Scored some Iroc wheels in need of some attention for my 91 RS project.



This is what they looked like before:


And this is a close up after a few minutes of sanding:



I know everyone has a preferred method of sanding/buffing/polishing their wheels, but this is what I did and I think it worked quite well:

1) Sand with 120 grit dry until all clear coat and machine marks are removed.
2) Sand with 220 grit and then follow with 320 grit dry until smooth.
3) Wet sand with 400, 800, 1000, 1500, and then 2000 until smooth and all sanding marks and imperfections are eliminated.
4) Polish with 3M Rubbing Compound

This is as far as I've gotten with one wheel only and it looks amazing! After I get all four done I will probably hit them again with 1500 and 2000 wet to get an even smoother finish and then hit them with some aluminum polish and a power ball. I also need to compound the gray painted parts with the power ball, but this is definately an effective but time-consuming process. It took me 10 hours to do the first one so chances are it will take 40 hours total but so worth it.

 

damn dude! looks wicked good! i have been putting off attacking mine. wasnt sure if sandpaper would get them pristine, but you have proved it would!

BULLSEYE!

 

Great job. Are you going to clear coat them when you get them just them exactly way you want them?

 

Thanks everyone. I wasn't sure that I would be able to "bring it back" after hitting the aluminum with 120 grit but I am thrilled with the results. I'm going to be leaving these wheels bare as this car will not be a DD and will only see nice weather. I think that polishing bare aluminum will be leaps and bounds easier to care for than the factory CC wheels. There is little I hate more than seeing all of the clear coat peeling, yellowing, and "oxidizing" like they do on the factory wheels.

 

Wow. Those look great. Lol. I am lucky to have a wife that is so into cars. Good job babe. Now I will get back to putting your headers on.

 

wow them do look good and thats about how many hours i have in porting and polishing my heads lol. very very very time consuming indeed

 

Was there chrome plating on them? If so how long did it take to get off? Im sanding my old wheels down but it seems im getting no where

 

I agree. I'm in the process of refinishing the wheels on an 80's car (not a third gen) and its a lot of work just to get the clear coat off. I've been doing a lot of reading on various message boards about the best way to preserve aluminum wheels after your done. It's about split 50/50, some saying modern clear coats are way better than than the stuff they used at the factory in the 80's and is the way to go. Others say you just need to apply a coat of good wax after polishing, it keeps them from oxidizing between washes and waxing. I'll probably go with the non clear coat route when I'm done with mine and see how it goes, I can always clear coat them later if waxing doesn't work.

 

No, these are factory polished (machined) and clear coated. The CC is thick and takes a lot of sanding to get it off. Once you get the CC off the wet sanding and polishing goes pretty fast. I started out with 320 grit at first but it would have taken eons to complete. Really, the only way to get anywhere is with 120 grit to start. Once you get that CC off you are golden to start progressively sanding up to 2000 and then a final polish. Don't worry, it will look pretty scary when you first burn through the paint. You will have scarred metal with lots of sanding gouges. These are not too bad to get out though as the aluminum is pretty soft. Good luck!

 

Amazing thanks!

 

Thanks, and you are lucky! Now, go finish my headers!

 

My thoughts exactly. I think polishing them once in a while will be best. Also, make sure you use the appropriate wheel cleaner! Never use chrome wheel cleaner! I've found through the years that cleaning with soap and water (on a cool wheel) often works well.

 

very very good the results are ....outstanding.ive been considering blasting my iroc whls to get similar results

 

i used paint thinner to take the cc of my wheels then polished them out and cleaned them with more paint thinner then put duplicolor high temp clear back on they looked good. the factory cc wasnt real thick so i used a rag to apply the thinner!

 

Why would no one use clear coat stripper and then start the sanding process???? There are paint strippers that will not harm the metals.

 

you think they look good now, get a polishing wheel and some aluminum rouge, and they will shine like mirrors

 

That's the next step. I need to get them to the point where I can install tires and get them on the vehicle and then get the final polish in.

 

Trust me, they are a lot easier to buff without tires on them. Especially with a stand mounted buffer

 

I don't have a stand mounted buffer :-(

My plan is to hit them with some aluminum polish and a foam pad on the orbital to get the flat parts polished and then the painted areas will be hit with a power ball and some rubbing compound, 3m Material Finish polish and then a final coat of wax. Plus, I don't want to spend the time to do the final polish just yet because it never fails, the tire shop guys always get some sort of grease on them or scratch them. They will need a final polish once they are on the car.

 

A powerball and compound wont do anything for even fine sandpaper scratches

Go get a buffing wheel for a drill, and buy some real rouge

Trust me, it's worth it.

 

Yeah those wheels look great

 

These look amazing! I'm doing a set of the exact same wheels myself, I'm at the early stages..I'm doing 220 wet, do you reccomend I do it dry? Will it be faster? I'm pretty new to this whole thing thats why I ask. Lol

 

That is awesome! Once you polish them, they will look out of this world!
Polished IROCS > Chrome IROCS!

 

You better treat her good, because it doesn't get any better than that!

I like them the way they are now WAY better than the factory finish, even if it were mint. Nice work.

 

try using a chemical stripper to take off the clearcoat, alot easier than sanding them & not as time consuming.

 

All of the old paint and whatnot is gone off of mine, It just seems like it's been forever on my 2nd wheel, just wondering if dry sanding 220 is faster then wet sanding with it. I'll try it tomorrow I suppose, it can't hurt them any.

 

+1 that aircraft grade stripper will take anything off.. including the outer layer of your skin, so definitely wear gloves and such when messing with that stuff because it's strong.

 

I can vouch for that...burns like hell! Haha

 

wow, huge improvement, great job!

 

Can I do this with these?

 

If you use some aircraft paint remover the clear will fall right off and then you just rinse them off with water. Then you can start sanding with something way finer like 320. You can get the stripper at any autobody supply store or maybe NAPA, it comes in a spray can or brushable gallon.

 

Good job, I did that with my IROC-Z rims to and they turned out great. Id suggest using aircraft stripper (found at any autozone) to remove the clear. It did not damage the rims and lifted the clear coat in 20mins per rim. It made life ALOT easier!

You want to apply aircraft stripper on a hotday and leave it in the sun for 15-20min. Some water and a brilo pad makes short work of the clean up. Just wear some gloves when your working with the stripper. Here is a link to my cardomain with before and after pics of my IROC-Z rims. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296941...-camaro/page-3

 

Wow man im lovin the results! You might have convinced me to do these to my wheels. Do you think itd work? Ive wet sanded them with 1200 grit like the first day i had the car(a year ago) And i got them smooth,but they look like ****. Any ideas?

 

that does look nice! Good job :-)

I am also a fan of the aircraft stripper...it works wonders. You should give it a try.