what do i do to clean these wheels up? help!!!
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,608
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From: Webb City, MO...out in the garage
what do i do to clean these wheels up? help!!! ok...got some C5 Z06 wheels i'm working on, polished aluminum, sorta. here's what i've done so far:
-cleaned wheels thoroughly with meguires gold class car soap with lambskin mit
-wiped down with wax & grease remover
-cleaned again with meguires wash
-mother's billet polish applied with mini-powerball, scrubbed pretty good
-residue removed with cotton towel
-more mother's billet polish applied by hand with a latex glove
below are some before/after shots. i can't get that black **** to come off to save my life. the hoops seem to be pitted fairly bad all around and the neither the hoops or centers seem to shine up like i want them too. i understand these wheels aren't the same quality as a set of Fikse/iForged/CCW/etc....BUT they should still look 10x better than the do right now. let me know what i need to do here. i'm about to pay a "professional" to take care of them for me...the last pic shows polished vs. unpolished. it's obviously an improvement, but it's far from what i'm looking for. it's kinda hazy and not really that reflective...
-cleaned wheels thoroughly with meguires gold class car soap with lambskin mit
-wiped down with wax & grease remover
-cleaned again with meguires wash
-mother's billet polish applied with mini-powerball, scrubbed pretty good
-residue removed with cotton towel
-more mother's billet polish applied by hand with a latex glove
below are some before/after shots. i can't get that black **** to come off to save my life. the hoops seem to be pitted fairly bad all around and the neither the hoops or centers seem to shine up like i want them too. i understand these wheels aren't the same quality as a set of Fikse/iForged/CCW/etc....BUT they should still look 10x better than the do right now. let me know what i need to do here. i'm about to pay a "professional" to take care of them for me...the last pic shows polished vs. unpolished. it's obviously an improvement, but it's far from what i'm looking for. it's kinda hazy and not really that reflective...
If they're clearcoated, Mother's Billet Polish won't do you any good. You'll have to remove the clearcoat and get down to bare metal. THEN you'll get the luster you want.
As for the black spots, I'd start with a 50/50 mix of Simple Green and water and scrub them down. Just make sure you rinse THOROUGHLY. If you're wanting to remove the clearcoat, you'll probably have to use something like aircraft stripper, but I've never done that, so I can't help much.
Once the clearcoat is gone, as 'Trust' said, some 0000 steel wool will help. I did that to the hoops on my old Fikses before I sold them and it made a world of difference.
-Mike
As for the black spots, I'd start with a 50/50 mix of Simple Green and water and scrub them down. Just make sure you rinse THOROUGHLY. If you're wanting to remove the clearcoat, you'll probably have to use something like aircraft stripper, but I've never done that, so I can't help much.
Once the clearcoat is gone, as 'Trust' said, some 0000 steel wool will help. I did that to the hoops on my old Fikses before I sold them and it made a world of difference.
-Mike
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,608
Likes: 0
From: Webb City, MO...out in the garage
i don't think there's a clearcoat....but i guess i don't really know
That's just nasty. Why would anyone let such nice rims get in such bad shape. I'm guessing they are clearcoated because of the milky looking film. When you polished them, did the rag turn black pretty quick? If not, they are coated. Like stated above, go to a parts store in the paint section and pickup a can of stripper. The brand I used is called Aircraft Stripper. Follow the directions and don't let it get on your skin because it burns like an SOB. That will get it down to bare aluminum to see what you really have and how bad they are pitted.
See this thread starting at page 2 post #80:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...=813077&page=2
See this thread starting at page 2 post #80:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...=813077&page=2
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,608
Likes: 0
From: Webb City, MO...out in the garage
That's just nasty. Why would anyone let such nice rims get in such bad shape. I'm guessing they are clearcoated because of the milky looking film. When you polished them, did the rag turn black pretty quick? If not, they are coated. Like stated above, go to a parts store in the paint section and pickup a can of stripper. The brand I used is called Aircraft Stripper. Follow the directions and don't let it get on your skin because it burns like an SOB. That will get it down to bare aluminum to see what you really have and how bad they are pitted.
See this thread starting at page 2 post #80:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...=813077&page=2
See this thread starting at page 2 post #80:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...=813077&page=2
i just got some 0000steel wool and some tripoli & jewlers rouge. i've already got some white, green, red, and black rouge somewhere. also got a couple 4" wheels and an adapter for the drill. i'm gonna get after it here in a bit...
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Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,608
Likes: 0
From: Webb City, MO...out in the garage
ok...i went over a spot with the steel wool, then hit it with a couple buffing compounds, then a little mother's polish by hand, and i'm getting the cleaner reflective look i'm after, but the pitting in the metal is horrible. is there anything i can do about that? or am i stuck with a cheap-looking wheel?
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