Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Would like to know if others have attempted to polish the aluminum wheel lips with fine sandpaper first, ie; 1500, 2500, then Wenol, then the 'soaked cloth' rubbing. Any downside to hitting it with 1500 grit first?

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

I usally start off with a polish, then work my way into the grits. I start high then keep getting more aggressive till I find what works. Then work my way back up. Everything seems to be a bit different depending on what you are starting with. Just remember, it's always better to progress to the coarse grit, the reverse just adds a bunch of work you may not need to do.

BIG

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

I see, that makes sense - perhaps I'll start with the 2500. I used 1500 the other night, it worked well - but it was a used piece of sandpaper, so it was probably more like 2500!

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Marlin,

I had a set of vintage ET wheels gone over by a pro. His method was to start with a Scotch-Brite pad with polishing compound, then go to cloth. Shortens the job and works great. The Scotch-Brite doesn't clog up like sand paper would very quickly so you can keep going with one pad and just add polish.

Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Good idea, thanks!!

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Marlin -- also, you may try the 3M red pads ... TAZ

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Marlin - gotta do them on a lathe if you want the faces perfectly flat. &quot;Polish This&quot; is not too far from you and does amazing work.

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

I hit them with some 2500, then rubbed them out pretty good. They will come around with some more elbow grease - I couldn't wait anymore, had to get them on the car! It took 6 years to find a matching pair of Appliance Mags for the back of my Deuce, old style with the pointed spokes, 7&quot; wide with a little more offset to the outside. Still running F70's, but the next set will be 60 series - it's a little tight around the fender lip....

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h6...psbf6c6c94.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h6...ps362a1cad.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h6...pse718cf0b.jpg

Putting the Atlas Alloy 'Aa' decals on the centercaps....

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h6...ps8addc493.jpg

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Looks great. Appliance wheels are pretty high quality, maybe even nicer than the Americans...

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

nice job!

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Over the winter I picked up a used truck that had some weathered polished aluminum wheels. The one nice day we had, I cleaned up one of the wheels by using Soft Scrub to clean it to start with, and then I dug around the garage and found some 3M Marine Restorer &amp; Wax which is for heavily oxidized finishes. There was some pitting I couldn't do anything about, but it cleaned up pretty nice. I sold the wheels/tires because they were the wrong offset but wanted people to see the potential. I did all the rubbing/buffing by hand on a 40 degree day so better conditions would end up with better results. Here are some pictures before and after.

sorry about the size.

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Impressive!!

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

I think we had discussed this earlier Marlin. I did pretty much the same as you on the 7&quot; Americans I have on my Nova.
I started with Wet/Dry 400 grit and went through the finer, finer, finer grits. Even used some white scotchbite pads (very fine) for some tough areas. The final stages were 0000 Steel Wool with polishing compound and then Mothers Mag Polish on some old sweatshirts. They're not perfect, but I drive the car so I wasn't after perfection. They clean up easy and take very little attention a couple of times a year.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...2-dscf2016.jpg
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...3-dscf2008.jpg

Re: your thoughts for the 60 series tires, ...... talk to the Mayor first. I wanted to run my American TTs (7&quot; x 14&quot; with a 1½&quot; positive offset) and ProTrac 275-60s on the rear. He told me they wouldn't fit unless I jacked the car a LOT, ..... or cut the fender lip, ..... or stretched the fenders. As usual, he was dead-on. Even with the F70 14s I had to install air shocks for clearance, especially on the right rear. IIRC he told me Novas typically have less clearance on the right rear than on the left.

BTW, the wheel/tire combo looks GREAT on my FAVORITE DEUCE!! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

Thanks, I agree on the tire thing - I'm just going to leave it alone, I have 2 Jr Dragsters and 2 project muscle cars to work on..... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif[/img]

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

I was watching an old episode of Gears this week and Stacey David did a short segment on a product called Shark Hide. It's supposed to protect metal and Stacey says that you can wipe it on polished metal and it is supposed to maintain that shine for up to 1 year. Has anyone tried it before? I figured after spending all that time restoring these old aluminum wheels it would be nice to have something to make your life easier.

Re: Polishing Aluminum Wheels
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ORIGLS6</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...2-dscf2016.jpg
</div></div>

Not much cooler than redlines on 5 spokes.......... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img]