sbolen113

So I have this extra set of phonies with crappy tires sitting here and I remembered that I had seen a 951 in town with some 16" polished phonies on it. Needless to say what I decided to do next... I pulled the wheels out into the middle of the garage and pondered how to strip the ruined paint and polish them. What I ended up doing was heading down to autozone and picking up some aircraft stripper, 600 and 1000 grit sand paper, and mothers mag and aluminum polish. I started by soaking one of the rims in aircraft stripper for about an hour. I read a thread once where someone had done the same thing. However when i wiped the paint off I noticed the stubborn primer was still very much intact... So I soaked a small patch of it for about 30 more minutes and managed to get most of it off, however there was still a thin layer left. A little sanding and elbow grease and I finally got a small part down to the metal. Unfortunately the metal is unfinished so it is quite rough. I used the 1000 grit to wet sand it smooth and used the polish with a small polishing wheel on my drill to see what it would look like. Heres what I have so far: I also already did some work on the center caps as seen below.

EJZero1

You, my friend, are in for a long and arduous journey...

KuHL 951

You are aware that tough primer is a thick filler primer to smooth the porosity of the poor casting? Once you have all the paint/primer off the real fun begins trying to get a polish worthy surface profile. I used the 3M Roto-Loc discs in medium and fine. The smoothing alone took about 3 hours per wheel plus another 2 hours per wheel for polishing. It is dirty thankless work and personally I would have sent them out if I had known how much work was involved. They look great when they are done though, I had them on my black 951 when I sold it.

CyCloNe!

Looking good man keep it up! Can't wait to see them finished.

sbolen113

yeah I can tell it is really going to take some time... I might have a friend media blast them for me. Anyone know if sand or media blasting will damage the metal? Then again I have plenty of time until I find the 951 i'm looking for. I just sold my '87 n/a and these were an extra set that I bought with car. I decided to hold on to them when I sold the car thinking I could redo them and possibly make some money off of them.

xsboost90

are those late offset? If so i have some polished ones i wouldve traded you.

God_Bot

When I stripped down my wheels to repaint them I thought about the black/polished look. After the several hours of stripping I realized that there was no way I wanted to try and polish cast wheels myself. Good luck!

Jim Devine

have a look at this- you may have to start with black compound to do the cutting, then green, then white- click on the link & see how to do it with
a common buffer. The areas you can't get into with this method can be done with a cheap drill- google
polishing goblets for the felts. The compound will do the work- should be little sanding.My 928 has the flat stock wheels. They were dull & slightly pitted from the neighborhood cats. I used
a variation of the following technique. (see link below)
http://www.zephyrpro40.com/pdf/machinepolishing.pdf
Where I differed was: I used the buffer with the 7'
hard rubber backing pad & instead of the buff wheels they used, I used an 8" buff wheel tightly sewn for cutting(like would be used on a bench buffer) -3 pc set @ Harbor Freight for $12- has all wheels needed. Harborfreight.com- search "buffing"
The green compound cuts great. For final finish, switch to a buff wheel that is loosely sewn & use the white compound. If you don't want to order the compounds, go to a local plating shop & see if they will sell you a 1/2 bar of each. Be sure to duct tape or remove the emblem.
Let the buffer do the work & keep it moving.
It's really easy, especially with the tires off.

added: Try this source for buffing supplies- menu on left is buff wheels etc. menu on right side has various compounds-

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/

sbolen113

Jim, thanks for the advice! I'll take a look. I'm up for anything that would make the job a little bit easier... And they are early offsets. Just what I need, more of a lip to polish... Weird I know, the '87 i bought came with a full set of early offset wheels... hmm.. I used the early offset on the rear when I still had the car. Made it look more flush.

Marcquito

Have fun! Don't rush yourself. Patience is key.

sbolen113

Patience is definitely key. Thanks for the advise. I just picked up a sanding wheel for my drill thats the sponge type. It works great! just coarse enough to get the primer and pits out but not so coarse that it scratches to the point 1000 grit sand paper cant take care of. The trick is going to be the hard to reach spots around the holes and the base of the lip.. I hope I can find something so I don't have to hand sand all of that. I'll post some updated pics later tonight.

BPG_Austin

alternate idea. See if you can find a local powdercoating shop with a chemical dip called B17. They'll dunk and pull out half hour later perfectly clean. Begin polishing. Media blasting that factory coating off is miserable and takes forever. Even with hi pressure and aggressive media. commercial chemical stripper, IMHO, is the way to go! Just make sure they don't leave your rims in too long or it will eat the aluminum. A reputable PC shop will know this and monitor the rims as they 'soak'.

sbolen113

Great idea, I didn't even think of a chemical soak. The trick now is finding a reputable place in town. Champaign Illinois isn't known for its specialized paint and machine shops... :/ I'll check around though. I wonder what a ball park price per wheel would be. If it'll keep me from having to sand these down entirely by hand I am up for anything! Thats for the advice! Here is the progress I have made so far with the new sanding wheel I bought.

sbolen113

The above pictures show the wheel unpolished. These are just after some initial sanding.

sbolen113

Alright now I am really having trouble with the sections around the holes between the lip of the rim. I don't have anything that can get into tight spaces like that and hand sanding it will take me years... Help! Any ideas?!