So I've been working on this for a bit... only one more to go. it saved me big money and the whole thing cost maybe $30... way cheaper than new wheels. I figured I should clean them up because i'm going to be keeping my ride... hopefully forever. I even turned down a GTO and a 330ci.

 

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Dude nice job cleaning up the wheels. It is so much shinier now! I will be doing the same thing soon. I saw some of the stickies on this but any advice?

I need to get a new hubcap too since previous driver hit a curb or something and it has a big knife cut in it with rust At least it is the cap and not the rim.

 

They look like they turned out really good. The factory IROC and 91-92 Z28 wheels look great polished. It's a LOT of work but the results are great.

If anybody is interested in a set of 91-92 polished wheels we have sets available on our website. We also offer wheel polishing for anybody who wants their own wheels polished. I've attached a link to our polished 91-92 wheels so anybody interested can check them out.

http://thirdgenranch.com/-strse-468/...nch/Detail.bok

 

Yeah my centers look kinda gross now compared to the rest of the wheel. It sucks that you can't really polish them.

for my first wheel I tried starting with 220 wet or dry going up to 1000 and then hit it with the mother's mini ball... looked shiny but not fantastic.

second wheel I started with 150 circular adhesive disk i stuck to a drill attachment... that one worked really well. got just about all the machine marks out went wet 220 400 600 800 1000 then the mini ball. looked wayyy better... took about 4-5 hours a wheel.

 

That looks great. I'm working on my crosslace rims right now. Where did you get the 800 and 1000 grit paper? I've only been able to find up to 600.

 

Those do look great. Polishing is hard work...I recently brought a set of draglites back from the dead.

 

rims look great man.. nice job the time really paid off


umm walmart, autozone, pepboys, any autobody supplier

 

My 92 has the same wheels, and could use the same work over. Your giving me ideas.

 

I need to get off my lazy a$$, and do this to my RS rims I bought awhile back lol looks like your doin a great job

 

Thanks all... certainly was a pain. They don't have that wow! effect from a distance too much, but you can tell they actually look way better. Up close though... incredible. Make sure you work the heavier grits more and don't forget the corners and whatnot.

Third wheel started with the 100 grit circular adhesive pad deal... wasn't necessary... just added time and I didn't think it turned out as well as #2 but still better than #1.

Not sure if I should clearcoat it but for now I'm just leaving it... gotta head back to Purdue soon and at least finish the fourth wheel.


happy polishing to all and feel free to ask any questions/ share pics

 

Clear coat won't have anything to stick too. After a year or so it will just start to flake off and look nasty. Go out and pick up some Zoop Seal. That stuff is awesome and holds the shine in like clearcoat and lasts longer. I have to apply it onto my polished rims every two years or so. It beads up and doesn't leave any water marks on the polish. Make sure you use it as directed as I didn't on my first rim I did and had to repolish it and re Zoop it.

P.S. You can polish the center caps I did on mine as long as you don't care about the lettering on the outer rim of it anymore.

 

Hmmmmm... Interesting. Thanks. I'd Imagine I would pick that up at like autozone or somewhere like that?

How beat were your center caps? Mine are kinda rough and didn't want to cut through the letters.'

 

I found a pair of 91-92 fronts and decided to polish em up as kind of tests to see what was involved. Never got around to doing the set on the ca.r.. and now I'm frustrated because one of my fronts and one of my rears has bad curb rash on the car, but this pair I have polished are perfect... but no matter what, I'm gonna have at least one curb rashed wheel and something about polishing up a curb rashed wheel irritates me... lol.

But I was kind of rushing it and still managed to get them lokoing pretty good.






I was trying to avoid letting them get too shiny actually. Im not a huge fan of bling... The way they looked was exactly what I was going for.

 

I did the samething to my old set that i use to have on my car, It was a big pain that is for sure. But well worth it.

 

Mine where pretty beat but some light sanding with 600 then 800 grit helped clean them up.

I bought it from Summit but have seen it in Autozone once. It was like twice the price though.

 

Those look awesome! I haven't had the chance to polish mine up, but hope I get the chance this winter.
(I had the hidden wheel weights installed on mine.)

 

If i would paint them after i polish them would it still shine or no i am thinking of leaving the lip polished

 

They do look pretty good

 

you don't want to paint or clear coat over a polished surface. The paint (or clear coat) needs some degree of roughness to adhere/grip the surface. So if say you wanted to polish the rims but paint the center section black, you wouldn't fully polish the center section.

 

Ok thank you thats what i was asking for