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polishing standerd wheels

Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:30 pm
by jamesthomas404
i want to polish the steelies that come on a polo, just wondering if it is possible and how i would go about it, i want like a mirror finish see, thanks, James

Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:51 pm
by henry01
alright.

i'm just try to polish the lips and centre caps on my bbs wheels. ive been looking round the different forums and theres loads of helps and how too's

basiclly you have to start my removing the current finish, and prepping it back to bare metal. from there i've tried using all the different grades of wet and dry, that creates quite a shiny finish bu could be alot beta, depends on the quality of finish your after.

i've got two different grades of polishing mops on order, due any day now, so i'll keep you posted about how well that works

have a search for polishing on club polo and demon vw, so useful threads

hope thats some help

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:19 am
by jamesthomas404
kk thanks alot mate, keep me posted, cheers, james

henry01 wrote:alright.

i'm just try to polish the lips and centre caps on my bbs wheels. ive been looking round the different forums and theres loads of helps and how too's

basiclly you have to start my removing the current finish, and prepping it back to bare metal. from there i've tried using all the different grades of wet and dry, that creates quite a shiny finish bu could be alot beta, depends on the quality of finish your after.

i've got two different grades of polishing mops on order, due any day now, so i'll keep you posted about how well that works

have a search for polishing on club polo and demon vw, so useful threads

hope thats some help

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 11:23 am
by polo boi
u can only polish the metal on an alloy not the actual alloy, is that rite?? coz the alloy is made up with different metals an cnt be polished??

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 11:31 am
by warrmr
polo boi wrote:u can only polish the metal on an alloy not the actual alloy, is that rite?? coz the alloy is made up with different metals an cnt be polished??
the alloy wheel is actually made up of a metal Alloy so if that were the case you couldent polish the wheel at all.

the 3 most common metal alloys for makeing wheels are

magnesium
aluminum
Steel. ( yes steel is an alloy its a blends of iorn carbon and tin i bleive)

and all 3 of those metals are able to be polished to a mirror shine.

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:01 pm
by henry01
alright mate, i got my polishing kit today and have been working hard. lol, after stripping it back to bare metal i had quite a clean surface so just went straight to polishing.

i got a kit from this site

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/Cate ... oryID=3986

and gt this kit Zenith Polishing Kit - Non Ferrous Metal

works really well, depend in the shape on the surface you may need small heads to reach difficult places.

its been really easy so far.....well easy-ish lol

hope thats a bit more useful

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:19 pm
by mmh
henry01 wrote:alright mate, i got my polishing kit today and have been working hard. lol, after stripping it back to bare metal i had quite a clean surface so just went straight to polishing.

i got a kit from this site

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/Cate ... oryID=3986

and gt this kit Zenith Polishing Kit - Non Ferrous Metal

works really well, depend in the shape on the surface you may need small heads to reach difficult places.

its been really easy so far.....well easy-ish lol

hope thats a bit more useful
Get some pictures up mate.

Cheers, Mo :D

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:45 pm
by henry01
will do tomorrow,

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:01 pm
by dragon_green
polishing steel wheels? :?

i guess you could do it like other people have mentioned, but be sure to wax or lacquer it, or they'll rust pretty damn quick!

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:04 pm
by henry01
this is how there looking now:

Image

Image

Image


this is how they looked before. as you can see they were pretty dull

Image

Image


not bad for a 20 quid bit of kit

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:31 pm
by jamesthomas404
is that finish with lackquer on top?

henry01 wrote:this is how there looking now:

Image

Image

Image


this is how they looked before. as you can see they were pretty dull

Image

Image


not bad for a 20 quid bit of kit

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:56 am
by henry01
no thats with out. not sure how there come up with so leaving it till the last minute

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 1:16 pm
by ModifiedMadness
Apparently it's the laquer that causes problems with corrosion etc
Pure Klas wrote:MIRROR POLISHED

The alloy is stripped back to bare metal and polished to a high finish where, you can see a reflection in the metal, and very similar looking to chrome, with out the downsides of running chrome in the uk, (salted roads and bad weather conditions).

The finish is not lacquered as this reduces the shine, and the laquer has no surface to adhere to, however, this type of finish is simple to maintain, by using the correct products.

We offer a full and friendly after care advice service, showing you which products to use and how to use them to maintain the high polished attractive finish.
www.PureKlas.co.uk

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:34 pm
by James14100
ModifiedMadness wrote:Apparently it's the laquer that causes problems with corrosion etc
Pure Klas wrote:MIRROR POLISHED

The alloy is stripped back to bare metal and polished to a high finish where, you can see a reflection in the metal, and very similar looking to chrome, with out the downsides of running chrome in the uk, (salted roads and bad weather conditions).

The finish is not lacquered as this reduces the shine, and the laquer has no surface to adhere to, however, this type of finish is simple to maintain, by using the correct products.

We offer a full and friendly after care advice service, showing you which products to use and how to use them to maintain the high polished attractive finish.
www.PureKlas.co.uk
That website is the poorest design i've seen in ages - they need it redoing!

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:27 pm
by BashaBen
also it'll be buggered if you get even the tinyest little stone chip as water will get under the lacquer and lift it :cry:

I'm doing my Pslots atm. started 600 grade today (arms are killing me :( )
there are plenty of good products to keep them shiney once polished tho
Image

I asked 'mike the polisher' a question through E38 and he was really helpfull. So if unsure about anything I'm sure he or 'Pureklas' would he you out :wink: