need my damn wheels polished

[DJ_L3ThAL]

hey guys since ivew had the car the 'clearcoat' on my wheel's alloy part has been funny, i wanna get the clear stripped off and the alloy polished nice n shiny again, every polisher/wheel restoral place ive been to says its too hard to get into the spots with their machines, anyone know how i can hand polish the shit off/bring it up ? or know anyone who can do it for me, everywhere wants me to take ym two piece welded wheels that are worth a fair bit of money apart to do it which im NOT prepared to do... thanks guys

[predator]

For something like that they should be able to sandblast it?? Maybe that is a bit extreme, might damage the alloy.

Anyway, there are methods by which they high pressure hose it with "whatever", that should get in all the gaps and strip it right back. Don't know much about it, but know it can be done.

[DJ_L3ThAL]

but there's paint where the carbon fibre part is ? dont wanna risk it for abiskit )

[Phantom]

dude u cant sandblast alloy it will destroy it im a metal polisher it is pretty hard to pollish them without the right machine but can b done r they the rims in your pic? if u want the clear off get paint stripper but make sure u dont leave it to long or it will eat the alloy

[DJ_L3ThAL]

yer just wanna remove th4e clear and see if i can polish them up then coz i think the clear is blocking the autosol ive been trying.. wanna help me

[Phantom]

yeh it is bloking it u will be there all day with that stuff just use a bit of paint stripper make sure u dont get it on what u dont want polished its nasty stuff and dont leave it on long as it will eat the alloy afta a while, i have neva polished them with autosol but if u can get a buff with some normal car polish and give them a buff if that dont work give us a yell if u not to far away i might b able to do it for u as long as u have more rims as i dont know how long it will take.

[DJ_L3ThAL]

ok, so how do i remove the paint stripper as i do bit by bit ? and once they're polished, how often do i need to clean them to retain their shine and protect them from ****ing up again

cheers bro

[Phantom]

water gets it off, thinners as well trust me dont get it on your hands u will know about it big time. if u want them to stay nice and shinny u will have to polish them by hand like once a week or get them fully polished and then clear them again.

[DJ_L3ThAL]

how can i clear them when they are on the car ? or how do i get them fully polished ? or ami pretty much ****ed ? coz if its gunna be too hard i guess its time for new mags for me and ill sell these, only thing is i love these m,ags so much they suit the car big time

[Phantom]

if u can get a set of standard rims do so and take your rims of the tyres its the only way u will polish them properly then u juct clear them like u would a car. i dont know of anyone who can do it as u need a special machine, i can polish just about anything by hand as long as they dont have heaps of spokes it not to hard but your first thing u need to do is get the rims of the tyres. where bouts in melb r u?

[DJ_L3ThAL]

im in tullamarine near melbourne airport

i dont have any otehr rims, but i guess someone would be nice enough on the forums to lend me theirs

[Phantom]

Yeh i reckon i would but i got no otha rims either i live in mooroolbark so it be a bit hard to get them to me if u try and have no luck doin them give us a yell ill c what i can do.

[DJ_L3ThAL]

so this is what i gotta do (just checking)

-remove wheels from car (is taking the tyre off essential, like will polish or paint stripper damage them ?)

-strip off clea coat with paint stripper (being careful not to leave on too long or get on parts that i dont want stripped (and clean off with water)

-polish and buff with a metal cleaner/polisher like autosol ? (or can u recommend something better)

-if this does work and they come up good how often do i clean them and do i just use something like mag acid cleaner or something ? or do i need to polish/buff often ? if i dont polish/buff often can the metal get eaten away or rust ?

[Phantom]

yeh do all that and yeh to get it done properly take the tyres off, u will need a proper buff to get in everywhere and yeh just use polish that will cut and polish it well, if u dont want to be polishing them all the time get them cleared afta u happy with the polish job. post me to c how u goin with them ok.

[dan_the_man]

Sounds like alotta hard work

[DJ_L3ThAL]

yer mate but how are they cleared ? if places wont polish them then wopuldnt clearing them be just as hard ? if i gotta remove the tyres then what ill have to do is take 2 off (borrow g/fs car) jot down to tyrepower get tyres removed.. do the work get them cleared back to tyrepower to re-fit tyres.. then repeat for two more tyres... *sigh* lol

[Phantom]

they will clear them with normal clear they clear cars with. do whateve works for u buddy. if u have any problems post me.

[DJ_L3ThAL]

so do they just mask off what doesnt need clearing and spray it ?

[Phantom]

Yep they will if u dont want it cleared

[DJ_L3ThAL]

hmm just had some paint thinners lieing around, would that work like stripper or is stripper better ?

the thinners did nothing but clean the dirt off the rims... so io got some ruffish sand paper and tried a small part, it got rid of the 'marks' easily as, polished it with autosol and it seems to look good considering it was ruff sandpaper... if i got some real smooth paper could i just sandpaper the whole rims and autosol polish them up ? or would it come up looking shitty ?

i think sanding is the only way unless paint stripper and fix it up as i put thinners on and didnt seem to do anything, but then cleaned that off and polished with autosol/buffed with a rag but it didnt dso anything to the marks