89iroc89

Polished and painted the rims over the weekend, here they are.

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

Can you see your reflection in them..? Check these out. I did mine the same as these and they look pretty awesome.. but at like 4 hours per wheel, it's an all day job, but worth it I think. Good job, love the factory wheels on our thirds.. Stone

89iroc89

Wow stone,I put two hours per wheel and they came out like they did, I can see myself but not like yours! Be sure to take care of those because they oxidize so fast!

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

I have plenty of Metal protection on them, park indoors, never drive in rain, always polishing and waxing, but I hear ya.. Amazing what you can do with a palm sander, sand paper, rubbing compound, wheel polish, Brasso, and Metal protect ant. The other day I polished one wheel from 9am till 9 pm before I realized I just wasted my whole day away..lol There is only a handful of wheels I'd actually purchase, but I really think OUR factory wheels look the best, just an opinion.. Stone

89iroc89

I agree, they came on out cars for a reason, because they looked bad ***!

cavazos31

iTrader: (4)

AWESOME....pics of my wheels!

you mean....Wow cavazos, I put two hours per wheel and they came out like they did, I can see myself but not like yours! Be sure to take care of those because they oxidize so fast! HA

They're so smooth I'll only need to polish/wax them regularly. They'd need to be neglected to oxidize. I have a wheel wax on them and they've been collecting dust for a while now. Still shine clean and clear.

They do not have any metal protector, and I didn't use rubbing compound or brasso. And that is WAY more than 4 hours per wheel!

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...ed-mirror.html

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

Yep! Cavasos31 I got my idea from you..! LOL i saw your wheels and did mine.. You did an awesome job. My theory is to stop when I can read my drivers license number off the reflection in the wheel..

I also picked up these valve caps and they really pop on the polished wheel..
( My girlfriend said " your wheels look great, but you don't even have the motor in yet!") waiting on a hoist...

Stone

89iroc89

You two ahah

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

You didnt go low enough in your sandpaper grits. You gotta get those machining ridges out of them. After that you have to polish THAT out. But it makes a big difference.

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

First things first... you have to remove the clear coat. I used a stripper from Walmart, worked great.. think it was called stripease or something..

But the fun part is when you put your rim on the car and ask your girlfriend to let out the clutch easy so the wheel can spend and you do the lip... Stone

cavazos31

iTrader: (4)

Very true, makes the BIGGEST differance. Even if you just remove the ridges, you still have lots of imperfectons in the aluminum. The more imperfections you remove, the more clear your finish. Once you move to a higher grit paper you won't be able to remove imperfections left by the previous grit, so be SURE you've sanded well enough. Once you think it's good, sand more, maybe even two more passes. It may look perfectly smooth to your eye but it won't be nearly as good as your eye tells you. You won't be able to tell until you finish polishing and have imperfections that cloud your reflection. Especially from distance.

Just as Vortex stated, you have to polish out a prepared surface. Once you've sanded well enough, move on to polishing compounds, which take the place of sanding above 600. If you don't sand well enough, it will effect the finish and you won't be able to correct it unless you go back and sand better with LOW grits. Strange as it sounds, sanding well with low grits is the determining factor of your finish. High grit sanding only works well if you sand well with the lower grit and remove lots of imperfections. All the high grit sanding in the world won't clear up your finish if you don't first sand well with low grit to remove imperfections.

Buggy Disaster

iTrader: (1)

Please post a picture with these wheels on the car. It might persuade me not to drop 1k on corvette wheels and tires.

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

Sweet IROC in your sig dude. I have one just like it.

cavazos31

iTrader: (4)

Probably not gonna have tires on these anytime too soon, as they're an extra set and I only need two tires for my first set of wheels.

I picked up those wheels for a little over $100 just to try my hand at polishing. Took me QUITE a while since I was never satisfied with the clarity of the reflection. If you can find an inexpensive set, and have the free time, it might be worth giving it a try.

Don't expect results like that anywhere near 4 hours a wheel though. You'll be lucky just to get the surface prepped to polish in that short amount of time. If you plan on painting the inserts, longer. Unless you can afford to put in lots of time, you won't get comparable results and you surely won't get a mirror finish. I've seen less than a handful of stock wheels on this site polished to an actual mirror finish.

DrewsCam

iTrader: (2)

I polished up mine as well. It took me a lot longer than four hours per wheel. It was more like 12 hours per wheel. They had four coats of paint....

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

Granted, they look better/different on a car thats been lowered, but you get the just.. Stone ( these aren't of my car, they are what I used for reference, the laws may be different in your state, see your local dealer for details )...

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

Three different year types, same result, hard to choose.. I painted the insides of mine Gun metal gray... Stone

cavazos31

iTrader: (4)

Really?....SAME result? Have your eyes checked cause the middle one doesn't match the other two. It barely reflects any color...at all. It doesn't even look ready to be polished. I can actually see the imperfections that should be sanded out.

The wheel on the red car is chrome. Seems to have a brighter color than polished aluminum and looks more like a coating than a finish. The first wheel is polished, but not well enough with low grit. If it was sanded with grit low enough, they should have removed the curb rash on the top of the wheel that would have EASILY came out with low grit paper, no problem.

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

Dude! Is it really you..??? I saw your car in a thread and fell in love with it. I read where you couldn't drive it cause it was too low, hope you've fixed it.. Great pics you took, I use them (I altered a couple of them..removed the license plate, removed a car parked behind the other..lol) as my inspiration.. and as my goal. I have 4 thirds.. an 87 IROC 5.7 (that's the one I'm trying to make like yours), a 91Z28 parts car, a 91 Convertible 5 speed 305 (It's up for sale $4,000 runs good 25 mpg!) and my latest, a 92 Z28 (going to be black with flat black stripes).. i use the pic of your car as my signature and its all over my house.. (kitchen, hall way and living room..) I hope you don't mind.. I also put it (along with a pic of my son) on the control stand of the locomotive I drive. I'm an Engineer (I drive a train)

Stone

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

I agree with you.. I really believe I'll never see any wheels that'll have a better result than the one's you did Cavasos31. I'm sure plenty of people really appreciate the write up you did, your efforts really show. If I could get MINE done even CLOSE to how yours came out I'd be happy lol When I started polishing mine I learned a few things, I have two wheels done, but now I'm switching to some 88-90 wheels, so I have to start all over. The 91-92 wheels, when I get them finished will go on my 91 vert... Stone

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

Lol, good stuff.

I'm an Engineer myself, expect I drive a computer.

Here is my complete collection if you need anything else.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/perdoch...7603874308423/

Your polishing work is awesome by the way. You have more patience than I.

cavazos31

iTrader: (4)

I got good results, but nothing that can't be matched. You could get the same results, it just takes a bit of time, trial, and error. The sticky on the appearance and detailing board is actually very close to what I've done. If it had better pictures it would be easier to follow.

Finish up the Z28 wheels before moving to the IROCs, you'll learn a few more things and be able to get an even better finish. I know every time I went over or started another wheel, I had a couple other things I wanted to try.

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

Wow!! Checking out the pics.. I'm at the speaker section.. popcorn in the microwave! Thanks

Stone

Stonehenge

iTrader: (3)

A couple of questions..

1. the front speaker brackets..?? You made them..?
2. Felt...? Under the carpet AND INSIDE the door..???
3. The part that connects to the brake system..??? Looks like a black box or something..
4. TPI runners..?? Gun metal grey..??
stone

2007xl50

Nice work on the wheels guys. That slamed IROC is so sweet!

jtsk

iTrader: (3)

Nice rims. Was wondering if anyone has polished just the outer lip on the 91-92 rims and if there were any pics out there.

kevinlcook95

I bet they look sweet in person. Good Job

RubberDucky

iTrader: (4)

I need to do this with my IROCs. I wanna replace my silver letter centers with the red letter centers.