Special Edition Vehicles - Firehawk wheels polished!!!

To all the people that were curious. Chrome is a PITA. It peels it scratches and after a while just doesn't look good. Not to mention out here on the East Coast its expensive as hell. $365 a wheel to rechrome or $225 a wheel to strip off old chrome, and polish face of wheel. Mind you these pictures are at pickup, I still haven't washed or removed all the shop dust from the hoop. Plan on Painting the inner hoop flat black for a nice finished look. Plus a little more finish polishing myself. Let me know if you want info on where these were done they are not a sponsor.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0120121349.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0120121349a.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0120121349b.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0120121350.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0120121350a.jpg

You sir.....just made my day. My Firehawk wheels I just picked up are in rough shape. A shop near by me will strip them down to bare aluminum for 70 bucks.


What were your steps and how long did it take? I am more than willing to go this route instead of having mine re-chromed :eek2:



Also, any before pics?

You ever polished metal before? ITS A PITA. It took me almost 3 hours straight to sand down pitting, 800-1000-1200-2000-2400 grit then polish a LIP on a 16" GTA wheel. When the local shop told me 85 to strip and another 145 to Polish, i figured the 6 hours per wheel it was going to take me by hand was worth 25 an hour to pay him to do it.

Original Shots.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0106121401b.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0106121401.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0106121400b.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0106121400.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/oberth1/0106121359a.jpg

I've polished before, just not that extensive lol. Those before pics are pretty much what mine look like right now. Hmmm, I'll have to see what places around my area do polishing and get prices.

Polishing aluminum is HARD work. I did the lip of mine a a few months ago. Stripped then hand polished:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a198/chaman3872/IMG_0297-2.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a198/chaman3872/IMG_0224.jpg

damn and i thought mine looked good. :drool:

Damn those look great. Pretty much look chrome. I'm glad mine still look good with the original chrome tho.

Damn those look great. Pretty much look chrome. I'm glad mine still look good with the original chrome tho.

Agreed and agreed.

Are all firehawk wheels aluminum underneath? I have painted silver firehawk wheels which look like they've been repaired before. Can I strip and polish these?

where did you have them polished , i stripped my ws6 rims and polished them the best i can do and they look okay but i want that finish.

they were striped at super chrome in asbury park NJ. they strip, dip, polish and powdercoat.

Damn those look great. Pretty much look chrome. I'm glad mine still look good with the original chrome tho.

The polished wheels do look good & I would consider it if they were originally painted wheels. But any polished wheel is gonna be higher maintenance than a chrome wheel that just needs dried off after a wash to look good.

Thank you for posting this!!! I have be dying to see the finished difference of a polished aluminum rim vs. chrome. I know which route I'm taking now thanks to you!

well considering i dont drive her in any bad weather and clean her with q-tips because i am an anal bastard wheel cleaning/maintenance isnt a problem. Besides, rechroming would have cost me an additional $165 a wheel plus shipping to CA from the east coast. i have a spare set of chromes if i want to go that route. Maintenance on these is actually decent if your not daily driving it. little blue magic polish and a polishing head for a drill. 10 min if they are clean, plus a little splatter cleanup if you rushed :-)