Ok... I had my tires removed, went out and bought all the supplies I needed and started in polishing my 86' style 16" IROC rims. I must say... much more work than I planned. I decided to polish the entire wheel instead of repainting the triangular area. The star is easy to polish and takes no time at all with 220 grit... but the triangular area takes no less than 2 hours per triangle to sand down. It's the d@mn pores in the aluminum that take so long to smooth. Five triangles per wheel plus the area where the bolts go... is taking some time. I finished the first wheel. Can't believe it looks that good... as close to chrome as it gets. Well worth the time.

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86 IROC 305 TPI LB9 700R4 W/ Shift kit, K & N, Flowmaster, airfoil, 160 thermo, removed emissions, Summit cam kit 442 lift, Summit timing chain, tranny cooler, polished runners and plenum

 

cmon man....how bout some pictures!! all that hard work and we cant see it?

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Do you guys want pictures after I get the yellow letter good year tires put on or do you want me to take pictures now without tires? I should have the the last 2 wheels done in a week and have the tires put on within 10 days. If anyone wants full instructions on how to do it right... just ask. The number one ingredient is time.

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86 IROC 305 TPI LB9 700R4 W/ Shift kit, K & N, Flowmaster, airfoil, 160 thermo, removed emissions, Summit cam kit 442 lift, Summit timing chain, tranny cooler, polished runners and plenum

 

Why not both?

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Mike Kenny
Current: 1991 RS 305 TBI
Past: 1990 RS 305 TBI (A woman forgot what red lights are for)
Current: mostly stock - newer 305 w/ 12,000 on it
Eclipse speakers all around w/ 10" tube powered by a Alpine V12 in back
K&N filter w/XStream flow lid - It is sweet!!
Future: 2" Cowl hood

 

YES!!!!! PICS PLEASE

Please post any pics you have as you are polishing you wheels. I am wanting to do the same thing to my '88 16" IROC wheels. In fact, I just put up a post asking questions about polishing and painting my wheels.

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Poor college student(donations welcome ;0) with an all stock 1988 5.7L IROC-Z Hardtop, Auto. trans, white ext. w/gold accents (soon to be silver), black custom cloth interior, 4-wheel discs and G92 pkg. Car is dead stock. Has only standard Z28 power options and all the IROC performance stuff you could get. No pwr. seats, mirrors, or rear defrost.

Best run: 1/4 14.90 @ 92.7 MPH

See My Car here: http://zap.to/chevyguy1969

#3 Gone but shall never be forgotten. Long live the legacy of the man in black. RIP Dale Earnhardt "The Intimidator"

 

<img src = "http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1647335&a=12609157&p=46701937">

 

that looks good, im going to do the same thing to my wheels, how did you do it exactly? i dont know anything about polishing and im a little hesistant about taking sand paper to my rims. but that looks great. what's your procedure?

 

i know it's scary. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES THE ENTIRE TIME!!! Spray your wheels down with aircraft remover. Let it set for a few hours, scrape it off and spray again. Start with 220 grit, you'll be using it most so buy lots. Maybe 20-25 sheets. I went through a number of procedures to find something that was quick and efficient. The best way I found to sand the inserted(rough) alumninum, was with 3M orbital scotch pads that wear out rather quickly but it is about the only way to sand out the pores. You can sand them by hand but plan on taking about 5-6 hours an insert. The corners... I dunno what to tell ya. I just rolled up a corner of 220 grit, very time consuming. This is if you want it done right. Move up to a 400, sand down as smooth as possible, then a 500, then put it under running water and use a rough steel wool. Running water over the top of the wheel while sanding with steel wool will show any scratches that need work. If you do a really good job, you can go over the wheel with 1500 and already have a mirror reflection. Only one insert did this for me and hardly needed any polishing. Now use a pad and tripoli compound and you'll get a mirror finish. Move up to a rouge for the last coat and you'll be amazed... it's great telling people these are my old wheels and that I did all the work. Hope this helps and good luck.

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Secret

[This message has been edited by yellowiroc2 (edited May 09, 2001).]

 

thanks a lot. hey if you could, post some more pictures. again, thanks

 

if anyone reads this again... What about starting off with 180 grit paper?? 220 takes forever plus i have a ton of 180 ??

 

180 grit is fine and works really well to get out flaws in the aluminum. I actually went down to 180 for the outer ring which had seen a few curbs, now you can't even tell. Just remember, the lower you go, the more you sand with lower grit, the more you sand with higher grit.

 

Daz

 

Daz,
Did you use the same procedure as yellowIROC? If not, how did you do yours?

Mark

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1986 IROC LG4 "Bone Stock" (for now)

 

Tommy

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Mr. IROC-Z
WWW.IROCZDESIGNS.COM Because looks are everything.

 

Did the clearcoat remover remove the
paint as well or did you mask it off? If you
had to repaint, what paint did you use?
Thanks