Cleaning Refurbed/Polished Alloy Wheels

[Rob_Quads]

Recently I have got my wheels back from being refurbished. The company that did them for me was not great but it was a friend of a friend sorting it so I just took them back.

The wheel originally had a polished lip and painted centre, the refurbed was to repair some curbing and re-polish the lip and paint the centre back.

The job was far from great to say the least. The paintwork you can see some of the sandpaper marks and the polishing shows quite a lot of pitting (some have said this can be polished out some have said it will always be there)
I was told that it was all hand polished due to the machines not being able to do it due to the centres bit I am not sure.

Anyway onto the problem. The lips are not the mirror finish I was looking for. I have been using some autosol to try and get the most out of the lips but I keep finding that even with a new cloth all autosol seems to be doing is taking lots of **** off the rim. I am not sure if this is due to residue left from the polishing or something else. I am sure that normally once clean polished stuff can be cleaned up without too much coming off. Below are some pictures showing what I mean.

Lip with clean(ish cloth)


Cloth after a quick few rubs using autosol


So I want to try and make it even better. In the garage i already have a small polishing kit but it only has pink/red compound. I am looking to get some white and blue compound so I can give them a go at polishing myself.

Any hints or tips as to how to get these shining / cleaned up properly?

[Rob_Quads]

Closeup to show the lack of mirro finish


Picture of the kit I have



Is the white stuff Vienna Lime for cleaning??

[jrow]

Rob_Quads,

I see some scratches in the bead area on your rim. What I would do is get some duct tape and tape the painted area. Make sure you test the tape on some inconspicuous place so the tape doesn't pull the paint off. Next I would get some 600 grit wet and dry sandpaper and wet sand the lip. When finished clean the lip with acetone or brake cleaner. DON"T GET IT ON THE PAINT. It looks like you have 4" buffs. You can try those with Tripoli compound and a new sewn buff. Then switch to the White compound with a sewn buff or a loose buff. The hardest part about buffing rim lips is that you have a hard time buffing across the lip when you are buffing. I would suggest that you get some 1" - 2" sewn buffs and a mandrel and try those! If your going to use a drill motor to polish with, don't forget to duct tape the chuck so you don't scratch the rim.
Actually the black stuff that is coming off the rim is aluminum. That comes off and gives you a shine! The "pits" may or may not come out after sanding. Thats just to nature of cast aluminum!
Have you thought of what you are going to put on those lips when you finish polishing them that requires the least maintenance?

Hope this helps, good luck.

John

[mpierich]

I'm thinkin' you might have to go all the way back to 400 grit, the way those scratches look. But I've found photos to be very misleading sometimes. Doesn't look like pores but might be; in which case, the more you sand the more will show up.

Even with masking, use a very dry cloth with the acetone or other cleaner...if it's slightly wet it might easily bleed under the tape and ruin the paint edge.

[Rob_Quads]

Thanks for your comments and thoughts. I've got some new wheels and polishes but can't seem to improve things at all.

I have a Sisal 6" Mop and Green Polish & 6" G-mop and Blue Polish.

I have tried various combinations from just using the G-mop onto of the existing job to going all the way of sanding from 800/1000/1200/2500 then Sisal then G-mop. After a lot of work it just about got back to the same standard that is already there, far from a mirror finish.

I am currently using them on drill which I expect is only going at around 2000/2500rpm. I wonder if I need something of more power like the bench polishers that go 5000+rpm.

Any thoughts on how to get that mirror finish. Almost regret buying the wheels if I can't get them looking any better.

I am not that bothered about the pitting at the moment as I am sure with a lot of sanding I could get rid of it, where I did go to 800 I got rid of most of it so with a bit more work and starting at 400 I think i could get rid of most of it, but want to make sure I can get the shine before putting soo much effort into removing the pitting.

[jrow]

Rob_Quads,

If you are sanding with 2500 grit paper and then buffing with a Sisal buff you are defeating your purpose!
Try wet sanding with the 400 or 600 grit wet and dry. Get some 1" to 4" sewn buffs, treated or untreated, and some Emory compound (black). Polish using that until you get all the marks out you have from your sanding. Next use some 1" to 4" sewn buffs with tripoli compound, this may give you the shine that you want, if not use a loose buffs with white compound. Remember you want to polish across your 'lip' at 90 degrees if possible. Tips: if you put a couple of drops of Dawn dish washing liquid into the water you use to wet sand, the sanding will go easier! If your using a drill motor to buff, tape the chuck with duct tape so you don't accidentally scratch your rim.

John

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by Rob_Quads

I have a Sisal 6" Mop and Green Polish & 6" G-mop and Blue Polish.

Like the mann said, sisal's only for the most aggressive operations. If the green and blue compounds are the same as the ones I'm familiar with, they have little cutting action at all. I use green only as a last step on stainless, and blue is so fine I believe it's used for polishing plastic.

When I hand polish I use Flitz, and every time I get black residue no matter how many times I may repeat it. I believe the chemicals take off a bit of material every time, so I don't think that is any consideration.

If you see more "pits" showing up as you sand, they are pores and will be there forever unless you fill them with copper and plate the rims.

[Rob_Quads]

Thanks for the advice John, mpierich.

As you mentioned I got the wrrong mop really - the sisal is way too harsh for what I am trying. I have now got a 6" White (swen) mop so I should be able to use this with the green compound.
Would it be OK to now go up to 1500ish and then the sewn mop with green then G-mop with blue.

The sisal its not really worth using as far as I can see as it will only give me as good a finish as the 1500/2000 paper will give.

The chuch has already been tabled up along with the point of the drill adapter

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by Rob_Quads

Thanks for the advice John, mpierich.

As you mentioned I got the wrrong mop really - the sisal is way too harsh for what I am trying. I have now got a 6" White (swen) mop so I should be able to use this with the green compound.
Would it be OK to now go up to 1500ish and then the sewn mop with green then G-mop with blue.

The sisal its not really worth using as far as I can see as it will only give me as good a finish as the 1500/2000 paper will give.

The chuch has already been tabled up along with the point of the drill adapter

Save the sisal for stainless steel.

Your new method sounds reasonable...worth a try at least. Keep us posted.