PakShak Vs Adam's Vs Cobra for Polishing

I didn't even know they owned the site. It's okay, I probably sound like I'm getting paid by Meg's haha. That's just what I was always able to find locally, so that's what I've always used until recently.


I appreciate the honest recommendations though. 


And I am eager to get away from the Meg's ult polish. Maybe in time,with more experience, I'll be able to better use it, but for now it's just a PITA.


 


I know you helped me out on a previous thread "The right sealant for my tastes" that went well beyond just sealants. I need to look back over that.


 


That's what I thought you would say about the cones. <- see, I'm learning :)  I have some 5 inch pads that could actually work inside the wheels since they're so wide, and the pads are curved on the edges. But I was looking for an excuse to get some 3inchers anyway, so I might just have to try that. Plus that's less I have to do by hand.


 


I won't go too nuts on the wheels, but I do want to make 'em shine :D  I'll wash them outside then bring them into the basement to polish and coat. I'll keep them covered with a tarp or something in between coats.


 


Yeah I'll let you know about the reconditioning. When I had these wheels before my fiance hit one on a curb, so I had to have it reconditioned. The shop that messed up my hood sent them somewhere to have them done (at least they can outsource well), but I don't know where. They did a pretty great job. I did notice 2 things :
  1. The clear was a little thicker and more curved around the edges, rather than having the sharper corners that they had stock.
  2. The machined aluminum originally had a circular pattern running around the wheel, I assume from the machining process. It was very subtle, and could only be seen upon close inspection. On the reconditioned wheel there was a pattern but it was much thinner and lighter.
Both were only noticeable up close, and probably only by me. They looked indistinguishable otherwise.
 
<span style="font-size:18px;">I'm going to research it before I pic a place, so I'll let you know what I find. What were your experiences like?
 
<span style="font-size:12px;">This isn't the one I had reconditioned, just a visual of the wheel.
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:23476]
 
BlueBeast14GT- I'd just do those by hand...all the angles/etc. would drive me nuts with a polisher.  Well, maybe I'd do the "high points", the raised areas, with a polisher but down in those spokes I'd just go by hand.


 


And yeah, IME the HD polishes/compounds really *are* that much more user-friendly than the Meguiar's stuff, and I didn't always hate the latter the way some people do (still like M105).


 


I've had the same minor issues with many refinished wheels.  And sometimes when I had a whole set (or sometimes even two; summer/winter) redone one or two wheels would be *perfect* and the others would have those issues.  Eh..."refinished" can only go so far towards being a time machine IME.  As you suspect, *NOBODY* else will ever see the flaws, especially after a few years in the real world take their toll.


 


Like you, my best results came from having a shop send them out, but that refinisher seems to be out of business, as is the shop that sent them.


 


I wish I knew where "wheelstiresandmore" (ebay seller) has theirs done, or maybe they do them in-house.  I got a refinished mag wheel from them (for the spare in my built Crown Vic) and that wheel is *PERFECT*, just like factory new.
 
Yeah I figured anything inside the spokes would need to be done by hand, but the inside curve behind the spokes and the flat front surface should be doable by machine. That'll at least save me some time. They're a PITA, but it beats flat front hub caps!


 


Ya know I think that might have been one of the sellers I looked at when searching for these wheels. They're pretty hard to come by but a few refinishing people would have a set on Ebay every now and then. It couldn't hurt to shoot the guy an email 


and ask, especially if you're a paying customer he's more inclined to help you out.


 


What year crown vic do you have? My first car was a 78 Impala. Only had the 305, but that was a fun car.
 
BlueBeast14GT- Yeah, the folks at WheelsTiresandMore were great, I had somewhat extensive interaction with them as I needed to verify the offset of the wheels in question (the interchange manualsa are all *wrong* on that particular setup).  I hinted at wanting to know who/where Re the refinishing but they were decidedly silent on the subject so I didn't push it.


 


Ah, I think your '78 Impala was the same as one of my earlier GM copcar projects!  Sheesh, I've been doing this stuff so long it's hard to remember any more :wacko:


 


My Crown Vics are '01 (civilian car, *heavily* modified ;)  currently getting an engine transplant to better handle more boost), which is the one I needed another factory mag wheel for, and a '08 P71 (Dept. of Justice car from Texas, <20K miles, virtually showroom-new and currently still stock), on which I'm running those "flat front hubcaps" :D   I do my Driver's Training in Crown Vics and found them uniquely well-suited for beater-car duty in my particular situation, perfectly complimenting my Audis.
 
I gotcha. I thought that's what you were doing with the APC for a while lol. I think you just were missing that question. 


My guess is they don't want to give away their secrets, or have people buy used wheels and get them reconditioned themselves.


 


I must have been really tired when I posted this. I saw Crown Vic and thought Caprice Classic, which I think was about the same thing as the Impala. Back then the Crown Vic was close too haha. I ended up in the principle's office for doing burnouts back in highschool, and she ended up yelling at me and the school cop because it turned into a shouting match with me and him arguing about our Impalas lol. I would love to have souped that thing up, but it is long since gone.


 


By the way, should I use the opticoat on the rear surface of the wheels as well, behind the spokes?
 
BlueBeast14GT- Heh heh, understood about all those three-box sedans sorta being similar, especially back when they were really boxy!


 


Yeah, do the back sides too, makes it a breeze to keep 'em clean.
 
Now ignoring the comment about ignoring lol jk.


 


This may be a stupid question, but should I do anything to the outer surface of the rim, where the tire rest? I'm thinking that would be both pointless and a bad idea for keeping a good seal on the tire. I only ask because I was wondering if the opti-coat should be seamless so it doesn't peel around the edges.
 
BlueBeast14GT- I'd just skip that area and only do what's going to be exposed when the tire is mounted.  But I'm pretty sure it won't matter if you do/don't coat the area where the tire's bead will seal up.  It's not like the coating is really thick like paint or anything, no worries of any "peeling"/etc.  Just think of the OptiCoat as being like a really durable wax/sealant.
 
Ok cool. I'm trying to build my own contraption to pop the tires off so I don't have to haul them to a shop and pay to have it done. They're getting trashed anyway, so all I need to do is expose the bead, then I can cut them off. After that I can begin the coating process :)
 
Yeah I know. That's why I'm not taking the tire all the way off with a crowbar. Otherwise I would get the contraption they sell at Harbor Freight. I don't know, I might forgo this plan, but I already have all the materials but one so I thought I'd give it a shot.
 
Well I tried, and I failed lol. I tried it out on the wheel that needs to be reconditioned in case I did mess up. I didn't hurt the wheel at all, so my contraption at least worked in that regard! However, it did not remove the tire. I came so close to breaking the bead, but it just wouldn't go. I actually managed to bend the steel pipe I was using to compress the tire, and the thing still stayed on.
 
BlueBeast14GT- Eh, just another one of those "don't try this at home, kids!" things.  Glad you didn't do any damage.
 
Well I was careful. Believe me, I wouldn't have done it if I thought I was going to cause damage. And anytime my rig started to do something worrisome, I would stop and inspect it.


 


I am pretty proud of this little bit though: I wanted to have the wheel mounted in the middle of the thing, like the HF tool, except I had the arm going out from the middle rather than the side. Well I didn't want to have the wheel resting on a metal ring like the HF version because of the obvious scratching risk. So I took a hockey puck, grinded it down til it fit perfectly in the center of the wheel, and bored out the center for the pole. I had a metal clamp under that to hold it in place. And it totally worked! No damage whatsoever to the wheel from contact with the tool :)


 


 


If I have the tires taken off now then go back to have my good tires transferred over after I coat the wheels, it basically doubles the price (over having it all done at once). That's not happening. 


So now I have a couple issues, and of course questions to go along with them :)


 
<p style="margin-left:40px;">1. Do you think it would be okay to apply the Opti-Coat while the current tires are still on there? I have two concerns with this:
<p style="margin-left:80px;">a. Contamination of the wheels during polishing/coating because the tires aren't completely clean.
<p style="margin-left:120px;">- The plan is to get a brush attachment for the DA and get the tires as clean as possible, but even so...
<p style="margin-left:80px;">b. I won't be able to get to the entire lip of the rim since the tire will be in the way.
<p style="margin-left:40px;">2. Can I pop off the weights that are on there, so that I can Opti-Coat the surface under them?
<p style="margin-left:80px;">a. They'll probably have to adjust them anyway when I have them mounted and balanced.
<p style="margin-left:80px;">b. When they put weights on the wheels, will that be bad for the Opti-Coat?
<p style="margin-left:80px;"> 
<p style="margin-left:80px;"> 


Thanks as usual!
 
BlueBeast14GT- Don't worry about the tires contaminating anything, you don't, IMO, need to worry about that minute portion of the rim.


 


Sorry, you lost me on how getting the old tires taken off those rims is gonna up your price.  I'd have the old tires taken off the new rims, remove the old weights (are the crimp-on or adhesive?), polish/clean the rims, do one coat of the OptiCoat, have the tires mounted/balanced, do another coat.


 


I wouldn't worry about every millimeter of the rim and I wouldn't worry at all about the tires contaminating anything.


 


I hear that adhesive weights stick fine to the OptiCoat, but I have them balanced before I coat them (and I coat the weights too).  I trust you're going to use adhesive weights mounted only on the back side.
 
If I take the rims in and have it all done at once- remove bald tires from new rims and dispose of them; remove good tires and tpms sensors from current rims; install tpms sensors and mount and balance tires on new rims -then it costs somewhere between $100 and $150. A few places said the cost was basically the same if I removed the old tires myself.


 


I called a couple places to see what it would cost just to bring in the set of new rims and have the bald tires removed, and it was still at least $25 each. I found one place that was significantly cheaper, but once he realized I wasn't buying tires or having any put on, he asked what year it was. When I said 2014, he said he didn't want the job because the liability was too great if he damaged a wheel.


 


And I can't just have the tires switched and drive on the crappy tires for a while because they are dangerously bald, like with metal coming through... and I cut one with a razor trying to remove it....


 


The weights are also an issue. There are stick on weights. For some reason they are on the inside surface of the rim, farther back than the spokes but still visible. I would have them put on behind the spokes so you can't see them. I'm guessing I just pop them off, and I'm sure I can remove any adhesive left behind.


The problem is that I found at least one of the wheels (haven't checked the others yet) has a clip on weight on the back side. I have no clue how to get that off, and I really hope it hasn't damaged the wheel.
 
BlueBeast14GT- The clip-on weights can be tricky to remove without damaging the rim, and there will be *some* (hopefully minor) damage from when it was put on anyhow.


 


The location of the adhesive weights is  part of the balancing, their position can't be altered for appearance's sake. 


 


The best way to remove those IME is with 3M Adhesive Remover, but I'm sure some other adhesive solvent will work.  BE CAREFUL, they won't just "pop off" and you don't want to gouge the wheel using a screwdriver or somesuch.  Let the adhesive remover soften the glue and consider using a heatgun/hairdryer too.  I use plastic razor blades when I need to do any scraping.


 


I'd remove the adhesive weights.  See if you can get the others off but don't risk damage.  Take them to the shop and impress upon them how important the whole thing is to you and hope they don't do anything too awful (I use my Audi, Ford, and Chevy dealers and they do OK work for me..but they know how I am and they want to keep me as a customer).  Get all that done and then take the car home and do the polishing/coating.
 
Oh ok, when you said behind the wheel I thought you meant on the back side of the spokes as opposed to on the visible surface


 


And don't worry, pop off with a screw driver is not what I meant lol.I just meant I don't need some specialized tool. At least if there is damage from the clipped on weights, it'll be on the back of the wheel so no one will see it.


 


Yeah the dealerships were the first places I called because I know they don't want to lose me. I just don't want to pay a ton, and I want to coat it before I put the wheels on. But if they are all going to charge around the same, that's where I'll take it.
 
CEE DOG said:
OP, for polish removal towels get the best on the market by far - Microfiber Madness Yellow Fellow
Click to expand...


I think you're the 3rd person to tell me about Microfiber madness, and every person has seemed really enthusiastic about them. That's gotta say something. :)


 


 


Accumulator-


I just had a stroke of genius! One of these tires has to be usable, just for a little bit. So here's what I'll do:
<ul>[*]Get all 4 tires/tpms sensors transferred over to the new wheels, mounted & balanced.
[*]Have the best one of the 4 crappy tires put onto one of my current wheels.
[*]Polish and coat the new wheels, one at a time, using that one wheel/crappy tire as a spare.
[*]That way I'll still have 4 full size tires on, rather than driving around for a couple weeks on a donut.
[/list]

I am so proud of myself right now :D
 
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