Need to get these looking new.

S

ScubaStevo

New member
Hey everyone



I have a customer that wants his polished aluminum rims to look like chrome. Is this possible? I have a PC on order, so hopfully I could get this done.



What kind of products would I use?
 
Coca-Cola.... It will clean up anyoxidation on aluminum and chrome, but i doubt that you are going to make polished alum. look like chrome.



Anyhow, how are you still working in the middle of winter up there in Canada?
 
I think you can get it shiny and reflective, but I don't know about chrome looking.



Then again, most "chrome" wheels on cars today are factory polished aluminum. I realy wouldn't know how aggressive you'd need to go to get this done.
 
Hello,

The wheels on my T/A are Centerline's and were a satin finish. I took a wool pad on my rotary and a can of Mothers aluminum polish, which i bought at autozone and started buffing. They came out like a nice shiney chrome wheel. This process will ruin your pad so beware. I found this the easiest way. You can do it by hand also, just takes longer.



Sellncars
 
This is what his rims look like now.

104_0457.jpg




But he wants them to look similar in shine to his Caddy rims.



DSC00854.jpg
 
Since those look like factory Olds wheels, my guess is they have a clear coating on them, which aggressive polishing might remove, which sounds like a bad idea to me.
 
I wouldn't mess with them. If he wants chrome then he is going to have to get the chromed. Just like Mike (Setec) said, they are probably clearcoated so there's really nothing you can do other than cleaning them up with some AIO and calling it a day. Look up Chrome Masters to see what they would charge to do it. They are supposed to be the best.
 
I just figured out how to get pictures to appear in posts, but how did you make it so large? When got a that same pic to post from the link above it came up 1/2 that size.
 
I think mothers chrome polish and a few hours could get them looking pretty darn close. Last year I took my stainless steel, surface rusted, 5 layers of paint, tailpipes on my crown vic and polished them out so that they looked pretty close to chrome. Used 1500, 2000, and 3000 sand paper, as well as mothers and got them looking nice.
 
mtmaher1 said:
I just figured out how to get pictures to appear in posts, but how did you make it so large? When got a that same pic to post from the link above it came up 1/2 that size.
Click to expand...

Click the picture in the website to enlarge first and then you right-click---->save image location as(I'm on Firefox)

then you just use IMG function and paste your link
 
Buick_guy1, one word: Don't



Metal polishing is a craft unto itself. If you jump in without knowing exactly what you're doing, exactly what your customer expects and exactly how much work/materials it's going to take you're asking for trouble.



There are wheel shops that do this sort of work for a living. Find one and ask them what it costs and what's involved. You'll be glad you didn't try it yourself.





PC.
 
Buick_guy1, one word: Don't
Click to expand...



I agree, at least not on a customers car. If it was your own car then go ahead but you really don't want to leave a customers car looking worse then when you started.
 
I agree, I told him that it really isn't detailing. Metal work is a totally different technique.



I told him if he wants I could clay them and put some AIO / SG on them, but I wasn't doing any polishing.
 
Use the Mothers Powerball and Billet polish. Youd be amazed. I have 20 inch Helo brand rims on my van and it takes me about 1 1/2 minutes to polish rims. (not including wipedown).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top