I went over everything with aluminum polish, it shined, but not good enough for me.


So I decided to wet sand. I started with something simple, the top of my A.C.

I started with 1200 Wet, then went to 2000 wet. Dried it off, and went over it with Mothers Aluminum polish. It looks good but if you look close enough to it, it is cloudy (Im guessing it is a bunch of hairline scratches). Is there anything else I could do to make it shine more?

Thanks guys

 

Start at a lower grit... 400 or 600 dry. Once its smooth, move up til you get to 1500 or 2000 dry. Once you do that dry, do 1500 or 2000 wet and buff with Mothers.

On my rims I did 80, 120, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 1500 wet, buff and they shine quite well. I think I'm gonna redo 1500 and do them with 2000 and then 2000 wet just to get some more shine from them.

Good luck

 

A good start, but the wrong approach. check out this article from a fellow thirdgener... http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox.../info/info.htm

 

So for rims all I have to do is 180, 320 wet, 400 wet, and buff and they should be beautiful?

 

Thanks guys.


Tomorrow I'll start with a lower grit, and not wet sand until after I do 1500 dry. Thanks again


I know about starting at a lower grit....etc


But I figured I didn't need to because the top was already super smooth. But I figured wrong

 

Just like the article says...

Step 1: Sand with 180/320/320wet/400/400wet.
Step 2: Buff with cutting compound follow with polish compound.
Step 3: Seal.

You are going to have to purchase some buffing wheels and compounds, but I think they are reasonabley priced from Eastwood.

 

yup you donn't need to go higher thana wet 400 grit. also I wouldn't seal it if I were you. if you don't you can do "rebuff" anytime onces its sealed you can't.

 

I couldn't buff/polish by hand?

 

You could, but it would take you upwards of 5 or 6 hours to accomplish anywhere near what you could do in an hour with polishing wheels on a drill.

 

Just to let you know : Aluminium comes in all types of grades so it will depend on what type you have to how good a shine you can get. the best results will be from a stitch mop followed by a colouring wheel using proper buffing compounds for metals.

 

Just to steer you right. The 180 step is to either remove cast on porous items like the plenum or clear coat like on the rims. If you are begining with something smooth just skip the 180.

You could also use either the 320 or 400. Both are not necessary if you are going to compound. "True" polishing/buffing requires the use of compounds. The Eastwood process is 2 step:

Tripoli
White Rouge

I've now gone to 4 step:

Gray with Sisal Wheel
Gray with Sewn Wheel
Yellow with Loose Sewn (Color Process)
White with Loose Wheel

Sanding with anything above 400 defeats the process as you will "glaze" the surface and get a clouding effect.

 

I have used polishing wheels and compounds for everything I have polished on my car. I did my steel valve covers(then sent them off to be chromed), my plenum (made a custom emblem for it as well,the throttle body and gun, then my altenator, and my rims. I tried the sand papper method but that took forever and the shine sucked. With a die grinder, and da sander I sand everything with 180,320 grit then I use my polishign wheels to do the rest. This is an updated pic of a intake that I recently polished 5/27/03.

 

Wheels have cast on them too, or at least the IROC rims do.

How much is the four step system and where can I get it? Thanks

 

To convert to a 4 step process instead of the basic 2 step that Eastwood recommends you introduce Emery Compound into your process. Emery is usually reserved for harder metals like stainless steel.

You are now using 3 compounds:
Emery
Tripoli
White Rouge

.... and 4 wheels


Sisal Wheel with Emery


Hard Spiral Sewn with Emery
then
Softer Spiral Sewn with Medium or Tripoli


Canton Flannel Buff with white rouge

I find this process allows me to do less sanding and more compounding. I have actually gone from 180 to shine on this process but I regularly go to 400 wet as a habit (a good one...LOL)

 

Hey MikeinAZ, with all the polishing compounds you use you get pretty dirty eh. With the matchless TM polishing compound I use I get very dirty. My shirt always looks like somebody did a burnout on my stomach

 

Where can I buy the compounds and the wheels and what'll the cost me?

 

Hey Metallic RS on place is http://www.eastwoodco.com/ for the supplies. I have another place at work I will post tomorrow.

Yep.... is is a dirty business. I usually wind up looking like that American Taliban dude.... john walker whatever with the black stuff all over his face. The guys at work get a good chuckle when I'm done buffing.

I use goggles, respirator, gloves, hat and an apron to kinda' keep it off.

 

im gonna have to try this on my rims.

 

Thank you very much Mike, I appreciate it. I have another question- How much of the compounds will be needed for 4 rims, a plenum and runners?

 

Actually the small bars Eastwood sells are plenty of compound to do all your projects with some left over. The other address I was looking for is a guy named Tommy Foley.

Email him at: tommy@wacool.net

The wheels are all 8" and the compound are 3LB bars. My buffer is the 3/4 horse Baldor so this is pretty much "commercial" type stuff. For bench grinders and such you want a smaller wheel.

I bought the following from him:

Sisal Wheel Reg - 8.00 ea.
Yellow Muslin Buff - 12.00 ea.
Loose Buff (these are 1" thick) - 12.00 ea.
Thick White Sewn Buff (these are 1" thick) - 12.00 ea.

Emery 3lb Bar (Emery) - 8.00 ea.
Stainless 3lb Bar (Tripoli) - 8.00 ea.
Color 3lb Bar - (White Rouge) - 8.00 ea.

In parentheses is what Eastwood would call it. As far as I know Eastwood doesn't offer the Yellow Muslin Buff and I really like the task it takes care of.

PS.... for your wheels you will want a hard and a soft type of 6" buff and an arbor for your power drill. This is how you buff the wheels. Most local hardware or Home Depot type places will have this.

 

Mike, I think I'm going to purchase the "Wheel Smoothing Kit" from Eastwood.

Would a good procedure for polishing the face of my wheels involve smoothing out the knicks and pits with 220 paper, then going to the Eastwood kit?

Would you be able to recommend any tools/processes for polishing inside the slots on my Formula-style wheels?
Currently, I'm using a 200 grit Dremel bit, then 220 sandpaper, 400 sandpaper, and 600 grit sandpaper.
This produces an acceptable shine (and will look a lot better after buffing), but it's slow as crap. After about 10 hours work, I have 2 slots polished. There are a total of 84 slots, from the 4 wheels combined.
I would appreciate it, if you could recommend a process that would allow me to use my 2500RPM hand drill for the sanding and buffing of the slots.
Thanks a lot!

 

Welcome to the world of buffing. Some things are a "pain".... the other side of the coin is once you "survive" it you will have something you can be proud of and know that others won't go to such a great length to copy your work. So your wheels will be pretty unique. HOWEVER:



On the right side is what is called a tapered sanding roll it is available in many grits and Eastwood sells them. Buy a bunch of them and make sure you either have or get the arbor to hold them. They also make a tapered buff .... get a few.

Also there is some adhesive 180 paper on a roll. Pretty pricey a 45 bucks a roll but maybe you can beg or borrow some. You can peel off a bit and stick it to your fingers. I find it the best stuff for working down hard to get areas because you don't have to concentrate on holding the paper.



Skip the 600... you're wasting your time and actually hurting your finish by "glazing"..... stop at 400 wet (very thorough sanding... a most important step).

I would use: 180/320/400 but experiment. You may be able to go 180/400.

These are the secrets. Find the shortest route to the best possible finish.

 

Polished before and polished after reading this thread! You guys rule!




I also noticed after wetsanding, the lighter you polish with the Aluminum polish, the more shinny it came out with less minor scratches!

 

Lookin good IROC.

Thanks for all the help Mike, I think I'll be buying some buffing wheels and compounds to do my wheels with. :hail:

 

Thanks


And thanks for your help also Starting with a lower grit and going up helped alot as you can see


Im also gonna look into the other methods people posted when I do my runners.


Thanks again to everyone

 

Do you guys think I could use the 180 grit or maybe a little lower to get rid of my clear-coat? Because that article said not to use clear-coat remover. Will this sanding remove it? Oh, and will the sanding remove the grey paint on my IROC wheels under the clear-coat? (I guess it just depends on how much I sand.) Because I don't want to remove it. All I want to do here is strip the clear, sand, and buff. I don't want to have to do any painting. Will I be able to keep my grey inserts? What do you guys think? Also, when I am done doing the wheels, what polish do I use just to maintain the shine? Like that mothers mag/aluminum polish? Thanks. -89IRO

 

Im startin on my irocs the clear coat got pretty bad. Im goin to sand blast them tomorrow i think its the fastest way to get everything off and gets them nice and clean for the 180 grit. I alrdy hit a spot on them with the sand blaster cleaned them up real nice im kinda excited to get started. I guess im gonna sand them by hand i dont know what power tools i would use to get in the lug nut holes and such?? I would think nethings small could gouge into the wheel.I'll prob use the DA on the flat spots tho. As for the buffing i guess order the eastwood kit ill get to that later tho ill have some pix after the sand blasting i also have a few b4 pix. Im just doin the 2 front wheels first.

 

Just wanted to be "clear" on something. If you were speaking of one of the articles I wrote it's not that you don't want to use c/c remover, it's just that the mega-bucks I have spent on various c/c removers has been wasted as it's never done a good job for me. Actually in my projects it's messed things up by making the clear soft and gummy which clogs further and future attempts when you realize "hey this ain't gonna work" and you have to start sanding.

Couple-o-Tips:

Tip-1: Patience is the best tip. Don't set deadlines like "I have to finish this on the weekend". You will get in a hurry and make a mess. On wheels.... put your spare on and tackle one wheel at a time with no time limit. Dismount the dang tire and yank the valve stem out. Upon completetion have the tire remounted with a new stem and have it balanced. You will thank yourself for this extra trouble.

100% of the fellow-buffing-fools love the results of buffing.
99% hate what you have to do to get these results.

So try to at least have a bit of fun by condensing your projects into several small ones instead of one huge one.

Tip-2: Consider buying replacement parts and then buffing those. Instead of ripping apart your TPI and then being in a hurry because your car isn't running think about buying a plenum and runners off of Ebay or wrecking yard.

Then buff those by taking your sweet time and doing a good job. Install the new parts and sell your old ones back on Ebay.

You will wind up with very little down time and you should recoup your money to the penny.... or at least close.

 

and to top it off , after ya get it polished to a T- send it to get powder clear coated and you will never hafta polish it again.

 

Just a question but with the die grinder and the little wheels wouldnt it leave grooves in the wheels. I just got them sand blasted yesterday lookin for a better way then sanding them all down by hand. Eastwood sells a wheel kit that comes with the wheels smoothing kit and the wheel buffing kit. It has 3 different compound but wouldnt u still have to sand first ? IM not sure exactly what the name of the combo kit is but i think it like 69 dollars or around there i look in the book and get back. I got a drill and i think a die grinder somewhere .

 

I'm confuzed....you guys are actually using sandpaper on something you want to SHINE???

How does this work??




~Bob

 

LOL, Yep, you sand it to remove any imperfections on the surface of the metal, then when you buff it with coumpound it should remove all of the scratchs and give you a brillant shine.

 

ok...i am confused now....what does wet sanding consist of? i have never heard of wet sanding before lol...you guys have me all interested and excited to try this....and how many people would suggest getting the eastwood buff kit?...or if it's better to get the tools and such piece by piece...what all would i need for the wheels and aluminum first, then for plastics afterwards?

 

Did any one have a problem when they used the buff kit of getting an uneven surface. Now i just use a paint stick to wrap my paper around n go at it starting with 180 and wet sand if its fairly flat. I did one wheel turned out great could be a tad more reflective tho. If i get time this weekend ill get to the others i just been so busy it sucks.

 

Ok, i just finished polishing my wheels on my 89 iroc when i found this thread. Ive wet sanded out to 2000 and then used rubbing compound and metal polish and i got a pretty good shine. what im wondering is if there is anything that i can do to get an even better shine and what i need to do so.

 

Take a buffing wheel to it with tripoli and white rouge compound.

 

Sorry for bringing up an old thread.

Since my '83 T/A isn't running and it will be a month or so before the new drivetrain is in I thought this would be the best time to start polishing and perfecting everything.

I was thinking of ordering the "Buff Shop Kit" for Eastwood.

This Buffing Kit features 1/2" wide Buffs designed to hold more compound and last a long time, a complete set of Buffing Compounds so you will have the proper abrasive for any project, a video, and complete instructions. You can get professional results buffing stainless, brass, aluminum, pot metal, and plastic using this Buffing Kit. Kit includes: Buff Rake, Dust Respirator, Face Shield, Gloves, six Compounds (one each of Emery, Stainless, Tripoli, Plastic, Jewelers Rouge, and White Rouge), eight Buffing Wheels (two each of Sisal, Loose, Spiral, and Canton Flannel).

What else will be needed besides the sandpaper?

Also what size (6", 8" or 10") wheel would be best if I am using a drill?

Thanks!!

 

Anyone?

Thanks

 

sounds like it will be ok but I gotta ask are the buff wheels to fit a drill or a bench grinder???? & what are you going to polish??
To do a good job you will need wheels that will fit into the small
crevices & a spiral attachment for a bench grinder. I totally did my 57 Holden including my own chroming! its a lot of work & you need good equipment. if your just doing small stuff you can get away with drill attachments but you have to have the right size wheels for the job.

 

I was planning on doing my taillights and wheels and maybe some other minor stuff that I can find.

I was planning on using a drill..

 

what do you guys use to sand in the tight areas on intakes and alternators?

 

Man, you guys rule. I've polished the TPI stuff on my GTA some time back but did it all by hand and it was a MAJOR pain in the butt. I wasn't even able to do the intake manifold base. But, I finally have an idea of what tools to use to get the job done right.

Just a quick question, with the tapered buffs and sanding rolls, what speed do you run those things at? I'm going to be using a dremel and it's capable of running up to 10,000RPMs, I'm figuring that 10k RPMs is a bit overkill, right?

 

Just starting to strip my wheels on my '83 T/A. They have the 20 slot wheels (15 x 7) yes i know they arent stock but i just wanted to thank everyone on this board. Very informative. For anyone out there i am using a compound called citristrip. I is an automotive grade stripper to pull the paint off cars and it is working beautifully. My dad had a half bottle left from when he used to do auto body. Im sure any similar product would work.

 

I am currently trying Mikes method as written on his pages. I am having trouble with the white rouge. Actually gives the results of its name - white. The tripoli works great, I haven't yet to see the point of going beyond this, though, it is leaving its own scratches. The white rouge and loose wheel are doing nothing but producing scratches and white haze. Luckily the tripoli cleans it up again easy enough. Anyone else have this problem?

Mike, on your site, you are polishing with the rim on the car. Do you ever polish with it turning? Also, you say about 4 hours per wheel. How does that break down per stage?

I get the mirror like finish, when viewed from an angle, but looking directly at a flat surface is see the white haze. It appears to be the aluminum under the surface I am working. Is that what everyone else is getting?

 

Have been out working awhile with the white/loose. I have tried many different ways to buff. Slow, light pressure, heavy and fast, light and fast and about any combination I could think of. I just don't see the point of using it so far. What is it suppose to do? All I get it to do is add buffing scratches, and of course this will not be as sharp and clear as the tripoli section. The tripoli/sewn has buffing scratches but the white/loose is worse. I bought all new stuff for this and have not mixed them.

 

Mike, when you now go from 400 wet to compound, you are not using the scotchbrite and steel wools? I just did it that way and I saw no difference. Did you do those steps wet?

 

MMM sometimes if the Aluminiumn is low grade you will have problems not sure why its scratching? hard to say without seeing it in person

 

I now have tried 3 different brand buffing pads and added emery compound and jewelers rouge. Tripoli with the sewn had given the best results and white with the loose messed that up. I tried a new loose pad with the white, about the same result. Tried jewelers, not much better. Low and behold, even better than the tripoli, emery with a stiff sewn pad. By far the best, and I follow that with Bluemagic liquid metal polish. The Bluemagic with a piece of white cotton shirt is impressive.

My method for the Formula rims, just doing the edge and painting the middle, is to mount it on a car over jackstands, then:

1) emery cloth to remove machined grooves
2) 180
3) 320
4) 320 with a garden hose misting the rim
5) 400 with the mist
6) emery compound on a 6" sewn (rim still)
7) Bluemagic by hand

This has given me the best results and also the fastest yet.

Had to waste a few dollars on steel wool, numerous pads and compounds, but they may find another use someday.

 

Yeah bluemagic can give really good results, try some on your loose wheel? It sounds like its the type of Aluminiumn you are polishing thats the problem coz you should have a near "chrome" like finnish using the types of compounds and wheels that you have. so long as your wheels are not smaller than say4" in dia.

 

Wow, this thread is still around. I eventually moved on and did my whole intake.

Wet sanding with a fine grit and using aluminum polish will work. But it will not give you the best results. After sanding, I then took the aluminum to a buffing wheel with tripoli and white rouge compound, the results were much better then using aluminum polish.