Cleaning up some `79 Corvette Wheels...

**imported_Luster** · 10-01-2009, 09:50 AM

These 1979 Corvette wheels have been sitting in a warehouse since 1985 (and it shows!). Lots of oxidation, mildew and scratches. The owner asked me if I could make them look like chrome if he`d pay me $100. I immediately said... "No. But for $100 I can make them look a whole lot better!"

I spent about 2.5 hours polishing, buffing, re-polishing, re-buffing..... (THEY WERE STUBBORN!)

PROCESS:

I started by washing them with ONR, just to get the dirt and spider webs off.

Polished with Poorboys Pro Polish 2, by PC / LC Yellow pad. After tearing up 2 pads on the rectangular holes, and having little success achieving shine, I switched to a Mother`s Power Ball.

It was a little better, but still not what I had hoped for.

What I have found, for polishing aluminum, it`s not speed that makes the metal polish work... it`s PRESSURE.

After switching to HAND-POLISHING with pieces of old cotton towels, and heavy pressure by hand, I achieved the best results.

Once I was finished with the first pass with the PB/PP2, I did my final polishing with Simichrome polish by hand.

For 30-year-old wheels, they turned out fairly well.

Given another 2 hours, I could probably make them look even better... (customer didn`t want to spend another eighty bucks!)

Before:

AFTER:

**Old Pirate** · 10-01-2009, 11:12 AM

What a great improvement on the rims Bill...:hurray:

**imported_Slik560** · 10-02-2009, 09:15 AM

Mercy. That had to be a whole lotta polishing. What do they say about an ounce of prevention? A little wheel sealer before storage would have gone a long way. Great job, BTW. :wink:

**imported_Luster** · 10-02-2009, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Slik560

Mercy. That had to be a whole lotta polishing. What do they say about an ounce of prevention? A little wheel sealer before storage would have gone a long way. Great job, BTW. :wink:

When I bought my `82 Vette, the wheels were worse than these... black mold, mildew, oxidation and, again, VERY STUBBORN.

I had to polish them at least 12 times, for at least 20 minutes each wheel.

Each time they would get a little shinier, but it took a LOT of elbow grease with pressure!!!

These are mine.... I`m guessing 3-4 hours per wheel to give them this near-mirror finish. (Pay no attention to the Blackfire Wet Diamond LSP on the hood and fenders.

)