DIY: polishing wheels...
 

ok, there's lots of DIY on polishing wheels but after reading all of them, i used this method. it may not be the best, but once again, this is what I did.

items required:

wet sand paper:
-400 grit
-800 grit
-1000 grit
-1500 grit
-2000 grit
beer
spray bottle
more beer
rags
mothers aluminum polish cream.
lepage polly suppa strippa
paint brush
gloves
something to scrape clear coat off
steel wool (fine)


here's the rim before, in my case, i had alot of oxidation on the rim, that's where the 400 grit comes in.

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00167.jpg

since i couldn't find aircraft stripper, i used this ---- found at crappy tire. it worked pretty good.

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00168.jpg

apply generously with the paint brush, make sure to wear gloves cause this ---- burns if it gets on your skin. here's it taking affect:

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00170.jpg

once it gets all bubbley, start to scrape the clear coat off, you may have to apply more stripper to get it all off

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00171.jpg

next, you want to take the steel wool, this will take off any left over clearcoat, you need to put some elbow grease into this:

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00173.jpg

here's how it should look, there's still some left on in this pic tho:

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00174.jpg

then, grab all your sand paper, start out with 400 grit to get out all of the oxidation, go to town sanding whereever you want it to be polished:

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00176.jpg

repeat this step moving from 400 to 800 then 1000,1500 then 2000. afterwards, give it a couple of buffs with the mothers aluminum polish and they should end up like this:

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00177.jpg

where's you get the Super Strippa From i got one called Circa1850 and it sucked moose balls

^i bought every single paint stripper from crappy tire, and that was the only one that worked.

aircraft stripper> All other strippers

^^^ where do you get that?

Won't the aircraft stripper strip the tire seal?

^^ if you knew fuzzy, his tires are bald and need replacing anyways.


Optimally, it's best to have no tires on; then again, this is Fuzzy & Platty P we are talking about. :lol:

Too much sand paper! 5 different grits is beyond overkill.

400 -> 1000 -> 2000 is more than enough

BTW: You can skip the steel wool and use a good grinding wheel on a drill instead.

that look PIMP...good job

good job.


Another good step to add after your done all that is to wash them and give them a good two coats of wax, just so that any brake dust doesn't get a chance to inbed into the rim again, causing the clearcoat failure. It won't last too long maybe 2-3 weeks, but it helps.

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1528275

Shouldn't you be posting here instead:
http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1525597

;)

^haha..no more spray-paint front bumper joke from j00!

Fuzzy you can do it with out a Paint stripper. Since all wheels have a little dusting of clear coat. I did something like that on my Bosses sons dirt bike frame. Used 1500 grit paper and Liquid Metal Polish. It got so good that it was like mirror finish. Amd to piss his son off i did only one side. :)
I started my wheels this winter but then i lost interest in it. Maybe ill finish them since now i have a nice little body shop to work at on saturdays.

i gotta do this to the lip of my rims.

good write up fuzzy.

Now, will this work with all Honda Wheels? I'm thinking of doing this to my Winter beaters:p the Acura EL turtle rims. Any clue?

woah back from the dead. it should work on any aluminum wheel just aslong as the paint or clearcoat is stripped.

better pics:

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00079.jpg

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/DSC00082.jpg

https://www.torontointegras.ca/image...s/IMG_1420.jpg

Of course it's back. This is a classic DIY :yeah: . Not quite sure if they're aluminum or somethin' else :S I can always give it a try sanding it to bare metal and trying. If it doesn't work, I can always repaint them. I had em a but curbed since I bought the car, so I wanna get them done either way. Yeah these are painted and clearcoated, but I'm going to use a random orbit sander instead of my hand and the aircraft stripper. 80grit sandpapre gets by anything ;) And to be honest with you, I personally liked your old wheels better than your new ones. But since the braking performace on the 114.4 is better, you get a :yeah: either way.

mmmm 114.3 ITR mmmm i miss those rims but i dunno the only one thing i didnt like about them when i had them is that they look like a sunken battle ship! need spacers for them :D yea i ended up Polishing my Accord EXR wheels... which reminds me i should post some pictures up did it a bit diffrently but same concept.. half the time :D

Bump

Ive done what you have done. I still have some clearcoat on. Do I apply more stripper, or sand it off?

I am doing them on the 5 star 1.6EL rims. Am i supposed to apply stripper inside the stars(the gaps inbetween every star).

i dont think so , just do it where u want it to shine and post some pics of your's in progress or when finished

BuMp

great write-up Fuzzy

I was wondering after all the sanding and taking all the clear. Do you have to take it to a shop to get it polished or can you do it yourself? What are the steps to getting it polished?

^did you not read the first post?

I just read it over again. I just didn't know what you meant by saying
"go to town sanding whereever you want it to be polished:"

^sand wherever you want it to be a polished finish....can't really make it any more clear than that...

when you're sanding with 400 grit..are you wet sanding it or drying sanding?

when you used the mothers aluminum polish....did the cream turn black after you applied the cream on it?

it should go that way when you start working it

Looks like my wheels will be getting some love!

Good write up Fuzzers!

Personally I prefer wet sanding when working on metal.

I would imagine that sanding the clearcoat off the rims would make them more prone to brake dust setting in again. I suppose a good clear coating would do the trick after this process?

tnx for posting this up, i actually did my hammer heads last weekend.. I didn't use any polish though, i didn't know what to get. I'll finish up the job this weekend hopefully. Tnx again for posting!

after you guys polish the rims, are you clearcoating it?

i dont think its possible to clear coat the rims after you polish because the polish is a grease

i've got a set of ikon gt-5's that are gunmetal with the silver lip.... and they look like ass after i got them out of storage... ive used mothers billet polish and a power ball and its cleaned them up ALOT... but they're still marked up i'm assuming from a bit of salt that must have got on them before i put them away (even though i cleaned them)

anyone know if the lips are clearcoated on these? or can i just out right sand them and skip the paint remover step?? i've read the sanding process takes forever... so i may very well wait till the winter and do this... and just live with the marks on them for now

Thats an amazing job !!!