alright i have read a ton of threads asked for a lot of help on tips and now i started, i got the clear coat off and sanded the rims to remove most of the hairline scratches from the metal... now im on the compound stages.. emery Tripoli and white rouge with the 3 different style of wheels... but as i am buffing with the emery.. the black compound seems does not buff all the way out, so just now i figured well maybe itl come out while using the next step the Tripoli so i started just a little bit where there was some black and its not comming out.. what am i doing wrong? or do i have to wash the wheel completly or am i totally missing something lol
well heres a pic of the rim i am starting with..(again its my first rim and the crappiest one i have)

 

Are you wet-sanding them down to at least 1000 grit?

 

i went with this setup.. from this article http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox.../info/info.htm
Step 1: Sand with 180/320/320wet/400/400wet.
Step 2: Buff with cutting compound follow with polish compound.
Step 3: Seal.

except i wont be sealing it.. so i can repolish whenever needed


Sanding with 600/800 and higher grades of paper - actually does more harm than good. You will get the metal smoother but you will also introduce "clouding


i cant figure out what is supposed to happen with the compounds... :\ as you see the black compound is there on most of the wheel and then the red (just real quick to see if the black would go away) just coats over it but the black and red both stay so not sure if im supposed to do something else or im missing a step but that article says let the compounds do the work

 

When I am using my buffing wheel on rougher, or pitted surfaces those imperfections will fill with the rouge. I have gasoline in a spray bottle and spray the entire piece, then wiper down with cloth.... It will remove all the black rouge. I don't know what your talking about as far as clouding when over sanded... I get the best results when I have sanded above 600 grit, you might try it, nothing really to lose.

 

anything else besides gas to take it off with? thats gettting to be a bit expensive to use it for all those good uses it works for!
edit and thanks for the tip, ill see what it comes out looking like after the 3 compounds and then go from there, would using gas and wiping it down defeat the purpose of the compound? this is my first time i still dont really understand the concept of the compounds but i do know i used enough lol =D

 

The gas is a cleaner and will break down any compound that is left over. You want to remove this!!! the different compund are like different Grits in sandpaper, just very fine and waxy! Think of polishing aluminum like paint, the smoother it is to start the less work polishing you have to do.

 

sounds good, saturday it is.. use some gas in a spray bottle wipe it down should i rinse the wheel off with water before starting the next compound? to make sure all the gas is off? and obviously dry it up good

 

No, don't worry about washing the wheels after the gas, it pretty much evaporates. You don't really need to clean between different compunds, unless there is areas of lots of build up in spots. I mainly use gas as a second to last step before a final hand polish to remove any imperfections in the shine.

** remember this is gas, and you should not be doing this in your living room, or while smoking !!!!

 

What's the significance of wet sanding and dry sanding?


These are my wheels, they look great from 10 feet away but up close you see that. Is that the beginning of clearcoat failure or does it just need some rubbing compound and polish on it?

I keep debating on whether or not to strip the clear off and polish em up, but I'm worried about brake dust and other stuff getting into the grain of hte metal without the clearcoat there to protect it.

 

I am doing the exact same thing, except firebird wheels. I used 150 (to remove clearcoat and machine grooves), 400, 800 wet, and i am now using 1500 wet. Its almost like looking in the mirror without even polishing. I dont have any pics but i will get some this weekend as i have to snap some of the car too.

 

Im confused you said you got all the clear off are you talking about the clear on the painted parts?
anyhow you should just keep polishing them after you wet sand them. You are wet sanding them because you want the surface of the alum to be as flat as posiable think like a microscope. If your eye sees the micro scopic scratches it will look white. once you sand it down in stages you will get it supper flat then you should use a alum wheel polish like mothers or eagle to bring out the full shine. Also brake dust wont hurt the alum without the clear there its just harder to clean with water. But not imposiable. I dont like clear myself unless on paint...and yah if your asking if the orig clear would be coming up probably it like 15yrs old. look at gms painting in the 90's everything flaked off.

 

You might as well strip that clear off, then polish the wheels. It would be very hard to strip the clear and retain the factory machined finish. As far as the sanding techniques, the wet sanding is used to remove the metal/ paint (whatever your wetsanding) particulates from between the paper and the material you are sanding. This method ensures that the paper does not build up and cause highs, and lows... Or when working with metal you can have build up that will actually scratch the material worse than the sandpaper. This is why wet sanding is mainly used when sanding with very light grits... 600 +.

Good luck guys!!!

 

I plan to polish them too but i just havent gotten that far yet, still need a little more sanding. Im also considering hitting it with some 2000 wet but not sure yet. I have a can of mothers to use on em.

 

2000 grit might be ok if you are going to polish by hand, but I really feel for YOUR fingers.... that is going to take forever. I would recommend going out and get an electric die grinder (or air better! if you have a compressor) and you can get a cheap 3-4" sewn cotton buffing wheel that will totally speed the whole process up! The small die grind should be easier to handle than a full size grinder/ polisher, with adequeate results. You can use the mothers polish with buffing wheel, but the results will not be as good, get polishing rouge kit.

Check out www.eastwood.com for all sorts of buffing materials.

 

I know on the formula WS6 rims that i wetsanded, I had to hand wetsand some areas. What saved my fingers/hands was me using latex gloves. Those cheap ones like 50 in a box.

By the way, my process was wetsand 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000, then mothers aluminum polish. I used a 5 amp drill with a buffing wheel on it. I also had a constant stream of water going on the rims while I buffed them. Not very safe because of the electric drill nearby but I was careful. Rims looked like chrome.

I think its very important to increment through the sandpaper in small steps. Just seemed easier anyway. I was having problems jumping from 400 to 800, had to have 600 inbetween.

 

well thanks for everyones advice! so far so good here are a couple pics... im happy with the results it gave and it didnt take a million hours and also i wasnt looking for anything to crazy, its actually better than i expected(because the wheel has a few nicks and curb rash)
aircraft stripper
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...804271128758/3

after stripper
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...804271134210/6

polished
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...04271143867/10

one to compair one of my polished and non..
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...804271134267/8

sorry cant figure out how to add thumbnail pics from yahoo photo's :\ if anyone can tell me how that would be great! ill fix em

 

Looks like pretty good results!! That curb rash can be sanded down and with a die grinder and a Roloc Disc, then go through the same sanding steps then re-polish.

 

Those are looking good.

I will say You deff. want to wash the rim when you switch from one compound to the next. Black--> wash is ALL off---> Tripoli---> wash it ALL off and then white rouge.

You dont want to use the same buff wheels and mix the compounds either.
You can really make them look like a mirror.

My olds rims. Id like to see how they look now.(board member here bought em a few years ago)
http://www.cecoatings.com/images/Car...s/DSC01487.JPG
http://www.cecoatings.com/images/Car...s/DSC01486.JPG
http://www.cecoatings.com/images/Car...s/DSC01485.JPG
http://www.cecoatings.com/images/Car...s/DSC01484.JPG

 

thanks for everyones inputs! and help!

 

Chris those wheels look awsome, what did you do with the center caps on those?? Did you try to polish??

 

Ya I actually peeled the stickers off the Chevrolet and bowtie. And polished em.
These pic's of old a shi!&ty quality but shows em with the centercaps on.
They actually looked as good as the rims. (now only if I got around to repainting the car back then instead of DP90 black primer)

http://www.cecoatings.com/images/Car...olishedRim.jpg
http://www.cecoatings.com/images/CarStuff/92Z/92Z28.jpg
http://www.cecoatings.com/images/CarStuff/92Z/Dside.jpg
http://www.cecoatings.com/images/Car.../DsideRear.jpg

 

I never saw anyone do a good job with the center caps, they always looked out of place! Nice work!

 

heres the final product, not as nice as tpi383's but i must admit that im very happy with the difference, and i wouldn't spend the time tpi did because the fact my rims are not in mint condition(rash wise) but very much props to tpi's!! and it took me about 5 hours total maybe a little less! opinion are welcome! dont mind the critisism because the fact im happy with it, and its my first one and time doing anything to this matter =D

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...04276741627/17

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...04276741617/18

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...04276741608/19

and then.. i found someone inside of my tires.... lol
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/quitdotc...04276778188/20

 

Those look good man. THUMBS UP... hit em with some WAX to keep em clean.
Now and then hit em with some mothers polish and they will shine more and more.

 

yeah as soon as all the regular paint/clear dries i will hit em with mothers again by hand not with the mothers polish drill tool, and what do you mean hit them with wax? what type of wax? will that make it harder to polish with mothers? or wax then polish? lol =D
and thanks!! lots of props to your tutorial you typed me up, i couldnt come up with a leg and all that stuff but you seriously helped me out a lot with the tips! and if you dont mind ill post up the typeout you sent me for others to see how you got your rims so shinnyyyy!!

 

Dont wax then polish. Polish em with mothers 1 or 2 more times by hand then wash em off really good with soapy water and DRY by hand so you dont get water spots on the polished areas. THEN put a good coat of carnuba wax (or the same as you wax your car with)

This will help brake pad dust,water,etc stay off the rims and keep em clean.

 

liquid carnuba wax? or the hard stuff? i have never waxed my car.. needs paint and is in middle of body work lol =D can i do the wax by hand? just do it the same way as the polishing?

 

liquid/hard It doesnt matter. get a soft microfiber cloth and apply wax by hand. then buff off by hand. 10min tops doin em.

 

hey tpi383, how much is an electric da sander where should i go to buy one thats on the "cheap" side and what would i use to sand inside those slanted contours where i painted black the same contour in this picture of his post..? for some reason my other 3 wheels after using the aircraft stripper are not the same as the first one i did.. it still has the clear on it.. its like running your fingers across one of those projector tv's... so i guess ill have to sand it all off which is more of a pain so i guess i have to figure out what to use to sand inside those grouves :\

 

sears should have one. $30->100 or more...Or get a cheapie on ebay. any tractor supply co. in your area, etc.. anywhere that sells hand tools will prob have one.

Mmm, all 4 rims should have them little ridges. a DA will fit in them areas. or do em by hand. wrap a piece of sand paper on a sanding block.