i have seen so many different methods i have no clue which one to use. can anyone tell me their method then post pics of the finished product? btw i am not afraid to use a buffing wheel

 

You can use the method on the technical articles on the first page or check out http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox...m/pol-plen.htm

I prefer number 2 though.

This is what I did. Sanded with 180 till all of the grainy stuff was off the plenum. Then I moved to 220, then to 400 wet until all the scratches are out and then I buffed it. There are many differant ways though.
Good luck.

 

The BEST method that gives the BEST results is to do this:

1) 180 dry
2) 220 dry
3) 320 wet
4) 400 wet
5) emery of hard wheel
6) emery on soft wheel
7) tripoli on hard wheel
8) white rouge on soft wheel

*The longer you do on steps 4 & 7 the better your results.

Also, many people swear up and down that going up to 2,000,000 grit is the way to go....If you go above 400 you chance making the metal cloudy and may have to start all over again. Stop at 400 and let the buffing compounds do the rest of the work. Here is with the above suggested method:

 

2

 

I used some Eastwood polishing compounds and wheels after I sanded with 180, 300, and 400(i think i really cant remember) and I just polished the sh*t out of them with the wheels and it came out pretty shiny...did the same thing for my rims

 

Going up to 2000 will not make the metal cloudy. I go up to 2000 on everything and it looks like a mirror, almost like chrome.

You need to wetsand from 1000grit to 2000grit and wipe the excess aluminum away.

I do not have any "hard" wheels so I have not tried only going to 400 grit. I only have soft wheels. It looks like that method works pretty good though!

 

I agree, everyone has there own techniques...

 

I got a question that falls under here. I've been polishing up my rims up to 1500 grit and used a standard polishing compound (Turtle wax's polishing compound). Don't laugh or get crazy on me!! I had this stuff laying around so I used it. Upon further inspection and wanting a better shin I went looking for some other things to use. I couldn't find any grit higher than what I already had. Also asked the hardware store people about polishing compounds and they looked at me like I was nuts and said to try an autoparts store. I've been all through those places and haven't seen it.

So, my question. Where do you get the finer grit sandpapers and/or the finer polishing compounds?

S.K.

 

dont go higher than 400 grit..it is a waste of time. Get eastwood compounds and wheels...after you sand up to 400, use Tripoli with a spiral wheel, then use White Rogue with a soft loose wheel...it save you so much time and it comes out better.

 

Home depot, or eastwoods to get the buffs/compounds, also your local sears should have a variety of buffs and the compounds.

 

I'm not trying to sound mean or anything....but...that is wrong.....I started from 80 grit....through 2000 grit. Like I said before....people have there one ways of trying different methods. The method of using high grit papers is not a waste of time. Alot of people have and will disagree with using mothers aluminum polish.....and yes...mothers looked horrible when I buffed it by hand.....with a high speed buffer.....it worked really well. Are you buffing it on or off the car? Another reason I had to use a paste polish was becuase I sanded and polished mine on the car.....I was unable to use the different stick compounds while the plenum was on the car.

 

I did my plenum, runners, and wheels off of the car. I said going up to 2000 is a waste of time because you get the same, if not better results with the compounds and it takes less time. I was just trying to help you save some time because going up to 2000 is very time consuming. I did 3 of my wheels, my plenum, and runners in a weekend and I couldnt do my last wheel because my buffer broke.

 

It's cool man, I agree if your going buff it off the car.....go through the compounds and using a bench grinder with a buffing wheel. If it's on the car.....I'd just sand till either 1500 or 2000 grit...then buff with a high speed buffer and some kind of polish....just some useless info..lol, take it easy

 

Going up to 2000 grit will get you great results, no doubt about that. But it will take a lot longer than using compounds and compounds will give you a deeper shine. So to me, going to 2000 is a waste of time. You can do a rim the long way in say.. 6 hours and get a good shine. Or you can do it it 2 and get an awesome shine.

 

Skantow...If your using a turtle wax polish/cleaner for paint. It will scratch, I had some mothers polish and prewax cleaner laying around. I tried both of them just to see what they would do. And they dulled the shine and created scratches. I was using Blue magic metal polish i got from autozone before this. So i would say for sure they are more abrasive. The blue magic works pretty good if you are doing it by hand.

 

How hard is it to keep that mirrored finish once everything is polished up? What should you use?

Joshp14 - Is that the Corvette aluminium extension in your pics? Do you happen to have the part number for it?

Thanks.

 

For the price of an alluminum corvette extension (they still have them at GM dealerships for about 19), you can get one of those Accel alluminum extensions that is just as polishable for the same price. Not to mention the Accel piece will fit their Ignition package for our cars.

 

yea but the accel piece is only half of a normal extension. in other words unless you ahve a distributor to fill up the space it will look out of place.

 

I was thinking along the lines of future modifications. And really, I've ran no plenum extension for awhile and it doesn't look THAT out of place.

 

ok i was looking at the different wheels and compounds today at work, and what is the difference between a "cushion" soft wheel and a "conton flannel" soft wheel. reading on the back it seems that the flannel is better for a mirror finish. is this the "soft" wheel i should be using or should i use the "cushion" soft wheel.

 

anyone?

 

Thanx for the info, yeah the Turtle stuff sucked really. I'll check Home Depot and into the blue stuff. Thanx again.