robster

I have an 02 SS and was curious about the factory wheels. If i were to strip the paint off of them, whats under there. Could i polish it?

wowsers

iTrader: (7)

aluminum metal is under there....it would look weird because the face of the wheels have ridges in them

2002BlackSS

iTrader: (4)

The weird part would be the plastic center caps, but yes, you can polish the wheels. There's been a few people on here that have done it.

SteveS

It's a ton of work. I'm doing Y2K's right now. And well...

almost done the first one, at least. lol

robster

the reason i ask, i painted the spokes black so all i would be polishing is the outer lip and the dished in areas between the spokes.

Rescue Ranger

iTrader: (10)

That sounds pretty sweet, to be honest. SS wheels are replaceable, especially 10 spokes, so if you mess it up, its not the end of the world

Go for it, and post pics up when you finish!

robster

i will. i think they are gonna be pretty sweet. I'll post pics in a few days

Rescue Ranger

iTrader: (10)

another thing too, if polishing inside the spokes is too much of a hassle, just polish the outside lip, that too I'm sure would look killer

robster

anyone have a link to some pics of some

Photochop

iTrader: (74)

Good idea. I thought about painting my silver zr1s black and leaving a silver lip. I think I'll try and strip the outer edge and polish it as well. Home made black zr1s ftmfw

robster

i tested stripping them on the back side of one of my extras and you may have to do a little sanding to get some of the grooves out. No big deal

JGKadell

iTrader: (4)

The surface of the spokes is the machined surface. The inset parts are just cast aluminum and a pita to smooth and polish. If you just do that, you can just order a set of caps for a 35th anniversary SS.

robster

sounds like a good idea

Photochop

iTrader: (74)

Is it the same machined finish found on the machined face zo6 wheel or the machined lip on some of the black zo6 motorsports on my painted zr1s?

Is it pretty easy to get to that level on the spokes..meaning does it require a ton of sanding to get the desired machined look? Is this nice machined surface exposed after having the wheel sandblasted?

robster

from what i could tell, it seems like it may take a little wet sanding, but thats nothing. I am starting on them today, so i will try and post pictures tonight or tomorrow

kwik_ls1

iTrader: (60)

Hey, I just wanted to let you know I work for the manufacturer that made those wheels back when they were producing F-bodies and that is a cast aluminum wheel. You can strip them and everything but you will never get a good polished wheel out of a cast aluminum wheel. I am not sure if you have seen the new Impala SS wheels, those are cast aluminum polished and they do not polish very bright. We have machines that do that work for us and it is still so so. If you looked at a forged polished wheel such as the GMC Envoy wheel, something of that nature, that is a forged aluminum wheel and polishes alot brighter. We make a ton of different wheels and I will have pictures of the new Camaro wheels since we were awarded that program for 2009.

SteveS

C5's polish out nicely. I'm guessing they were forged then?

kwik_ls1

iTrader: (60)

I am not sure if the C5's were forged or not. I am guessing they were but unsure. I know the replicas aren't. We have the C6 wheels here and supply them for the Vette and they are forged, almost a chrome like finish but it is just a forged polished wheel.

SteveS

Cool. Just wondering because I can't find a website for Speedline. Are C6's made by Speedline as well?

robster, how are you going to strip them? Just by sanding? Aircraft paint stripper?
Yeah, please post some pics. I was planning on doing the 10-spokes from my dad's SS in about 5 years when I'm done the C5's, so I'm very interested to see what they look like underneath the paint and primer.

robster

yes, i am using airplane stripper.