Best way to polish polished wheels?

S

Sneaky Pete

New member
After spending a couple hours bringing back the shine to a set of polished 20" SP600 aluminum wheels (no clear coating), it didn't take long to realize there has to be a better/faster way of doing this! So what's the best tool for the job?



I should mention I'm the last person in the world that should be on this site as I hate detailing work, but it's somewhat of a necessary evil because I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it for me! But since I have a couple of cars with polished wheels and a chopper with a lot of polished parts/wheels, I really need a tool to make this less time consuming.



So what's the best tool for the job? Is there a ball or cone of some type that attaches to a drill that would work? Preferably something that will hold up over time... And what's the best one step product to use for polishing compound, again, something I don't have to fight with???



Thanks for the help!!! :)
 
I also have some CCW's and let me tell you, they're not fun at all. I've been polishing them for years trying different products and I can't seem to get them back to being perfect or near what they looked like when they were new. I can get them pretty close but they still don't pop the same as they used to. The best polish I've used so far is some stuff I get from a local powdercoating supply, it's green and liquid and works great but still takes ~2-3 hours per wheel. Believe it or not the best results I get are also from polishing by hand with a microfiber towel. I've tried dremel and drill attachements, rouges, liquid and paste polishes...the only problem with doing it by hand is to get into the small areas. I'm sure some people on here will argue that you'll never do the same by hand as you could do with a machine but perhaps I'm not as good with a machine as I am with my hands? I don't know.



I'm also excited to see/hear what people have to say about polishing uncoated aluminum.
 
I have posted on aluminum polish in a couple threads here...... but, rouge, buffs, felt bobbs etc. In a drill or a angle grinder. The polishing forum over at Caswell has a lot of good advise and they sell these types of products. After you polish them, seal them. I just used wax on mine. Once they have been well polished light clean up with mother or compariable product and another coat of sealer works fine.
 
I personally dislike the foam tools such as a mothers powerball. I think that thing is garbage wrapped in plastic with a ridiculous price tag. For bare aluminum like your CCW's...any substantial oxidation or braked dust built up will not get cleaned with the powerball in my experience. I've tried it with multiple polishes between my spokes and although it sometimes is more handy than trying to use my fingers...it's more of a 'quantity' tool than a 'quality' tool. It'll clean a larger area quicker than my fingers could do, but in the end I end up going back over that same area by hand to get it looking better. The only problem is after going through all 4 wheels that mini powerball gets pretty beat up. The felt drill attachments work much better.
 
I tried the foam and didn't like the results, so I went back to cotton buffing wheels and a good metal polish (Simichrome, Blue Magic, etc).



If you want a long term finish, try the Zoop Seal following the polish. Not cheap but the wheels will stay nice for a year or 2.
 
I can get my wheels looking better then new by using the small powerball with a short nap MF towel wrapped around it then twist tied or rubberbanned around the shaft. Use a quality corded drill for the torque they have vs battery and really work in the polish and NO ONE using their hand will be able to compare the quality or work in the amount of time it takes me. I can do a rim in under an hour and thats with using a very like scuff pad or aggresive clay to remove some of the imbedded brake dust.



Also you can use different towels when you start stepping up to a finer polish I go with a longer nap the shiner the wheel gets and when I am done it looks like plated chrome.



And of course it is a MUST to seal the wheels when you are done. I use a quality sealant for paint on the wheels like zaino or anything that will last. I usually use Zaino Clear Seal over whatever I put down anyway.



Again Just my way of doing it and for you it might not work but for me its the best I have found in the past 10+ years polishing wheels.





Thanks,



- LI 85
 
yeah the powerball blows. I can't believe that i spent money on that thing. At the time i thought it might be gods gift to earth but in the end i was very unhappy with it.



Hand polishing will never yield as good of results as machine polishing will and that goes for both car paints and rims.



I too would like to know what people are using . . . . maybe some photos of the attachments and felt wheels they use to polish stuff. I have heard many good things about rouges but their are also some really nice polishes out their that should work rather well.



good starting point might be a medium polish followed up with something fine to jewel the metal.
 
LICamaro85 said:
I can get my wheels looking better then new by using the small powerball with a short nap MF towel wrapped around it then twist tied or rubberbanned around the shaft. Use a quality corded drill for the torque they have vs battery and really work in the polish and NO ONE using their hand will be able to compare the quality or work in the amount of time it takes me. I can do a rim in under an hour and thats with using a very like scuff pad or aggresive clay to remove some of the imbedded brake dust.



Also you can use different towels when you start stepping up to a finer polish I go with a longer nap the shiner the wheel gets and when I am done it looks like plated chrome.



And of course it is a MUST to seal the wheels when you are done. I use a quality sealant for paint on the wheels like zaino or anything that will last. I usually use Zaino Clear Seal over whatever I put down anyway.



Again Just my way of doing it and for you it might not work but for me its the best I have found in the past 10+ years polishing wheels.





Thanks,



- LI 85
Click to expand...



I like this idea, can you please link some examples of the shorter nap MF towels and longer nap MF towels? I wouldn't mind trying this just to see how it goes before I probably end up resorting to spending countless hours by hand because I'm more comfortable with it...but perhaps it'll speed up the process and I might actually be pleased with the results...also just out of curiosity what metal polish do you prefer? Do you have any before/after pictures of an uncoated wheel?



This isn't the greatest picture and I was not completely finished with the wheel, nor can you see how bad it was when I started...but this will give you an idea of what I do by hand. Yes, I spend HOURS on each of them, though.
 
Yea that picture looks really good and pics never do justice to freshly polished wheels. I will get some links up for the towels and some pics when I get home, I am on my blackberry right now.



When I start out polishing I use any rougher polish... anything will work really any otc product. What I have found when it comes to polishing and this goes for paint as well that it matters more on the person/time/effort that goes into it then the products used. But when I finish the wheel I actually use a gold/platnium (precious metal) rouge that I get from work. It is green in color and slightly hard almost like refrigerated peanut butter. That has worked for me in the past and when I say you can not tell the difference from my wheels and chrome plated I really mean that.



Feel free to ask any questions at all...



Thanks,



- LI 85
 
Thanks for your input, I really do appreciate it. This is something I have been working very hard on for years now...and I'm not finished finding the 'perfect' way to go about it yet. I am very happy with the results I have come up with and I have no problems taking the time to come to those results...however, if there's any way to shorten the time period or lengthen the time period in which they last...I'm definitely all ears. My favorite product is also green, however it's a liquid wax not a paste. It's from a local powdercoating supply...and relatively cheap. Thanks again for sharing!
 
Thanks for the info LI, any pics you could offer would be appreciated!



I ordered some buffs off of Amazon a few days ago, so I'll give them a try after I receive them. I'm sure I'm nowhere near as anal as you guys about getting these things shiny, but I do know what I was doing couldn't possibly be the best way to go about getting them cleaned up!
 
once you get them right, just use a light polish every time you wash (it'll take a couple of minutes per wheel, not much more than just drying) and don't use acid on your wheels and all this unpleasantness can be avoided.





Robert
 
Also another little trick is if you have wheels that show alot of the barrel almost like those z06 wheels you can paint or powdercoat the barrel of the rim and then when you polish the front of the rim it will POP alot more this way. The contrast of polished aluminum to black really makes it stand out.



As it is impossable to keep the barrel looking like the rest of the rim without pulling the wheel every few weeks. Just another idea for those that want a easier/better looking wheel.



- LI 85
 
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