My Wheel Polishing Fetish :P

[ratta]

Dec 26, 2010 12:48:37 GMT @poproddernot said:

amazing work there,
i've got painted minilites, paint stripper to remove it, then polish?

cheers chris.

With the bevel discs you wont need any paint stripper they do all the work.

Started on my mums shmitz(well 1/2 of 1)



Still not happy with the center needs more work.

Workin on some bbs's


;D

[poproddernot]

cheers,
stupid question what discs do you use for cleaning off paint etc?

cheers chris.

[suterman]

here's my effort....

before



after

[alldub]

some of mine-

[ratta]

Wow thats some great work you must have all the proppa tools wish i did

[sunbeamsko]

Dec 28, 2010 15:13:20 GMT @poproddernot said:

cheers,
stupid question what discs do you use for cleaning off paint etc?

cheers chris.

yes do tell would love to know also.
eamon

[alx]

Ooooooooh, shiny! Nice!!

Could I just ask whilst there's a bunch of wheel-shining aficionados in one place, what's the best way to sort the rims on 3 piece splittys if they're gouged and scratched to burgary?

A mate left me with some rather tasty Clio Dimma Compomotive 3 piece split rims and tyres yeeeeears ago and I took the tyres off to use on my CRX at the time. Since then the wheels have been in the cellar doing nowt much. I attempted to refurb one about 5 years ago by painting it up and tidying things up a touch. The rims have got some MAJOR scrapes and gouges out of the outer rims and short of letting in some new metal I doubt a bevel polisher would sort the issues.

The pic below show the part refurbed one on the left and the untouched one on the right (it's got masking tape on the inside of the rim). The serious looking rim at the top of the pic is my daughter's wheels, she rolls them as they were intended, like a fairy princess ;D



They're nice wheels, 16"x 8.5" and 4x100 (as far as I can measure up).

So, if any of the aforementioned wheelmeisters could give me a good way of making these look the shizzle I'd appreciate it. I've not got anything they'll fit at the moment but I may have to buy something to wrap around them at some point as I think they're lovely.

Apologies if I'm taking the thread off topic and if necessary I'll start a new thread, just let me know.

Cheers all

AL.

[stealthstylz]

Grind any high spots out with a flap wheel then give the lot a coat of chemical metal/JB weld and sand back and paint them.

Polishing them now will be nigh on impossible without leaving a large witness mark, even when welded as getting a welding rod that's the same colour alloy as on the wheel is very difficult.

Matt

[trevorbrady]

Dec 28, 2010 15:13:20 GMT @poproddernot said:

cheers,
stupid question what discs do you use for cleaning off paint etc?

cheers chris.

I'd like to know too. Can you let us know?

cheers

[elmotheewokking]

It sounds like it might be one of these; Link
(Sorry for the e-bay link!)
Not sure though, I do hope it is, I've got a few of them kicking about.
Though I'm not entirely sure they'd be much use on a set of BBS or multi/cross spoked wheels.

[ratta]

Ye thats the discs but i don't charge £2.20 postage

PM if you want any

[slammage]

so after 'beveling' the rims what do you use next then as in polishing wise etc.. just autsol it?? am interested as i might buy some of you mate.

[alldub]

100 grit on an angle grinder is quite a serious tool ,i don't use anything like that for polishing.
i have had a lot of wheels over the years that have been previously "polished" (normally halfway through after the owner has lost the will to live) and they normally need more work than if they hadnt touched them!,
there is a big difference between mirror polished wheels and ones that are just shiney
a reasonable job can be had with some fairly basic tools and a lot of care and time but its like rebuilding an engine in a shed with 2 hammers and a screwdriver - it can be done but .........

[elmotheewokking]

Dec 30, 2010 18:44:03 GMT ratta said:

Ye thats the discs but I don't charge £2.20 postage

PM if you want any

Indeed, bit steep that, best example I could find at the time...
After posting that I found a link to another forum where a person under the name of Ratta was offering to sell the kit to do it to other members at a better rate. He'd done the same wheels as you too... Oh, wait.

I did also think 100 grit was a bit severe. From the look of it though, it works.
If there's a lot of imperfections I guess you could start that low and work your way up. I've been recommended going right up to 1500grit or beyond... Depends on how much free time you have I guess.

One question for you, I've got a set of Compomotive Cxs like the three piece ones posted about, but mine are 1 piece. The bevel disk surely won't be able to get the paint out from between the spokes, will it? Recommendations on what to use instead?
I had thought about a small softish wire brush in a drill. But that might be a little severe. Ta.
Edit: Forgot to mention, the painted bits will be painted again in a different colour, not polished. I'm not a sadist.

[alldub]

wire brushes on drills are my pet hate they scratch the metal terribly,
on a crosspoke style wheel they want acid dipping or carefully blasting(not the polished areas!) or lots of paint stripper

[sunbeamsko]

ratta what about a "how to thread" and tools,attachments,discs and polish types?
it would be of use to a lot of people including me.
ohh and why not post up prices for said bevel discs,this would be of more use than pm.
just a thought. eamon

[ratta]

Dec 30, 2010 19:11:32 GMT slammage said:

so after 'beveling' the rims what do you use next then as in polishing wise etc.. just autsol it?? am interested as I might buy some of you mate.

After you use the bevel discs to get rid of any paint/laquar/prima and smoothed out any scratches/curbing.

You then use the bevel polishing discs with the polish blocks to shine them up. You don't need to use any sandpaper or autosol that just takes ages and doesnt come up as well

[ratta]

Ok ill try and do a how 2do but I'm not really good at explainin

B4 I start the way I polish only works on dishes or v flat face alloys cus a 115mm grinder will stuggle to get in between some spokes

Only thing you really need is a normal sized angle grinder.


Bevel discs £4 each

Bevel polishing discs £4 each

Polish blocks (brown/red) £5 each

PM me if you want any

So ill use a slotmags as a guide

When I bout the alloys they had been sat around for ages and were curbed/scratched quite abit.



Fit the bevel disc on the grinder and smooth the alloy as much as possible. They will also get rid of any paint thats already on the alloy. If there are any bad dinks in the alloy you can smooth them out with the bevel discs so its much less noticable.

Fully beveled


Now its time to put the bevel polishin discs on the grinder. Turn the grinder on and carefully rub it on the polish block (brown 1st) when there is some on the discs aply it to the alloys all over. Then do the same with the red block. If the discs go to black sand it down abit on a sharp corner.

After that wipe over the wheel with some normal car polish and buff up JOB DONE


Hope this helps. If anyone needs to change any spelling or move it then do so ;D

Need any discs PM me

[Roobeh]

Rookie question: Can steelies be polished? I assume not as I'd have thought they'd corrode but then there's allways methods around these things

Edit: Nevermind, you can learn many things when you use google lol.

have some pics for a wasted post

[Diabolu]

Gah! I was just discussing this with my dad today and why you can't seem to get them for angle grinders haha....

pm'd