I've spent more time and hours on these rims that I will ever admit to, and I just can't get them to a point where I'm happy with them. They look decent; far better than stock. But I was wanting a mirror finish, and I just can't get there.

I sanded, 400 - 800 - 1000 - 1500 - 2000
Then I used the Harbor freight aluminum polish kit on one wheel. Black, brown, then white, using my Dremel.

On another wheel, I did the same sanding, skipped the "black" polish from the HF kit, and went brown then white. Same results. Honestly, I'm not sure the white substance does anything at all; I can tell no difference after I use it.

These pics are of the same rim. I did the HF brown then white. Then I used Mothers polish and a drill on two three of the spokes. There was no difference. I can't even remember which spokes I did.

Thoughts? Can I make 'em better, or is this as good as it gets?

 

Looks pretty damn sharp to me dude. Didjya buff after polishing?

 

They look good from 5 feet. Close up, I just think I can do better.
Buff with what? This is my first polishing project. Did I miss a step?

 

You need an angle grinder with a cutting buffing wheel and rouge then micro polish by hand to get a mirror finish

 

Did you strip the clear coat off the wheels before sanding?

 

Yeah, I forgot to mention that step. I thought I had pics, but I can't find any.

 

OK, I have the white rogue. I bought a fresh bar of that from pjtool, thinking that mine was too old and hard.

With the angle grinder, you're saying to use maybe something like this:
https://www.pjtool.com/polishing/buf...3-4-thick.html

I really appreciate your input.

 

The Dremel ain't gonna cut it. Even on it's lowest setting, it'll spin whatever buff too fast and you'll burn the surface.

When you did your first round of sanding, did you keep sanding until the surface was completely smooth? Because the idea is to work the surface down with the coarse grit, then progressively sand with finer grits to remove the previous grit's scratches.

It looks like you've got some splotches that scream Dremel, and some scratches from either sanding, or not cleaning enough before polishing. Even fairly rough aluminum will shine with just a Mothers buffing. If you're sure you didn't progress too quickly thru the grits, a real buffer would probably do it. I'm as cheap as I am lazy, so I'd probably go back to sanding to get everything flat and uniform, then use Mothers by hand.

 

Thanks Drew, I do appreciate you feedback. I actually tried to hand-polish after the 400 - 800 - 1000 - 1500 - 2000 sanding, a few months back, and got nowhere. I think you might be right about the Dremel burning off the finish.

So I found this thread, and decided I would try his technique:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...-projects.html
Talk about burning off the finish!

I had a rim that had not yet been polished, just sanded. I went back and sanded the whole wheel with 400, then went at it with the angle grinder wheel polish method. Better finish than before, but my results are nothing like his. In the side-by-side pics, the wheel on the right is the newly-polished angle grinder wheel, the left is the previous Dremel-polished wheel. Better, but certainly nowhere near what I consider acceptable.

I just feel like I'm missing something. I'm doing something wrong. Had I known that my results would be like this, I would not have wasted my time.

 

There's something wrong with the logic in that other thread. He says it's impossible to polish the compound out of 400grit scratches, but then he says the compound will buff out deeper sanding scratches. But if that were true, the compound could cut the 400grit scratches.

Are you sanding the surface with block or free hand? Any block will make for a flatter surface, even if the block has some flex to it. Wet sanding with a block until the surface is flat and uniform, then polishing will bring up the luster.

Pick up a piece of aluminum extrusion from your local hardware store or builder's supply store. Something like an 1/8" x 2" wide flat strip. Mark off segments and try a few different things and see which gives you the best luster. Even the rough mill surface will take a nice shine with just polish. You should be able to get a mirror finish pretty easily. Once you have a method that works for you, apply it to the wheels. Just keep in mind that the wheels are a casting, and you might never get a perfect surface, because there can be porosity in the casting.

 

I've always gotten great results from using 120 and 220 grit dry in a sander or some sort and then switching to wet sanding with 220 followed by 320, 400, 600, 800 and 1000. Some guys will say to stop sanding at whatever grit (depending on the metal) but stopping at lower grits have never worked well for me. To know when you are done sanding in one grit and to move on to the next grit you always need to sand in a perpendicular direction to your previous grit. So ideally you would have sanded 220 vertically and then went to 320 horizontally. When all the vertical scratches are gone I know I can move up to 400. As for compounds I usually use a tougher compound for stainless on a courser wheel and then switch to the same compound on a finer wheel. Then I do switch to a white rouge to finish. Use a hand polish to lightly go over it once a month. Synthetic sealers can help slow oxidation but it will still occur just how fast depends on the product and conditions.

 

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. I've had enough, and I'm officially throwing in the towel. I keep getting closer, but I cant get to where Tibo (and others) are. I'm not happy with the results, and all I see are the imperfections. I've wasted far too much time on this already.

I spent another 5 hours or so today. Its raining out, so perfect day.

I went out and bought an adjustable speed polisher. I took the velcro/hook head off, and loaded it similar to an angle grinder. Tried a few speeds, somewhere between 2 and 3 seemed best (I'm not sure if that's 2000-3000 rpm, or just an arbitrary number).


I re-sanded one of the rims. Using Tibo's suggestion, I alternated directions. I started with 400, and then stepped up to 800, then I began polishing with the new tool.

 

I tried a bunch of different combinations. Nobody can ever say I wasn't patient, or too cheap.



I first tried the sisal wheel, and black compound. Horrid results.



I went next with a spiral wheel, and white compound. Again, not the combination I want.

 

So I re-sanded the spokes, and started over with a different combination. This time grey compound on a spiral wheel. (*** pen quit. I look down to see what advertisement is on the side, and low and behold, its Top Down Solutions. Lon, you need better quality pens )

 

Better. Follow the grey compound with white compound on a spiral wheel.

 

Here's some photos of the finished product. They look better in pics than in person. From 5 feet away, they look fantastic. But again, when I look at them, all I see are imperfections.

 

5 feet is all the closer anybody will ever get, and if they look great from 5' it wouldn't be out of bounds to say you did a good job.

 

I refinished my GTA wheels starting with striping the clear/paint with aircraft striper. I used a brake lathe for sanding which I know won't help with iroc wheels and for polishing I used mother's polish and a micro fiber cloth but again I had a brake lathe spinning the wheel. I did try the harbor freight garbage but quickly threw it in the garbage.

 

I used a few different methods in polishing my Irocs, but ultimately found that about 800 to 1000 grit sandpaper, then white rouge worked best. I used air tools, but have since used angle grinders and even an electric drill with good success.

On this pic, you'll see water spots from washing, minutes after putting down the buffer. I'd say if a professional job is a 10, these are a 9. I polish 'em once a year with Mother's Billet, and regularly get asked if they're professionally done. ...and while I can find my imperfections, most people can't. -or at least they don't TRY!!!!!!

 

Those look fantastic! That's exactly the look I was going for. I didn't even come close. Sandpaper straight to white compound is a combination I did not try. I'm done for now, but maybe next fall when it gets cold, I'll spend more time on one, and try that.

 

I've heard of people switching to compounds after 600 grit, some go all the way to 2000. I kinda went in the middle. ....and I tried the different compounds too, think it was brown and blue, or green, but it just didn't seem to make much difference.

....going right to the white worked. ...so I kept with it. I've touched 'em up once or twice over the years with the white too. ...and as I mentioned, Mother's Billet once a year.

 

I found this on Grumpys. 1.5 micron diamond compound used.
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com...e-2#post-77165
Maybe this will work for your rims.