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Polished crosslace wheels *pics* EDIT: now painted!


THe_DeTAiL3R

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My friend works at an aluminum polishing shop. He's doing my wheels. Got one of them done tonight (took him a couple hours). Still three to go.

 

The crosslace part he just cleaned up a bit since I will be painting them black.

 

The outter edge and the center area polished. He attempted to polish the center cap but its a really thin metal so he didn't want to risk damaging it.. I will maybe paint it silver or something, we'll see.

 

 

Before shot:

 

S2400024.jpg

 

Polished wheel:

 

S2400031.jpg

 

S2400030.jpg

 

Still some polish or compound (whatever it was he used) on the tire, he said that should come off fine..

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good to see you filled the tire :wink:

 

Yeah thats mostly just the polishing compound he used.. he said that Armorall or whatever should take it right off. I also have a boot mark on that tire... should have washed them first. :lol:

 

He said to wash them with soap/water, and polish them with soft cloth and (baking) flower... since their is no clearcoat its aluminum with special polish. He does this for a living.

 

Now I gotta find some steelies for the winter...

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Nine years of road salt sure takes its toll, doesn't it? It sure cleaned up nice, though. Sometimes the corrosion will cause huge pits to form and no amount of polishing will ever get that out!

 

Are you going to take a dremel or something and polish the areas inside the spokes before you paint?

 

Get a set of "MacGuards" (sp?) (locking lugnuts.) You don't want anyone stealing those crosslaces after you fix 'em up!

 

If you want to find some of those lugnut caps, find a set of 95-99 Lumina hubcaps that have the lugnut covers on them (the lugnut covers are loosely attached to the hubcap and they screw onto the lugnuts to hold the hubcap in place.) Cut off the retaining tabs, push the cover out, and viola, you have lugnut covers. They're plastic with a chrome cap over the "lug" part. I like them better than the cheap metal ones that seem to get torn apart if you don't put anti-sieze on the outer threads...

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I hate locking nuts....what you need to get is a set of 245/50/16s.

 

I am most likely going to do the same thing to my wheels (mainly because they are the only 16x8 wheel I actually like).......I'm not sure if I want to powdercoat them or just rattle can the bitches.

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Get a set of "MacGuards" (sp?) (locking lugnuts.)

 

I'm just going to put on regular chrome lugnuts (wheel theft and crime really isn't much of an issue where I live. If any wheels would be stolen I'm sure that it would be from Mustangs, Hondas, or J-bodies...)

 

Nice!! What'd he use to remove the old clearcoat?

 

I'm not sure.. some chemical I think. He also used various grinders.. I really don't know cause I didn't see him do it...

 

He did my second wheel today and said he used remover (I forget what chemical he said) and it sounded like rice crispys when the crappy clearcoat was coming off.. :lol:

 

 

 

Nine years of road salt sure takes its toll, doesn't it? It sure cleaned up nice, though. Sometimes the corrosion will cause huge pits to form and no amount of polishing will ever get that out!

 

Are you going to take a dremel or something and polish the areas inside the spokes before you paint?

 

There are a few pits but not too bad. He used a grinder to sand away at the aluminum and it looks damn good thats all I can say. I really can't complain they look great.

 

I'm gonna clean the crosslace with paint stripper (I forget what kind he told me to get) and sand them with sandpaper best I can before I paint them.

 

Can't you polish them, paint the center, then clearcoat the entire wheel to keep it looking nice?

 

I'm gonna clearcoat the areas that I paint, but the polished aluminum will remain UNclearcoated.. I asked him and he said they woun't look as shiney. He said to just wash them with mild soap and use (baking) flower and soft cloth to polish them..

 

I'm defintatly taking these babies off in the winter! :shock:

 

 

 

Also he managed to polish the center cap on the second wheel fairly well :D so I'll get him to redo that one. 8)

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When I first got out of the military in 1998 I owned a company (in my garage :wink: ) polishing motorcyle frames, swingarms, and bits and pieces. Anything that was powder-coated I would media-blast (not sandblasting!), then sand down the welds, and use 600, 800, and finally 1200 grit paper to get the satin finish off. after 1200 grit you could just use a hand polish but we used a 4 step process...Emery - Stainless (on stainless parts) - Tripoli - White Rouge. White Rouge is also known as jewelers rouge...makes a perfect mirror (chrome like) finish. For protecting and keeping the oxidation from re-appearing...we used either Eastwood Diamond Clear in an Aerosol can or The Diamond clear in a spray gun for the big jobs. Nice part of the Diamond clear is it does not yellow like most clears do on treated hot spots...and it really doesn't make the aluminum lose it's luster if you use the jewelers rouge as the final step. I used to have some pictures of the bikes I did (about 40-45 of them) but my ex disposed of them in her last move. :roll:

 

Here is a link to Eastwood... http://www.eastwood.com/index.jsp

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Jesus that looks nice. That's the kind of shine I was wanting to achieve with my wheels, but they didn't turn out that nice. If you can find out what chemicals/tools/the process he uses I'd appreciate it.

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He took me to where he works "Quality Polishing". Its a small shop but there were various aluminum wheels lying around. They use various grinder-type buffers with polishing pads on them. Some big machines too. As for chemicals there is this orange paste stuff (I don't know what it is), and this black stuff that is sorta like a bar of soap or whatever that they put on the pad. I really don't know much about it but its pretty cool. I guess painting and bodywork is more my niche.

 

Anyways I painted 2 of the wheels today (just took pics of 1 but the other looks the same..)

Its a BITCH to get these things prepped cause of the crosslaces.. takes so much time but its worth it!

 

Note the polished centercap which wasn't on the first pictures..

 

Oh yeah..... 8)

 

S2400004.jpg

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Personally I'd reshine the face of that wheel. I think that mirror on black would look hot as hell.

 

I'm gonna buff it (the paint was still wet/tacky on that pic) that aluminum is shiney and in the pic I just pulled the masking tape off so yeah its not 100% shiney as it should be.

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I meant the tops of the cross lace. super shiney ridge, and top face of the whell, and the inner workings of the cross lace done in black. makes for good contrast, at least in my head.

 

looks good though, it'll look hella good on the arrest me red.

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