Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

Can I have some advice please.

I never learn and once again have saddled myself a job of refurbishing a scruffy set of alloy wheels. I "did" the ones on my Triumph Stag and Dolomite Sprint in the late 1980s but only to the point of cleaning, flatting and spraying silver paint and coats of lacquer.

I have already stripped the "new" allys down to bare metal. They are not going to be relacquered or painted only to deteriorate again so I'm going to have a go at polishing them to as close to a mirror finish - something I have not done before.

There are very few amateur experiences of doing this despite a lengthy search of the 'net over the last few days.

What I have in readiness is a set of wet and dry papers from 400 grit up to and in stages to 3000 grit, an unopened Eastwood metal polishing kit I was given for Christmas in 1995, good drills and a choice of alloy polishes - Mercury, Autosol and One Grand.

Has anybody on here done this before and if any of you have I would be grateful for any advice or pointers.

Thank you,

Ellis
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[47p2]

Here's one I did earlier

The original wheels for the Audi A8 are diamond cut but the wheels on my car have been polished and lacquered. I needed a spare wheel for my car that would match the others and managed to find a slightly damaged wheel on ebay.





I removed the powder coating using 400 grade sandpaper on an air powered DA sander, then using 400 grade wet & dry I cleaned up the bare wheel face, then 1200 grade wet & dry to give a finer finish and eventually finishing with 2000 grade wet & dry.

I start to polish up the wheel using Solvol Autosol and the results were encouraging although not as good as I needed, so I spent another hour with the 2000 grade wet & dry to get a really smooth finish.


Click images for full size

This is the tiny marks that must be sanded out


The aim is to have a uniform even finish


Once prepared it took a maximum of 10 minutes to polish the wheel using the rotary and 10 minutes to finish by hand

















The alloy used in wheel making is not completely smooth, so a complete mirror finish would be almost impossible, plus if it was a mirror finish the lacquer would not adhere to it properly, so I am happy with my efforts. Just need to get it to the paint shop now for the painter to do his bit.
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[ukdave2002]

Hi it depends on what the original material is; most modern alloys are actually painted silver with a clear coat (lacquer). Stag wheels are simply polished and shouldn't have any lacquer (many are lacquered but it doesn't adhere that well and soon looks tatty)

When I did my Stag wheels I just treated them like car paint, so I went from an 800 grit wet and dry to a 1500 then used Farecla G3 followed by G10, you gan get a near mirror finnish depending on the amount of effort and elbow grease

At the end of the day all cutting and polishing compounds are just different grades of abrasive whether for paint or metals...

Dave

[Ellis]

Thank you both ^^.

Anybody else with suggestions or advice?
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[steely dan]

I've got four BBS deep dish rims to polish . I've did wheels in the past using 800 /1200 1500 and 2000 wet then polishing using an old drill mounted Cetam polishing kit with grey polish. The only disadvantage was having to reposition the wheel after each section was worked on.
This time I'm going to mount them on a petrol cement mixer barrel via a simple wooden jig and allow the rotating mixer assist in polishing the rims .
The speed of mixer is slow enough to prevent you losing fingers whilst pursuing that elusive mirror finish.........

[steely dan]

I've got four BBS deep dish rims to polish . I've did wheels in the past using 800 /1200 1500 and 2000 wet then polishing using an old drill mounted Cetam polishing kit with grey polish. The only disadvantage was having to reposition the wheel after each section was worked on.
This time I'm going to mount them on a petrol cement mixer barrel via a simple wooden jig and allow the rotating mixer assist in polishing the rims .
The speed of mixer is slow enough to prevent you losing fingers whilst pursuing that elusive mirror finish.........

[ukdave2002]

[DPP]

Not a polishing tip but I recently had my alloy wheels,restored with a diamond cut finish and various professionals including the paint shop that painted my car warned me not to have them laquered as over time this would be damaged and water could get in causing more damage.

I was advised to keep just keep on top of the wheel cleaning and just polish it with autosol and I then apply mint rims protector which smells really nice. I'm hoping this will be ok as the car is still being restored and the wheels have yet to get dirty but as this is not an everyday car I'm willing to spend a bit more time cleaning it.
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Dave
Jensen Interceptor MK111
Princess 2

[bob2]

Good advice I had polished the ones on my mini and then sprayed with clear lacquer but by time the lacquer is peeling off and presently they look very shabby!!
I'm not decided yet whether to restore the ones I have or get a nicer set!