tigersooner

I saw a great write up buy someone who has a vette for polishing his CCW upto a brand new finish.

I can't find it. Can someone help me.
I have searched the vette forum and the ls1tech forum.

I know I saw it here, and it was also referenced in other posts. I just can't find it.

the author did a great job outlining steps, supplies, and had pictures.

I bought a pair of CCW sp500s and I would like to give them a very good polish and I feel that a wetsand and porter cable is what I need. I just want some guidance.

I also would appreciate any insight on how to wetsand and how not to wetsand. but that is a different topic.

thanks

69TA

iTrader: (263)

Forget wet sanding
I would look into getting a metal polish set with different grades of cutting and polishing rouges and buffing wheels you will be done a lot quicker and
better job than doing with sand paper by hand

tigersooner

Found it.

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...-pictures.html


You guys have any pointers on how to wet sand? What direction to sand in? Any thing to avoid.

Thanks

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

I did this on a set of CCW 505a's that I had a while back. When I got them, they were not in very good shape, but after some TLC, they turned out great. Another product you might want to try is Flitz. You spray it on and let it penetrate the aluminum. Then you spray it off with some water. You can also rub the stuff in once you've sprayed it on. It did a really good job of removing a lot of the stuff that was on the CCW's. It's nice to use before you wet-sand because it leaves you with a nice clean surface to work with.

tigersooner

Your the second person to recommend that. It has good reviews on autogeek. I'm gonna give it a shot.

Do you know of any local auto supplies that may sell it?

Thanks

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

When I looked around locally for it, I could not find it. It may be different in your area, but it can be found online at several different places for a good price.

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

You realize, of course, that the author of the CF topic, did NOT sand all of the polished portion of the wheels. He DID sand out some "curb rash", but only because he HAD to, to get the metal smooth again. The other sanding he did, was the INSIDE of the wheels, which A) had a lot of crud stuck on to them, and B) in some cases, the inner barrels of CCWs are not polished to begin with. He used VERY fine sandpaper, and sanded in a radial motion, going around the barrels, not in and out.

tigersooner

Yes I recognized your points. And those are very valid points. I have realized in my process that wet sanding is a very powerful technique. If you take your time you can make a lot of corrections. But it is time consuming.

98CayenneT/A

I wet sanded my c5 deep dish polished aluminum rim's. They were not in ruff shape but wanted a bit better finish.
Started at 1500 grit and went to 3000 grit and finished with a power ball on a drill using mother's billet metal polish and they turned out nice. Time consuming tho.

Toque

I really did not HAVE to do this at all. The entire wheel was polished and near perfect anyway. I have had them 8 yrs now and they have never been damaged (luckily). Only had some fine scratches on it from my cleaning over last 6 months. My whole intent on doing this was to smooth out all the lines left from the forging process. They needed a good polish anyway as well.

I don't drive my car in the rain so the inner barrels have always been highly polished since they were new from CCW. The inner barrels have never been dirty.

I wet sanded the entire wheel except for the inside of the 5 spokes, the inner most lip (because no one sees that anyway), and the center cap which did not need wet sanding at this time.

Some areas I had to get aggressive with and used 320 grit paper to get smooth... then used 600, then 1000, then 1500, then 2000, then 3000 grit to get the wheel ready for polish. All of the other areas that were smooth to begin with I just used 2000 grit then 3000 grit. There was no need to sand the smooth areas with low 320 if they did not need it. I then went over the entire wheel with 3000 grit to ensure all areas were ready for polish.

Hope this helps clear things up.

Toque

Toque

Here is my wheel where everything (almost) was polished to 3000 grit... just before polishing.



Toque

Gregster

I was about to post up Toque latest work... Wish to have that much patience to do that to each wheel.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

1. Mothers Mag aluminum polish and 0000 steel wool.
2. Adams Metal Polish 1 w/ MF towel
3. Adams Metal Polish 2 w/ MF towel

This is the process I use on trashed wheels and works very well.