in Virgina who had asked if I could polish it. The same principles apply if you are polishing any piece of coated aluminum.



The first thing to do is strip the coating (powder coating or clear coating) You can use an automotive aircraft stripper, just spray it on (in a well ventilated area) and let it dwell for 15-30 minutes, until the finish bubbles up.



Use a fine brush (old tooth brush) to agitate any stubborn areas where the clear coat wants to stick. Then use a plastic scrapper to remove the clear coat and wash each wheel thoroughly.



Now you will have exposed the aluminum for polishing. If your aluminum has deep gouges or texture you will want to remove those by wet sanding each; starting with 220 grit and moving up to 1000 grit before polishing. Sanding them is extremely time consuming because you want to make sure you remove all of the previous sanding marks (from the rougher grit) before moving to the next finer grit.



You can accomplish this by cross-hatching. Sanding is one direction with say 220 grit, then sand in the opposite direction (left-to-right, then up-to-down) with say 400 grit until you no longer see the 220 grit marks, and repeat finer and finer.



When it comes time to polish the wheel to a super high luster (or remove the sanding marks) you are going to need an aluminum compound (similar to a compound for paint in principle), and then follow it up with an aluminum (fine cut) polish.



The Blackfire Aluminum Polishing Kit was (to my knowledge) the first boutique line of aluminum polishes that delivers professional results to the end-user. It is an idea that has been replicated (although perhaps not equaled).



You will need to have skill with a machine polisher how ever to use it.

Here is a link to the system and directions at out store: BLACKFIRE Aluminum Polishing System.



Here is a coolant tank from a Ferrari (that is actually a much cheaper casting of aluminum and much harder to polish and make look good).







The first step was using an aircraft stripper to remove the black powder coat (or in your case the factory clear). You can pick this up at just about any automotive supply store (Pepboys, Autozone, etc).



















After removing all of the coating I could see that the casting was in terrible shape: factory casting scratches, texture, and deep cuts everywhere!











I tried polishing a test spot to see how the results would turn out.

The amount of gloss I was able to get from the Blackfire Polishing System was impressive and only took minutes.







However a cropped area of the photo shows that there are still a lot of these very deep (you stick the tip of a pencil into them) scratches that meant I had to sand the tank. If your wheels are not heavily scratched (or have texture) you can go right to polishing!







The right side of the tank has been sanded to 1000 grit, the rest to 400 grit. You can see the uniformity in the sanding marks (cross-hatching). I did sand a couple areas to 3000 grit, but the Blackfire Aluminum Compound is so strong that it made no difference in the outcome.







In this picture the edge of the tank (reflecting the horse) has been polished with just the compound, the rest of the tank is just sanded.







On this piece I found it easier to use a Porter Cable 7242XP (DA) Polisher and 4 inch pads. I used a Lake Country 4 inch High Gloss Yellow Pad with the Blackfire Aluminum Compound. I worked at Speed 5 with firm pressure until the aluminum was really bleeding black and the polish started to become opaque. I pays to clean the pad frequently by pressing it against a cotton towel and turning it on.



Then I followed with Blackfire Fine Cut Aluminum Polish (step two) with a Lake Country 4 inch H20 Tangerine pad, starting at step 5 then slowing to step 3 when the polish began to breakdown/dry up. Again firm pressure.



The final step was Blackfire Wet Diamond Aluminum Show Polish on a 4 inch Lake Country Hi Gloss White Pad, speed 4 with moderate pressure until almost clear.



After cleaning thoroughly I used Blackfire Wet Diamond All-Metal Sealant to lock in the shine with out the use of solvents that can dull the highly polished surface.



The results....



















You can achieve a true mirror like finish on your wheels with our kit, no doubt, but it will take a little bit of time and patience ... but be warned... Polishing aluminum (and stainless) is addictive, my wife hasn`t forgiven me for what I have down to our refrigerator and appliances in our kitchen

[Accumulator]

I think they are bare actually...

OK, in that case you won`t be any worse off (maintenance-wise) than you are now.

Plus I was thinking if you can wet sand paint why can`t you wet sand wheels.

Sanding is usually overkill unless there are really nasty gouges/etc. But look how great it worked for Todd Helm! Guess "nasty" can be relative....

Plus wouldn`t the polish give a good coating as a clear?

Generally not even close, but then there are various coatings that might indeed do that. No idea how durable the BF stuff that David Fermani/Todd Helm advocate :nixweiss

And have them proffesionally redone I don`t know where and aint got the cash...

OK, fair enough on the expense! As for where, I send mine to a place my Audi dealer uses.

whats so bad about bare rims?

I ran bare aluminum rims a lot back in the day (before most aluminum rims came cleared/etc.). They seemed to oxidize/pit something awful, I was polishing them *ALL* the time and it got to be a huge drag.

[Accumulator]

David Fermani- Thanks for posting that, great example of what a good system can do! Makes me want to kill a bunch of time on some polished metal



Leaving aside Todd`s skill level (and that`s saying something), the BF system looks very impressive. I bought the Caswell system the last time I got all impressed by somebody`s results, but never to around to trying it...

[The Count]

So Dave you think I should sand, that tank has some pretty nasty scratches but if the polish is like 105 then maybe I could get it out if I work on it a while. Can I use a ball on a drill to do this?



I would buy the complete kit for sure. I guess I`ll try blackfire first then wet sand if I got to. Least aggresive answer first right.

[David Fermani]

Gonna be tough to gauge without seeing a pic or two? The key is to put the force of a machine behind you. Doing it by hand is for the birds. Makes not only the correction better, but produces incredible gloss. M105 works pretty good too. Yes, the ball can be used with a drill for sure, but you should also consider getting some 3 inch pads for your DA. Works great too. Also check out HD`s METAL polish. That stuff corrects very nice and leaves the most incredible amount of gloss. Not sure if you can go from the Heavy Cut Compound to HD in all applications as the marring the BF leaves *can* be pretty deep.

[The Count]

Well can someone tell me how to post a pic?



I don`t know if the DA will be much help seeing as how there are like 2 lips on the wheel ya know? Or are the 3 inch ones good for that? And do you use a ball you get OTC at the store uptown or is there a better one that you suggest?



Glad to know bf will produce marring then it might get the deep stuff out.



And I`ll buy the whole thing from the heavy cut to the fine finish polish. I`m excited LoL.

[David Fermani]

Open an account with PhotoBucket.com. It`s free. Upload your pics to it and copy and paste the pictures link from there. Really easy actually once you do it a couple times.



Gotcha on the DA. If you have a rotary that will work too with wool buffing pads. I use my dead old pads and they work great.



I`d get the BlackFire kit and polishing ball directly from Proper Auto Care.



Let us know how it works out.

[The Count]

Heres some of the marks that won`t come out







Heres the wheel





Heres the deep scratches

[The Count]