MarkRobinson

Hi guys,

My car has a set of nice 16x7 wheels all around, but I came across a pair of 16x8 rear S4 wheels I want to polish & put on the rear, but it appears they sanded (the ones on my car) down a bit before polishing.

Anyone done this before??

Thanks, Mark

Tres

Mark,
I sanded one of my wheels first with 1000grit wet paper on a block and by hand and then polished it with a high speed buffer. Sanding took the oxidation off and made buffing it faster. I did another wheel with just buffing and it did about the same job but I had to really buff it for a while. I hvnt finished them yet but I should have them done by next week. The center caps are not mathcing real good though.

Dennis Wilson

Like Tres indicated, you should start with the highest grit possible to get a smooth finish. Going on to 1200, 1600 or 2000 grit will make the final buffing much easier. If you see black specks in the alloy (common) use a medium cut before the final buffing. My typical sequence has been sanding up to 1600, medium cut, rubbing compound, then polishing compound.

Dennis

MarkRobinson

Ah! My wheels were painted silver! That's why they wouldn't "polish". Had to sand past the paint.

IcemanG17

Once you have the wheels polished you still need to maintain them....my wheels are polished and its a pain having to polish them about once a month (on the car of course)...One of these days I'll pull the wheels and clean them up really good...does anyone have any good tricks for removing really stubborn brake dust? I'm thinking sandpaper will work, since its so crusted on there!
Brian

Tahoe Shark

I'll second Iceman's comments about maintaining a polished aluminum wheel. I've unfortunately had to drive through snow twice this year and it's a real pain getting the chemical spots and sand pits off the wheel. If the wheel is not washed immediately it will spot. For what it's worth I personnally would never buy a completely polished wheel again. That being said the best polish I've found so far it One Grand aluminum polish. It really does do a great job.

Simon Jester

I used an anodize stripper to remove the anodized finish on my dish wheels. After that I only had to lightly sand the imperfections with 1500 grit wet paper. The wheels buffed up pretty easily.

I preserve them by spraying on clearcoat epoxy. The epoxy can come off easily enough if the wheels ever need more attention. Just as a suggestion, it's nice to really clean them up and spray the insides as well. The brake dust doesn't stick very well to the paint.

BTW, I did all this with the tires mounted.

Red UFO

pics?

lorenolson888

I had mine done ... I think they sand and then polish... factory dish rims were actually anodized... so no paint stripper will work!!! and I imagine that if you live where they sand or salt the raod this would be a bad idea....

If you are in Cali... Wheel techniques will do it for 125 each... 160 each and they will pain the inside surfaces which makes the brake dust easier to remove...

LO

Dennis Wilson

They use sand and salt here in Oklahoma and all I have to do is wash then use a cleaner call Nevr-dull to remove the oxidation and bring back the shine.

Dennis

adam928

The flat discs are a pain in the a** to get clean and shiny...

I use a wheel cleaning agent (cant remember brand...) to get rid of the brake dust and dirt. After this the wheel gets some oxidation pretty quick that I remove by using vaseline. I seal the hole lot with a layer of hard car wax.

Heres the result. The picture was taken before I found out about the wheel cleaning agent... now its even cleaner


The result usually lasts a couple of car washes.

adam928

Ps.. just realised the thread was about sanding the wheels... Never done that

Jfrahm

Clearcoat them after polishing and then do not use nasty chemicals to remove brake dust. Duplicolor has a nice clear wheel paint. They do not shine quite as much but they are easy to live with and will not get pitted.

One trick to getting brake dust off is to wipe the wheel down with a rag soaked with silicone spray when you wash your car. The brake dust will wipe off next time (or come off easily with a wheel brush.) Some people spray it on the wheel but that's not good, it gets on the brake rotor.
Use the silicone spray on your door and hatch seals while you are at it (and even on your CV, balljoint, tie rod and other boots every once in a while.)

-Joel.

lorenolson888

or maybe try rainex.. which is a silanizing agent... probably similar to the silcon spray...

some sort of hydrophobic coating an (actual wax not a polish) that will stay on (and not haze or dull the finish) will probably preserve the wheel for 6 months at a time...

If you get clear coat make sure it is UV resisitant and try to get someone to do it that knows what is up... (maybe the duplicolr will work.... also if you oven if big enough you can cure the paint with heat... though I have heard of these yellowing with time... though it would not be the end of the world.... use some aircraft stripper or jasco and the clear paint will sluff...

If you go bare metal and plan on maintaining the wheels and the car (washing monthly) you should be fine....

MarkRobinson

I've been waxing my wheels after I polish them: works well, prevents brake dust accumulations, & preserves the shine/wards off oxidization.