polishing wheels

[mcjjordan]

Hi guys am after some advise.

ive got a set of mims and they arent is best condition but are painted silver , what i want is polished rims !
how do i get that mirror finish?
without forking out a fortune having them diamond cut?


nitro mors and scotchbright im thinking then i have an alloy polishing set that fits on a drill

[polov8]

I'd say unless you have air tools, polishing alloy is a penance reserved for the terminally bling!

[nas80]

Yea take them to a place who does metal polishing. They have all the equipment to make it easy and they are actually reasonable

[PeteK]

Go on to Youtube and search for polishing alloy wheels. There are some awesome videos of guys polishing wheels by jacking the car up and running it in gear. Looks incredibly dangerous and no where near enough value to risk the e21 falling off the jack and driving through my wall!

[fraser]

Here's one, I cant imagine getting your finger taken of by spokes going round at 30mph

[problemchild75]

I've used that method in the past and if your sensible it's very effective

[fraser]

I think i'd rather buy an old wheel balancer machine, doesnt even need to work properly just spin i suppose, must be cheap on ebay

[alschux]

I rigged up a home made wheel spinner to do mine: spare strut/hub assembly held in a vice, wheel to be polished on it and using an old fan belt/electric drill to spin it up. Then just hold wet and dry against the rim as it spins, reducing the grade until youve got the polish finish you want. Think I ended up on 800 grit paper with plenty of soap and water, came up nice. Had a set of 4 done in 5-6 hours. Lacquered them up afterwards which does dull the shine slightly, but keeps a nice even finish.