samdog1232000

I just finished Stripping the clear coat off my rims. The holes on the back rims have been sanded down but I cant figure out how to buff them out because my Milwauke buffer will not get in there. In addition they are not coming out shinny enough. Does anyone got ideas or know how to do it?

MetalliCamaroRS

iTrader: (15)

Sandpaper to sand it and then get tapered buffs to get in there.

samdog1232000

I have already used sand paper!!! What do you mean tapered buffs. Do I need a variable speed drill because that was what I thought of doing next but I want to make sure I do it right and not mess anything up.

MetalliCamaroRS

iTrader: (15)

I think they call them tapered, I'm not sure. But they make little buffs that are kinda cone shaped, to fit into curves and grooves and stuff.

samdog1232000

Do you if I am supposed to use a variable speed drill to do this. I am think of using like a air gun because I would really get the rims to shine. I just had a buddy go to Western Chrome and they polished his alloy rims out and the look like chrome. I know it can be done but I rather do it myself. I just dont want to ruin the rims. Hopefully I will get some advice from other that have tried to do it. Have you polished your rims out and if so can you attach a pic?

MetalliCamaroRS

iTrader: (15)

I've heard you need around 3000 RPMs to get a good shine. I polished two of my rims last year, but I used the long way (sanded with 80/120/220/320/400/600/800/1000/1500/2000 wet/ mothers). Attached is the picture of that. The pic doesn't look nearly as good as they looked. But I will be redoing them this year with the 80/180/320 wet/400 wet/ compounds method and painting the inserts black or graphite. I'm just lazy

MetalliCamaroRS

iTrader: (15)

Here is my polishing method comparison shot. The shiner one was done with compounds while I did the other one the long way. You can clearly see the difference:

MetalliCamaroRS

iTrader: (15)

The LT1 intake again. The fins and fuel rails have all been polished, but I did not use any high speed equipment. I just held the budding wheels and did it by hand. Came out alright, but I am going to redo the fuel rails when I get a chance. The fins have some pitting too, but theres nothing I can do

StngKlr

I don't think you can ruin the rims, unless you fell asleep while sanding and put a huge gouge in the rim. Now I've heard numerous times on here to polish with compounds, but heres one of my wheels done the "long wrong way". I took this pic. today, and the rims were polished over a year ago.

Thats me about 5 ft. away.

I have about a billion more pics. if you want them.

MetalliCamaroRS

iTrader: (15)

The long way isn't necissarily the wrong way. It works, but its way more time and work than needed. And the compounds produce a deeper shine, as I demonstrated with my fuel rail comparison shot.


BTW- the wheel looks great!

StngKlr

Yeah, but I have yet to purchase some compounds to do some comparisons, and if it comes out to be that compounds are faster and give a better shine, then the long way is the wrong way. But keep in mind, I did 80 to 220 with the Mouse, and the rest was by hand. So if I had some darn discs for this DA back then, then maybe it would have been faster. Who knows?

BTW, thanx alot.

StngKlr

Heres one more.

Alright, so what I have a dirty tire, but a sparkling rim. Not to mention a little "fish eye" from the paint job on the bottom insert.

Crap, pic. below.

StngKlr

Sorry.

StngKlr

Sorry one more. I didnt ask if you wanted more, did I?

fun Pain

tire wet man, tire wet....j/k

the long way, but i didn't have much to do to these

samdog1232000

I had no Problem stripping the clear coat! The problem was getting into the holes where it was painted. My rims were painted silver and had a texture inside the holes of the rim. I sanded those down but it takes a beating onyour arm. I can do it the long way but it would take more time than I would like. There has to be a way to put sand paper on a drill and just go crazy with a fine grit. Did most of you guys do it by hand. If so how did you get the corners and did you polish them by hand to?

samdog1232000

Any more helpful hints?????????????????????????

Nazzz28

When I polished my old wheels I did it by hand, but masked the
polish areas of and painted the inserts. I painted the inserts a
charcoal metallic base and clearcoat. I thought that they looked
very nice this way, and the painted areas contrasted well with
the polished surfaces.

Here are some pics of the wheels and inserts.

Nazzz28

another of the entire wheel

Nazzz28

Here are a couple of the inserts.

Nazzz28

Here is the last one. Good luck with your polishing .

r90camarors

Awesome job on those rims!!! They are beautiful. I've been working on my '91 rims for a while now, and all I can say is it's very, very time consuming and frustrating at times. I polished the entire wheel, minus the pin stripe like inserts. It is very hard to remove the paint in the 5 triangular areas of the wheel. Clearcoat was not a problem. But Aircraft Remover at least, is not stripping it like I had hoped.

samdog1232000

Dont use air craft remover it is crap! Use epoxy and paint remover from Jasper. You should be able to get it at a local hardware store. It will take everything off in one shot, maybe two at the most.

samdog1232000

I see you left it textured. Did you use a buffer or something else to polish thoose out. How much rpm do you need to really make them shine?

MikeH

iTrader: (10)

Nice job on the rims and intakes guys. I have become a polishing junkie, please help me I cant stop. :lala:

ShadowZ28

thats what im going to do. i gonna polish my rims and paint the inserts util im ready for the z06's. i hope it comes out as good as yours

Nazzz28

I polished and buffed out those wheels by hand using Mothers
mag and aluminum polish, Super soft terry cloth pads, and
flannel towels. I sold those wheels because I wanted something
in 17 inches. I finally decided on some centerline wheels which
I should be receiving within the next week or two.

bad84z

Those rims look bad *** man!!!! How did you do them. What is the long wrong way.

StngKlr

I pretty much got all the info from this site. Some from the tech. article and some from different threads. Heres basicly what I did.

I started sanding with the electric Mouse to get all of the old clearcoat off and machining grooves out. This was done with 80 grit. This step will probably take the longest as it did for myself. But be sure to get all of the machining grooves out, or you will be disappointed in the end. After the 80, I went to 120, 180, 220, all done with the Mouse.

Now the next steps were all done by hand because 220 was the last grit I had for the Mouse, but if you have an electric or DA sander with higher grits, then I would suggest using that as it will cut the time down alot.

Next was 320 and 400 dry, and 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 were all wet. Spending anywhere from 20 to 40 mins. on each grit. Oh, and find a sanding block somewhere, it will help your fingers out alot.

After the 2000, I used some Mothers Aluminum and Mag Polish to get them to really shine. Buffed in with a High Speed Buffer.

I know thats Basic, but do some searches and you will find plenty of helpful hints. If you have more Q's, just ask.

samdog1232000

Do you have a pic of the mouse? I think I know what tool you are talking about! How did you get into the corners where the holes are at? That seems to be my bigges problem!!!

samdog1232000

Another thing, was there a certain block you used to sand it?

StngKlr

I can get you some pics tomorrow, but the Mouse is just a little electric sander that you can buy anywhere that Black&Decker is sold. Any electric sander will work though. Actually, the thumb attachment for the Mouse was a big help, but you dont need it.

I'm not quit sure what you mean on the corners where the holes are at, but if your talking about the part of the rim, near the lug nuts, where it slopes up to the center cap, then that part was a bit tricky. I just sanded in a downward motion from over top of the rim. Just be real smooth on the higher grits and you should be fine.

All of this is kinda hard to explain, if you know what I mean.

Oh, just go to a hardware store and ask for a sanding block, they will point you in the right direction. Its nothing special, just a rubber thing that has 2 slots, and spikes in the slots that hold the sand paper, just to make the sanding more even and smooth.

Well, heres a pic for ya. I didnt want to wait.

samdog1232000

When I say holes I mean the triangular ones. You the pic that was posted with the 91-92 Camaro rims and how it was painted black on the lines and triangular holes, well I am trying to sand and polish those out but it is hard to get into those areas. If you still dont know what I am talking about let me know and I will post a pic with an arrow pointing to what I mean!
Thanks 4 your patience man!!!

Spin Demon 92RS

Nice rims Nazzz. I want to paint the insides of the holes similar to the way you did. What kind of paint specifically did you use? Here's a pic of my rims.....

samdog1232000

Spin Demon did you paint the triangular parts of the rim in chrome or is that polished?

Nazzz28

Spin Demon - I used an argent metallic paint that was used on
GM trucks. I cannot remember the specific paint code, but it
was mixed at my uncles shop, and I have a print out of the code
and mix. I can try to find it for you if you want. Nice polishing
job by the way.

samdog1232000

Ok, I did one rim! I used an air drill with a tapered sandpaper so I can get into the hard spots. The only problem I am having now is finding something to buff the corners of the triangular holes. The rest of the rim almost looks like chrome!!!!!!!!!

Any suggestions on the corners? What is making it hard is that I need an insert that can withstand the speed of a snap on air drill in order to get thoose spots to really shine.

Somebody has to know the solution!

Freeze

Some nice rims in here. Let me add mine:


Not perfect, but good enough for me. Two more to do though.

Images removed- Check your images.

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

Old pic. I need to clean em up from sitting all winter last yr.

CamaroRS91x

samdogg....can you briefly make a list of what exactly you did to make your rims look so damn shiny?!?!?!?! holy crap

Thanks

grngryoutmyway

iTrader: (1)

What is the way to do it using compounds, and does anyone have pics of their wheels they did using compounds. Also does anyone know of a better sander to get into the tough spots. I wanna paint the triangle inserts and stuff too. When i paint do take the tape off before i clearcoat or should I leave it on? I was gonna buy some torque thrusts but...cops took all my money so now im gonna do the cheap thing and polish my wheels. Also about how long will this take, cause i wont be able to drive my car while im doin it unless I buy some other temporary wheels.

samdog1232000

TPI383, How did you get the corners on the rims where it is triangular?

samdog1232000

Camaro91RSx, Once I get more of the rims done I will post a pic of the tools I used. One part that is real important is the tapered sand paper. It hooks up to a drill piece or bit and makes it real easy to sand the rim down. They only make them in certain grits so once you have the triangular parts of the rim sanded you have to use the higher and finer grits by hand. Once I did that I used a tapered buff and a tripoli bar to buff and make them shine. That bar is what makes the difference. It is important to use a high speed air drill or grinder so you can really get the rim heated. Once I did that you should use "What a Shine" which is a metal and aluminum polish or "Semi Chrome" to make it shine even more, that is done by hand. Once I get around to taking some pics I will post it.

Still nobody has told me what tool they use to get the triangular corners? I see a ton of polished rims which is cool! Mine look just as good but I still need to know what has to be done to get the hard angles!

cd90rs

How did you go about polishing the center on the 91-92 wheels?

CamaroRS91x

Thanks sam 8-) I'll give it a shot

CamaroRS91x

Thanks Sam 8-) I'll give it a shot

samdog1232000

Polishing the center?

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

All the polishing Ive done is by Hand.

As for the center caps. Mine have the sticker peeled off and Just polished.

samdog1232000

All of it was dont by hand That must of took forever! It is taking me a while and I am using power tools including air drills! How long did that take you?

MetalliCamaroRS

iTrader: (15)

No sandpaper? Or do you mean after sanding you just used Mothers?