BIG TRUCK WHEELS

[feeln17]

Hello Everyone. Hope I can get some words of wisdom here. Don't see any questions about big truck wheel ploshing. Anybody got any experince in it? I've got 6 wheels I need to spend some time on. tried polishing but they need a good sanding first. any idea's would be helpful. I've ordered 3 treated wheels and black, brown,white compond. what grit paper should I start with? some pits are light, others a little deeper. thanks and I'll pass some pics along as I get thru some of the procedures. Don

[sswee]

Wheels are wheels when it comes to polishing out. If the wheels haven't had anything done to them since manufacture, they will have some protective coating to get off before you can polish them. Usually Easy Off oven cleaner works good. I would not go coarser than 180 or 220 to start with or you'll spend more time sanding out scratches from sanding than the dings. Good thing about the bigger wheels is most of them have larger flat surfaces and radius to get a small palm sander onto. I start wet sanding at 320 or finer grits. I've had excellent results sanding to 600 then going to the compounds

[pickleboy]

Don,

i fully agree with sswee. start off with sanding as fine as possible so as not to ad more work than you have to do. also you can try to contact forum user berndog, he specializes in big trucks (wheels headache racks etc best of luck.

[feeln17]

Thanks ,that's what I figured. I'll let you know how they come out. thanks

[berndog]

hey dude,,,pickleboy is right on the money,,,I woul start with
1.Heavy acid wash
2.Sand with orbital starting at 120,or 150 grit ,working your way up to 400,,minimum
3.hardest treated wheel to start with the brown bar,,,then loose white wheel,,with white compound,and they should turn out like glass

[cowboyup]

Good morning! I drive a 97 FL 120. It has 1-single 150 gal. tank. Aluminum wheels on steer tires and until recently had painted buds on the drives. Well my boss bought a used trailer with alum. wheels on it and put a set on the drives for me. Well that became a challenge see, i count'nt just let them go unpolished. I have been teaching myself how to get the best job done. First you need to understand that the shine comes from the reflection of the metal, not that the metal is shinney. And that depends on how smooth the alum. is. If your wheels have yrs. of acid wash and salt from the highway, they may be real pitted and then you need to decided on how much work you want to do. I started with a 220 grit wet sand. I won't go any lower on the grit than that. It's abrasive enough that it takes a little work but will scratch the **** out the alum. and it's harder to get that out than anything. I went to a 400 next and then a 1000 grit. The polishing bars you have will work fine. It takes playing around to get the hang. What i like to finish with was a very loose wheel and liguid polish with "lite" touch. That seemed to get any polishing scratches out and leaves a smooth look. Good luck! It's a lot of work, but looks good when your done.

[eyekandi]

i've been looking for an angle grinder what speed should i get closet i've found is a 3000rpm or 6000rpm which one is the better of the larger parts.

[cowboyup]

Originally Posted by eyekandi

i've been looking for an angle grinder what speed should i get closet i've found is a 3000rpm or 6000rpm which one is the better of the larger parts.

I just bought a sander/polisher 7-in. variable.
It's kind of diffenent to use. The variable speed control is interesting to get use too. You need to get your speed set then in-gage the trigger lock to hold the speed. It has a 5/8 spindle. I went to ace hardware and got 2 washer and a flat 5/8 nut to mount wheels on with. It seems to work for what i need. I drive a semi and have been doing my polishing with a drill. Needed to step up for a little better job. This machine is noise. i can wear ear plugs.

[cowboyup]

Originally Posted by eyekandi

i've been looking for an angle grinder what speed should i get closet i've found is a 3000rpm or 6000rpm which one is the better of the larger parts.

I forgot to mention that this angle/sander goes from 1000rpms to 3000 rpms.

[jimmiweed]

as far as how to remove pits & scratches I recamend using scotch brite flap wheelsor rolockwith adie grinder.Ive been at this bizz a long time I've tried .bout everything.the key is to step to the next finer grit no more than 200gritor so.Sometimes you need to start out with 80 grit.aslong as your next step is 180,then 220,320.400,600etc,Itmay seem liike a lot of work but is really much easier and faster than tryng to sand&sand&sand withtoo fine of paper oh and by the way don,t get too dirty.............