HITHERE have the 85-87 style IROC rims. HITHERE want to polish them, and HITHERE have searched for instructions. HITHERE have basically found two different methods. The first involves HITHERE lot of sanding and then rubbing polish in. The other method is with HITHERE lot of cleaning and using rotary buffers on HITHERE dremmel or HITHERE drill. Which method seems to work the best?? What is the best way to remove the clear coat? Is it HITHERE good idea to put clear coat back on when HITHERE am done? If so, where can HITHERE find it, and how hard is it to apply it? Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

First things first: HITHERE!

I have just done my '86 rims and I found using the sandpaper was great. 80, 120 , 240, 600, 800, 1200 and 1500 the best. It gives an excellent, though not quite mirror shine. I finished mine by hand polishing with Autogym aluminium polish. Took about 5 hours per wheel and it was well worth it. No pics yet sorry!

Felix

 

Last summer, I used 80/120/220/320/400/440 wet/600/800/1000/1500/2000/2000 wet then Mother's and yeah, they looked great. But spending that much time on each wheel sucks when you can do 180/320 wet/400 wet then polish with buffing wheels and compounds and get better results. Invest some money in wheels and compounds and you'll be very happy with the results.

Check out my LT1 intake fuel rails. The one further from the camera was done with the long method, while the further one I did 180/320 wet/400 wet, then compounds and buffing wheels. I didn't even use a drill or anything cause the cordless drill was too slow. So using the wheels by hand still gave me better results.

 

Dude...whats with the HITHERE?? All your posts have that crap in in them... Is that something like the marklar on that marklar show that comes on marklar at marklar? Because thats just not marklar....


(If you don't get it, you probably don't watch south park :P )

 

Where you not on the boards yesterday? For April Fool's Day, Dirk and Brad made it so that all singular vowls were replaced with HITHERE. Firebird was HITHEREHITHEREHITHEREHITHEREHITHEREHITHERE or somethin and Camaro was HITHEREHITHEREHITHEREHITHERE. It made reading posts very difficult to read. They also but up an off-topic forum. The catch was, you could not post in it.

 

Thanks for the replies. Those fuel rails look real good. I think I'll try the 180, 320 wet, 400 wet, buffing compound method. What all is involved in wet sanding? What about the compounds and wheels...what kind/type should I get of each? Is clearcoat needed? Finally, how do I know when I have finished each sanding stage? Thanks again.

 

Defantly go with polishing wheels and compounds. It's a whole lot better using power tools than turning blue in the face hand polishing, plus your hands wont hurt.
Heres a pic of some of my work,

 

I was about to reload my system....

 

Try a search for more info, theres TONS of it. This is the post that got me started:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...504#post766504

Check that one out, its got everything you need.

Wetsanding is just what it says, sanding while you keep it wet. For rims, take your hose and turn it on. Get some wetsanding sandpaper. Aim the hose at the rim and keep the water flowing on the rim while you sand. Wetsand for a long time, you can't overdo it. Make sure to keep it good and wet.

Do not clear coat, it will dull the finish. Just use carnuba (sp?) wax to keep parts looking good.

 

Okay, I think I'm understanding all this now. I think I'm gonna do 180 dry sanding (this step should get rid of all the clear coat, right?), 320 wet sanding, 400 wet sanding, use a tripoli compound, use a white rouge compound, finish it off with a light coat of carnauba car wax. Does all this sound good? Will the 12.75 oz tube of tripoli and 16 oz tube of white rouge be enough to do all four IROC wheels? What about this kit here http://www.eastwoodco.com/aspfiles/I...03040300044033 It that a good deal or can I find the stuff cheaper? Finally, one of my rims has a curb scuff on the edge that is somewhat deep from the previous owner. Is there a way to file or even fill this in order to make it less noticeable? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

 

I recommend stripping the clearcoat with Aircraft Remover, you can get it at Wal-Mart. A couple coats of that will have the clearcoat right off, no problem. Then dry sand with 180 grit until all the casting marks are off, it will take a while. Then wetsand with 320 until all the 180 scratches are out. Look for any casting marks that may still be there and go back over them with 180 if needed. Then wetsand with 400 until all 320 scratches are out. Wetsand a little more with 400. Then after that, wetsand a little more with 400 (get the idea ) After that, use emery compound with a sisal wheel, then emery with a hard spiral wheel. Then move on to tripoli compound with a soft spiral wheel and then finally use white rouge with a flannel wheel and you should have a mirror finish. The small bars from Eastwood will be plenty for your rims.

 

Thanks for the great replies. Is the emery necessary, or can I get by with just the tripoli and the white rouge. Thanks again.

 

I don't know how necessary the emery is, but I don't like to cut corners so I use it.