I am going to strip down my formula wheels this winter. I would like to polish them also. I have the time to do it by hand and I have also heard that doing it by hand is your best bet. I had two questions. What and how many grits of sandpaper do I need to use. And finally, do I need to clear coat them?

 

if there is still clear on them,,,there is no real need to sand them down to polish them,,,the cut from the machine work is usually fairly 'polished'. you can further shine them with a polish that has jewelers rouge in it or, Mothers mag wheel polish works well too. Re-clearing them is a good idea because they will eventually corrode and it's not a terribly easy design to keep polished

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<A HREF="http://anzwers.org/free/gta" TARGET=_blank>87 Firebird
84 Camaro</A>
Virtual Racing

- intelligence is learned, ignorance is universal

 

Right now the clearcoat is cracked and peeling. It looks really bad. I would like to strip them. And re clear coat them. But I dont know what to use

 

if you have an auto zone or napa, go there and in the painting department...get aircraft paint remover/striper!
it will work great!

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Duffster (age 31)
BEAT DOWN HARD 88' Camaro Sport Coupe,
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84' Z-28 Hood covered,
AND THE TIRES:
245/60-16 Firehawk SS20 on Firbird rim(1-passenger rear),
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REAR HATCH MASTER OF ALL!!!
Duffster_Camaro@HOTMAIL.COM
Owner of the Camaro 0 out of 10 Third-genners approve of, no longer part of the non-existent Iowa crew.

 

If you get the eastwood catalog, they have a section on wheels. They sell a can of clear coat to put back on your wheels once you have sanded and buffed them. Later, Jimmy

 

hmm

 

had to bring it up or what

 

Use the clearcoat remover mentioned above. Once removed, I used 180 to cut the machine grooves out and worked my way up to 2000 grit for the final shine. Seems like I used 180,400,800,1500,and finally 2000. Lots and lots of work, and patience. I found better luck with wet sanding personally, and periodically, take a metal polish to clean off some of the sanded metal from the surface. Once my sanding was complete, it took several, and I mean SEVERAL polishings to get the desired results. As far as putting a clearcoat back on, I would say no. If you maintain your wheels regularly you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Just make sure you polish every time you wash your car. By clearing the wheels, you risk the same cracking and peeling that you have now. Not to mention the surface is gonna be smooth instead of grooved. I'm not sure how well clear would stick to it. By the way, I have Camaro wheels, but I'm sure there isn't much difference. Good luck.

 

Im about to make mine this way
180 dry ...340 wet and 400 wet
thats a Professional advice from gmtips.com
and other thing is ...when the aluminium is bared
how can i mantain the wheels ?
waxing ? Polishing with what ?with a compound ?
or wet sanding again ?

 

I just use a metal polish. The brand I use and have the must luck with is Blue Magic Liquid Metal polish. It's pretty easy to use and produces a great shine. I've also used Eagle One Never Dull, but it's messier, and is much harder to remove. Eventually, you will more than likely have to sand with your upper grit sandpaper again to keep the shine uniform. I did mine a year ago, and haven't had to resand yet. Of course, I do polish religiously.

 

So let me get this straight. I don't want to polish my formula wheels, but some of the clearcoat is getting bad. So I can strip the clearcoat, then buy clearcoat from eastwood (or wherever) and reclear them? And they'd look like they just came from the factory? That's exactly what I want to do because I don't want to have to re polish all the time. Will this work?

 

I wrote my process in another post on the appearance and detailing
board. For an overview I used paint stripper to peel the clear,
wet sanded with 220 grit to get rid of the machining marks. Then
I went to 320 grit and sanded until all of the 220 scratches were
removed. Then 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 always making
sure to remove the scratches left behind by the previous grit. After
the sanding I masked off the polished areas and painted the inserts
with a self etching primer, then two coats of a charcoal metallic
base, and two coats of clear. I then used a super soft terry cloth
applicator pad to polish with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish.
I also used flannel towels to buff out the polish.

Here is a pic of the final results. I know it is not a formula wheel
but if you follow this process you should get similar results.

 

Hey Brett, I would assume your comment would work. Just make sure that the surface has been totally cleaned of all the old clear, and make sure all of the clearcoat remover is gone as well. You'll probably have to do more than one coat of the remover, because after the one coat I used, it left behind a horrible goo which is really hard to get completely off. One final note, be sure to mask off what you don't want removed (painted areas).

 

Cool thanks a lot. Now I'll have something to do over christmas break.

 

to give you an idea of what thye will look like. this one in the pic has been sanded up to 800. that is as far as i will go with them. they are for slicks only. if you dont mind repolishing them once every 2 months or so them do not clear coat them. it will take away some of the shine

 

the GTA wheels that i did also

 

You mean ..if you go far away ..i mean 800,1500,2000 etc..etc
in sanding you can get more shine ???
I am new in polishing so i just started mine today ¡ with 180 dry to remove the bad coat ...
you say repolish after 2 months...repolish ?
You mean i will have to sand it all again ¡??
Or repolish with a compound ?
Thanks ...sorrry to many questions im new in polishing

 

the gta wheels i went all the way too 2000 and then used aluminum polish.

the formula wheels dont need to be as nice because they are just for slicks. so i started at 200 and only whent up to 800 and them polished them.

you can get a very nice shine just going up to 800. or so

what i ment by repolish is to just take some mothers polish or somthing like it and quickly go over them like you were waxing them. it only takes about 1/2 an hour to do them all.
all i am doing is cleaning them up a little.

 

I was thinkin ..doin 180 dry ..340 wet ..and 400
i didnt know if i go further i can get a better shine ...and about repolish them will not be a problem..¡¡¡
everytime i wash the car i will clean them and once a week or two weeks i will repolish them with a aluminum polisher called "SILVO" or is it too abrasssive ??? maybe it will hurt the aluminum ?
One day cleanin my ex wheels with "silvo"it damaged my clear coat and it turned cloudy why ?

 

"SILVO" not to sure about it. the best would be to try it in a spot you cant see.

the clear coat is paint and you were trying to use metal polish on it. it could have reacted with it. or most likly skuffed it like sand paper. if thats the case do not use it on the wheel after you have polished it

 

I will use regular car wax ...im sure it will protect the polished ¡
what you think ?
another thing that keep me nervous is that today i started with dry 180 and oooooof ..it takes a lot to sand ¡¡
like it never ends...how about the coat remover ..but the thing is that i dont wanna remove the tire from the wheel
if im careful ?? can i do it that way?
and then all the wet sand ? how long i will have to wait to the coat is removed ? and how do i get the garbage that the remover leaves ..off the wheel ?? its acid ?

 

because there was a clear coat. don't use metal polish on a clearcoat. they make special wheel cleaners that are safe for clear coats. metal polish is only for metal.


and there are soooo many old posts about polishing wheels.

i did most of mine....sanded a little, but mainly i used an electric drill with a cotton polishing disk and polishing compound.

tripoli....white rouge...can't remember what the other was called.

i havent compared a sanded wheel to one done with compounds, so i can't say which is better.

 

I use the same method as TriggerGTA for polishing aluminum.... except I prefer Eagle 1 aluminum polish.