I finished polishing my first wheel today... I put a total of nine hours of work into this one, using Mark A Shields' method. Let me know what you think. I didn't post any pictures of the "before" wheel, because we all know how crummy IROC wheels get over time .





A nice reflection of my Mothers polish and my friend's rear end

 

Looks great man!!!!!!! I need to do that to my wheels. You said that took nine hours for 1 wheel. Man, that is a whole lot of time. BUt well worth it for those results. Good job, want to do mine next.

 

looks great

i just spent an hour a peice on mine the other day with a TOOTHBRUSH

 

looks very good..

 

You didn't use my method, yours look better.

 

Sorry Mark. You did your wheels with a Dremel, right? I did that wheel completely by hand... that's why it took me nine hours. I was afraid of using an electric tool because it might swirl. Here's what I did:

80, rinse, 180, rinse, 220, rinse, 320, rinse, 400, wash, rubbing compound, wash, 600, rinse, 1500, wash, rubbing compound, wash, 1500 wetsand, wash, Mothers aluminum polish, wash, and lastly three coats of caranuba wax.

Aside from the sanding by hand, it's basically your method. I bet if you went back to 320 or 400 grit paper you could probably remove a lot of those swirl marks. There are little scratches all over my wheels, but you don't really see them. I guess those scratches are unavoidable when you polish aluminum (unless you spend like 20 hours per wheel ).

 

DO NOT use a dremel. I did on one wheel and it left burn marks all over it. I thought I would get a deeper shine, but doing it by hand works better.

 

Looks nice. I did two of mine by hand using that method. Came out nice, but I'm gonna use buffing compounds and wheels to re-do them and to do my other two. After that, I'll be doing my plenum and runners.

 

Hey, I have the same thing going on with my Iroc wheels. I used the same process but I have been going over and over my wheels trying to get the l little scratches out with little luck. I guess maybe no way to do that? I did, however, run across a product that I bought from a jewler supply house called Fabuluster that brightened the wheels up. I used it according to their recommendations after the last step and with a medium to light wheel and it brightened them up another level. Has anyone else tried this product? If so, what do you think? If not, give it a try the next time you do your wheels and see what you think. Also, if anyone out there has had success with the tiny scratches please let me know. I have 3 wheels about done now with 1 to go but I lost count of the hours I have spend on those little scratches. Thanks!

 

Oh, BTW, are you going to clear coat over? I have been debating that one also. How do you protect the shine otherwise? How long does the carnuba wax hold up? Also, I did the back side of the wheels and not just the front. Am thinking I should probably at least clear coat the back side so I don't have to try to wax it when it is on the car.

 

hey what kind of rear end is that in the reflection? 9 bolt? 10 bolt? 3.73?

j/k

 

that looks hella good!!! nice job!!!:hail:

 

That is one nice polishing job . I have some fine scratches
on the surface of my wheels also. I wetsanded with 2000 grit
twice and they were still present. However, one thing that did
seem to help at least reduce the amount of them, was using
supersoft terry cloth pads for application of the polish and flannel
clothes for buffing. Clear-coating these wheels would probably
be pointless, since you removed all of the "roughness" and
added a barrier of polish which will hinder the clear from
adhering. I was told that if I did clear-coat mine they
would probably dull and peel quickly. Once again nice polishing
job and good luck with the rest.

 

looks very nice!!!!
biker

 

BTW-Your wheels do look great.

 

Nice job, your wheel looks great. Mine took about 4-5 hours a piece, most of that is removing old clearcoat and machining grooves, after that you start getting real results. I think after applying the Mothers is what satisified me the most, even wetsanding to 2000 a couple of times didnt give it the real shine that the Mothers does. Little hard to see scratches I just gave up on, they will always be there I guess.

Heres a before pic, nasty. They almost look painted white.

 

5 hours later...

 

seems like you guys are mostly talking about iroc rims, but is it the same process for 92 camaro rims? if so, do you all feel even though the scratches are there its worth doing the polishing? and will it always stay shiny like that? even with the weather over time? or will you constantly have to polish them? thanks.

 

It should be the same with any rim I would imagine. I've had mine polished for about 6 months and they look the same to me. You just wash them like any other wheel, but dry off with 100% cotton rags. Occasionally I polish up with some Mothers, but thats just me.

Have fun.

 

putting wax on will dull and scratch the shine. I stick to car soap or ammonia free windex, keeps them nice and shiney.

 

what about pure carnauba wax?

i noticed you only wetsanded with 1500 grit. with the other grits do you keep the wheel and sandpaper dry? what's the purpose of wetsanding?

 

Nice jobs with the polishing..
Ive got the black GTA's.. probably will repaint in gloss black..
StngKlr - what size tires r these?
245-45-16 ?? (nice !)

 

92 z28 - I actually have 91-92 z28 rims that I polished, and used
basically the same process. I have posted pics in other threads
about polishing if you want to see them. I feel that it was
worth polishing them, the difference it makes is amazing.

 

Does anyone else use polishing compounds and buffing wheels or does everyone use their hands and sandpaper? I was told with compounds, I can do 80, 180, 320 wet, 400 wet, and buff with the three compounds and have a better shine. It also doesn't take nearly as long.

 

Ukraine Train- I wetsanded from 320 to 2000, it just seemed to give a better shine.

Spectre- The tires are just some Bridgestone Potenza Re910 225 50R16's. Thats the front rims, the rears are some cheap 245's, I already burnt up the Potenzas in the rear.

Nazzz28's rims look awesome, I remember seeing them a while back.

MetalliCamaroRS- I've heard of using polishing compounds and buffing wheels but never have tried it myself. I cant remember who makes a kit, but I know that it is not as cheap as what I did my rims for. The extra $ is probably worth the time though.