Started polishing my wheels any insight?

[porschelover21]

Well I just picked these up I always wanted a polished set of manhole covers always thought they looked pretty sweet plus I ran a set on my old vw .Well that set was polished by the guy who I bought them from I wanted to try my hand at polishing myself so these wheels are my test bed.After about 3 hours with 80 grit I seem to be getting somewhere but when I got the rims they had these gouges(well not gouges more like scratches)that are lighter then the surface area I'm sanding am I doing something wrong?or did the previous owner start sanding with a wire wheel or something
Here are some pix you can't really see the scratches but they are around the center cap area and a few around the end by the lip these wheels are forged not cast if that can help

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

[pickleboy]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

even forgings can have small imperfections in the grain structure that will show up as scratches. i would start moving up to a finer grit and see if they will work out. move to 120,240,320,400. when you get to 400 go to wet sanding. this will get it as smooth as needed to then start the polish with the wheels. let me know when you get there and then i can give you some more direction.

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

even forgings can have small imperfections in the grain structure that will show up as scratches. i would start moving up to a finer grit and see if they will work out. move to 120,240,320,400. when you get to 400 go to wet sanding. this will get it as smooth as needed to then start the polish with the wheels. let me know when you get there and then i can give you some more direction.

Thanx so much I actually moved up to 180 now is that to far of a jump?

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

So far I have been using my hand should I use one of those small sanders for the lower grits and hand sand for wetsanding?
Right now I'm using one of these

Can I use one like this for the lower grits say 120-600 or basically till I start wetsanding

[pickleboy]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

you can use a palm sander. i do on most jobs just go easy as it will cut deep if you use much pressure and stay in one spot to long. as for the jump in grit it should be ok as long as you don go any farther till you get it all smooth at 180.

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

you can use a palm sander. i do on most jobs just go easy as it will cut deep if you use much pressure and stay in one spot to long. as for the jump in grit it should be ok as long as you don go any farther till you get it all smooth at 180.

Thanx again so basically palm sander low pressure

[jrow]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

porschelover21,

If you have an electric drill motor and a 4" sewn buff I would suggest using the greaseless compound, its a whole lot quicker! You can get it from Caswell's.

John

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

Well I started sanding with the 180 dry and started to see more of the same scratches I guess?It kinda reminds me of when your sanding a car down to bare metal and you see that lighter shade of the metal?can't really describe it I don't know if these wheels have a clearcoat and I'm supposed to be sanding down to this lighter metal and polishing from there?well here's a photo of stock 928 wheels and what I want them to look like over this northeast winter
Stock:


What they can look like after polishing

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

porschelover21,

If you have an electric drill motor and a 4" sewn buff I would suggest using the greaseless compound, its a whole lot quicker! You can get it from Caswell's.

John

Since I already started sanding what it be a problem to put it on now?
It seems like the wheels have a clearcoat wich was the scratches or deep gouges I was talking about.Should I go back to the 80 grit and take off the clearcoat or paint what ever it is or should I just with the 180??

[pickleboy]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

if it's clearcoated you should stop sanding and get some aircraft paint stripper from most any auto parts store. this will greatly speed the process up. its a little pricey but worth it. if this does not remove the coating then it is anodizing and will need to be removed to get an even finish. if its ano then you should use easy off oven cleaner.

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

if it's clearcoated you should stop sanding and get some aircraft paint stripper from most any auto parts store. this will greatly speed the process up. its a little pricey but worth it. if this does not remove the coating then it is anodizing and will need to be removed to get an even finish. if its ano then you should use easy off oven cleaner.

How exactly would I know if it's clearcoated or painted?do they seem that way to you?I'll take some pix of how the wheels look now you guys can look and tell me your findings

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

Well I was told by a fellow porsche guy that the wheels are clear anodized what can I do to take that off?oven cleaner?

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

ll I've been searching around.A few questions should I use the paint strip remover first?or just spray it with oven cleaner first?

[porschelover21]

Re: Started polishing my wheels any insight?

ll I've been searching around.A few questions should I use the paint strip remover first?or just spray it with oven cleaner first?

Answered my own question did some searching and found out I need some sodium hydroxide which is in oven cleaner most people recommend easy off in the yellow bottle the heavy duty stuff gonna pick up some tomorrow after work