ok, 400 grit wet, then 1000 wet, then 2000wet

polish

thats it?

since im gonna have bare aluminum how often will i have to repolish to prevent corrosion? are there any affordable ways to seal off the raw aluminum w/o breaking the bank?

 

I recommend using compounds. 180/320 wet/400 wet then compounds. Try a search for more info. These help too:



https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...504#post766504

http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox.../info/info.htm

 

Yep, go with what MetalliCamaroRS said, dont take the sanding past 400 wet. Sometimes when you go past 400, you tend to 'glaze' over the metal and it never gets a 'mirror' effect.

Some guys have done the whole 50000000 grit thing, but i have seen a lot better reslults when going up to 400 wet, then stepping up to the polishing compounds.

 

i read that first article, i just went to pep boys and bought 400, 600, and 1500 grit paper, and a big tub of mothers aluminum polish, so i can go back and return the 1500.

so all i need is 180 on a roll, 400 for final finish, then polish with mothers? what is cutting compound? what does it do?


basically i need the idiots guide to making my iroc wheels look good, so 180 on a roll, 320 wet, 400 wet, cutting compound the polish

i understand everything but the cutting compound, im doing it all by hand no power tools, im gonna just take my time and enjoy it, 1 sunday a week, in a month i have shiney wheels, time isn't an issue, doing it right and for minimal price is

 

ok man....here we go. You dont need anything higher in grit than 400...so if you bought anything higher than 400, take it back. Also, you wont need polish, so take it back as well.

As far as the polish, IMO, polish will get you a less shiny result than buffing compounds. But you can apply polish with your hand, while buffing compounds you will need a buffing wheel mounted on a drill, or die grinder.

You can do it all by hand, but you will get it done a lot faster by using pneumatic or power tools Just think that on your sunday afternoon, and will still have time to do other things besides sanding and polishing all day until your fingers are burning of pain.

I have never done rims before, but use just like you said with 180, 320 et, and 400 wet, and then with your polish. But if you decide you want a more mirror like result, then step up to the buffing wheel with buffing compounds.

-Josh

 

i can always sand, then polish, and buff later if the equipment becomes available to me?

 

yeah you can do that....but the 'equpiment' isnt all that expensive...maybe 20 bucks or so.

 

You need tripoli, emery, and white rouge compounds along with buffing wheels. That thread tells you which compounds to use with which wheels. Check out this picture of my LT1 intake fuel rails. On the closest rail, I used the 180/320 wet/400 wet and then those three compounds. On the further rail, I used the 80/120/220/320/400/600/800/100/1500/2000/2000 wet/ polish method. Can you tell the difference? And that shine was made with just holding the wheels in my hand and using them rather than using any pneumatic tools

 

Forgot the pic

 

damn those rails look GOOD, so you did that far rail the way im gonna (w/o compound) cause it looks REAL nice, thats the kind of finish i want on my wheels, nothing fancy, it's just i broke a wheel in a "snow" accident and i had to buy a ghetto wheel that doesn't match at all, so i was like "wtf, gotta polish them to make them match" if my wheels come out even close to as nice as that far rail ill be happy

 

here is a pic in which i used buffing compounds...of my plenum extension...

 

2

 

damn dude, that looks NICE, if my wheels come out good, i might polish my 350 before it goes in, lol, give the intake manifold and oil pan some TLC

 

so you see what we are getting at?

 

No, on the closer, better looking rail I used the compounds. On the one thats further away, I used the other method without compounds. The closer one is mirror-like with just a few light scratches (cause I didn't use the compounds at high RPMs). The other one is hazy. I will be redoing both of them along with my rims with a pneumatic drill though

 

StealthElephant, these guys are telling you the right way to do it. I polished my wheels the whole way up to 2000 grit, then I used rubbing compound (NOT tripoli or white rouge) and finished it off with Mothers Aluminum Polish. "Great," I thought. "These wheels look a lot better... but why is it all cloudy? Oh well, I won't worry about it right now." Months passed and I figured I'd try the 180/320/400 paper and tripoli and white rouge compounds on my TPI fuel rail. In about half the time it would take for me to do the rail by hand, I was done.

It does not compare.

If I had pictures I would post them, but in truth it's really hard to see how shiny and metallic something is without seeing it in person. If you're going to go the compound route, I highly recommend buying the right kind of buffing wheels for your drill. I removed my TPI plenum the other week and attempted to polish it up with the compounds but it didn't turn out nearly the way I had wanted. I think it's because I wasn't using a "cutting" wheel with the tripoli compound, and that didn't smooth out the surface enough initially.

Regardless, polishing with compound and a drill is the best way to do it. If you do it any other way, your wheels will look good as soon as you're done just because they probably look terrible now (mine did after 16 years). As time goes on, you'll be kicking yourself in the pants for spending 8+ hours polishing a single wheel just to achieve sub-par results. I know I am .