largecar379

once in a while, some one will ask about polishing their 928 wheels, so I thought I would offer some tips-----

I spent a few hours having all of the aluminum pieces polished on my big rig today---yes, it's not a 928---but the process is the same.

Step 1: clean the wheel with an acid based cleaner---doesn't have to be straight acid, more a of 50/50 mix with water will do the trick. the acid will clean and remove most anything from the aluminum, even into the scratches and pits that may be on your wheels. Rinse thoroughly with water--- let dry.

Step 2: using a high speed (at least 3500 rpm's) grinder with a stiff cloth polishing wheel and a brick of brown jeweler's rouge, grind the surface (with the edge of the wheel--see pictures 1 and 2 below) with a back a forth motion to remove the oxidation caused by the acid cleaning. Repeat this process with a brick of green rouge, then a brick of white rouge. (you can do this fairly easily, as 928 wheels are not deep dished)

Step 3: using liquid jeweler's rouge---green to start with---apply with a clean towel until the surface is black. Let dry, then wipe with a separate clean cloth to remove the polish. Repeat this with white rouge.

Step 4: You're done!!!! Step back and admire your work!!!!

All of these supplies are now available at most Sears stores.

An alternative way to do this:

If you live near a truck stop where someone is polishing big rigs, take your wheels (it's better if they are off the car!!!) and have them do it for you. Cost is usually about $5-10 per wheel.

Caution: If you want a mirror finish on your wheels, do not have it done "by hand". You should use the method I have described above.

you can see with the fuel tanks that the black (paint) straps are rock chipped really bad---imagine what the aluminum looked like before polishing!!! the first fuel tank picture shows the tank after the grinding cuts, during the liquid polish application (some areas are shine-y--the rest of it is polish), the last photo show the fuel tanks in it's finished shine----just like a mirror.

Some pictures of the work as it progressed:

---Russ

Marine Blue

Nice Russ, rig looks sweet!

Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried that Mothers Power Ball and can you offer any comparison?

Not that I have aluminum but I thought others might be interested.

You should also cross post this in the concours forum.

Dwayne

Nice work! Love the shine!!

+1 on the rig....COOL!

Fabio421

Oh jeez. Just wait until Ryan Perella wakes up. Your gonna hear about it for sure.

$5 - $10 each huh? How much does it cost to have a documented worker do it?

slownrusty

Polishing aluminum is extremely hard work and extremely dirty work. You also need proper breathing masks and eye goggles as you will be breathing in aluminum dust combined with the clay particles from the actual polishing, not to mention the buffinf pad that will shred and get into your eyes. Not a hanky or a "doo-rag" covering your mouth will suffice. You also need a heavy duty angle grinder with a 10amp rating and over 10,000rpm motor.

While I appreciate your post, it does not show the complexity of polishing aluminum and the tremendous effort required. You are starting off with a good factory finish from the get-go while typically aluminum will have alot of casting imperfections especially on wheels and these have to be perfectly flat before you even think of polishing, this takes alot of prep work and best done with a die grinder and a medium or rough grade disk.

Some wheels leave the factory in a better finish than others (regarding the casting marks, grade etc).

I have a small business polishing aluminum and have been at it for about 10years now and the minimum I would charge for a set of wheels is $100 per wheel (depending on their initial condition and how complex their design).

Regards - Yasin

6mil928

Russ looks awesome. I bought my polished PD's from russ. The first night I had them on the car I thought they looked kinda dingy so I decided to hit them with some aluminum wheel cleaner and rinse real quick. WRONG!!!!! Totally hosed the polish on the rims. I used a power ball to bring them back to half way decent shape but they look nothing like chrome. I would do back flips if I could have them looking like the shine on Russ's rig. That is the main problem with polished rims you can't put anything but soap and water on them.

Marine Blue

Yasin I think Russ is assuming that the aluminum has already been in a finished state and only needs to be repolished to bring it back.

I agree that if you were taking aluminum from a casting there are several additional steps involved including possible machining to remove defects.

6mil928

So your telling me you would charge 400.00 to polish a set of rims? I think if I was going to invest that much in polishing I would just spring for new rims. Do you do many sets at that price? Price seems high but it might be because I live in a small town in Oklahoma.

docmirror

Having polished an airplane(several times now) I can tell you that all the buffing and materials will cost a pretty penny. The pads don't last that long, and if you don't know what you're doing, you can gouge the metal with the grinder pretty easily. It's messy, harmful, and time consuming. I use the NuVite system, but there are others available. They all do about the same job, there is no 'magic elixir' that you can spray on, wipe off to have a good shine. If there was, you wouldn't see to grimy guys, sweating over a hunk of metal.

It takes a fair amount of elbow grease, good compound and lots of buffing to get a decent shine. If you want a mirror finish, it takes about double what a nice dull shine would take. On an airplane, you also have the issue of the thin skin. I can't use the high speed grinder because the metal gets too hot. They do speed things up some, but it's still a big job.

6mil928

Oh yea forgot to say Russ don't pay attention to Ryan if he starts busting your *****.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Also note that the flat S and S-4 wheels have a hard anodized coating (flat finish) which is there BECAUSE it protects the aluminum from corrosion BUT is just about impossible to polish. Most wheel shops have it chemically striped BEFORE they start grinding and polishing. Do it yourselfers have sanded off the anodized finish....way too much work as far as I am concerned the truck looks great by the way !

Rob Edwards

There's a well known Fuchs wheel polishing outfit in Anaheim here that I took a set of rims to for straightening and powdercoating. Everything in their polishing bay is COVERED in this dark gray paste that I assume is a mix of rouge and oxided aluminum bits. On one corner of the bench it's literally inches thick, looks like Mt. Vesuvius exploded in there. I wish I had a picture of it, but OSHA might see it and shut the place down. The guy working the rims was dark gray from head to toe (he was wearing a decent looking 3M filter mask). $100 per rim to have a pro do it is worth every penny in my book unless you've got the right tools and the proper protection.

mark kibort

just buy a tube of "Semichrome" polish, add a little elbow grease, and call it a day.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Mark you could spend all day trying to "elbow grease" an anodized wheel with little or no shine to show for it.

slownrusty

Yes that is what I am telling you, $400 for a set of wheels (even more), some times more. I turn away work ALL the time, as I am swamped and I am extremely picky about the finish and the final look, so I take my time, I even work out curb rash on the lip and can tig weld if there is a serious gouge in the wheel and re-finish and re-balance, you would never know it has been repaired. I wish I had a small shop and some help, it would be a great little business to have.

Be mu guest, you can go ahead and buy a new set of wheels for say $800, but when you have cars with weird offsets like older Porsches and Datsun Z and owners have or come across some classic old school (read "period correct") wheels they are happy to pay $400+ to restore them rather than buy a modern style wheel more suited to a new BMW or Honda or even mitigate having them to pay $4000 - $5000 for a new set of HREs.

Regards - Yasin