Help me repair my wheel and bring back it's shine please. Pic's included.
12-21-2012, 06:51 PM
#1
Help me repair my wheel and bring back it's shine please. Pic's included. Picked up some TT2's for a great price but one of them had a gouge in it. Is there anything I can do to fix it? Also, they all are the dulliest wheels I think I've laid eyes on. Any help on a repair and what to use to bring back their shine is very much appreciated. I don't drive the car during the winter and these wheels aren't even mounted on it yet so there is no time restraint. Thanks guys.
12-21-2012, 09:56 PM
#2
Im sure someone else will advise on the finish
For the curb rash, have the tire taken off first. Jack the rear of the car and put on stands - mount the wheel, start the car, put in gear = lathe. Start with a file until smooth then polish with increasingly higher grit sand paper - 200 to 2000. Finally polish with whatever is suggested for the rest of the wheel(s)
For the curb rash, have the tire taken off first. Jack the rear of the car and put on stands - mount the wheel, start the car, put in gear = lathe. Start with a file until smooth then polish with increasingly higher grit sand paper - 200 to 2000. Finally polish with whatever is suggested for the rest of the wheel(s)
12-23-2012, 05:58 AM
#3
If you were local i could do them for ya,i like doing stuff like that,as for the rash advice above is what i have done a few times,as far as polishing goes,wet sand,buff with metal compounds in stages,then get a really good final polish,and my last step is what they call micro polish,is where polish is applied by 2 fingers ,there are alot of good polishing threads,and if ya have a drill at home depot,lowes,they have a lil buffing kit that comes with 4 polishing wheels,4 diff compounds,for like 9bucks,you will always get way better results using a tool to polish,creates way more heat over hand and will be such a better job when done
12-23-2012, 06:10 AM
#4
I like the idea of taking the tire off the rim and mounting the rim back on the car, putting it in gear, and filing the curb rash out. Talk about MacGyver. That being said the rash looks pretty significant for filing it out using that method. I've had polished aluminum wheels and they are a PIA to keep shiny. Most of the factory wheels have a clear coat on them to keep the aluminum from oxidizing. Get some mother's mag wheel polish, a drill, and a mothers buffing ball. They'll clean up like new for a few months depending on the climate you live in.
12-25-2012, 08:51 AM
#6
If you have never repaired a wheel before, I suggest starting cautiously... Try a sanding block with some 150 grit paper & carefully hand sand the gouge out of the lip. Try to blend it out far enough so the change in shape is not noticable. You will not have to go all the way around the wheel, saving you some arm work. Work down to finer papers, 220, 320, 400, & 600. Get the black paper that allows you to wet sand. This results in a smoother finish.
I usually recommend doing this by hand, as power tools are faser, but a slip of the hand can cause a lot of damage. Once you have the lip fixed, you can pick your favorite polish & start shining the wheels back up.
If the wheels are oxidized severely, you can get some 0000 steel wool & use this to apply the polish with. It will speed the initial process to get the dull layer off the wheels. You will then have to switch to a towel to further polish the wheel. To do a nice job, you will likely have an hour in each wheel. Again a buffing wheel will speed the process, but you will still have to do the tight corners by hand, so I would start there first & finish with the buffer.
I usually recommend doing this by hand, as power tools are faser, but a slip of the hand can cause a lot of damage. Once you have the lip fixed, you can pick your favorite polish & start shining the wheels back up.
If the wheels are oxidized severely, you can get some 0000 steel wool & use this to apply the polish with. It will speed the initial process to get the dull layer off the wheels. You will then have to switch to a towel to further polish the wheel. To do a nice job, you will likely have an hour in each wheel. Again a buffing wheel will speed the process, but you will still have to do the tight corners by hand, so I would start there first & finish with the buffer.
12-25-2012, 03:49 PM
#7
Awesome! Thanks. Yeah this would be the first time I've tried to repair a wheel. I'm not against trying so long as I can trust myself enough to not do damage that can't be repaired. I have a friend who needed one of his Fikse's fixed in a very similar manner and had a guy do it and the end result was so good the original damage was un-noticable. I may see what he would charge to fix it for me and leave the polishing to myself. As far as polishing goes, I've already got more than an hour into one of them with no noticable difference using a Power Ball and a bottle of Mother Mag and Aluminium Polish. These wheels are really bad. I live up in WA so they have seen nothing but rain from the previous owner who doesn't live far from me. My car spends about 300 days a year in the garage and only driven on nice summer days so I have plent of time to put the effort into them. Thanks again for the helpful information guys.