polishing the rims.

[nicolas]

i want to cleanup the empi 8 spokes. they were polished, but are becoming a little dull again. i have tried some cleaning products to make them shine again, but i am not satisfied with the result. i have done all this with my hands and not with a machine as i have no polisher.
what do you use to polish your rims. tricks, product, special moves (wax on, wax off)

[Felix/DFL]

Hi Nicolas,

I have seen very impressive results with luster pad`s. Very simple and efficient.I even want to get me a can of this.



Greetz

[j-f]

I use belgom Alu to clean and polish my Fusch. Always by hand.

[Sam K]

I've always used Mother's mag and aluminum polish on Fuchs and it nseems to work well. I also use a soft cloth to wipe off any brake dust after I'm done driving it. It seems like when you let brake dust get wet and then dry on the wheels, it's a lot harder to clean them.

[wolfswest]

belgom alu or unipol...  easy to find in belgium, cheap and realy good results...

[nicolas]

i bought a small tube from sonax today, but that does a good job but indeed not perfect on the front ones. probally due to the dust of the discs sticking too much. the pads look really good and seem to be very handy to carry along.

i have to look up the brand JF mentioned as the Brezan autoparts had only sonax and 3M...

[JS]

Nicolas, jack you car up on one side at the back, start it up and put it in 4th gear and let it run at tickover. There´s your polishing machine. It goes without saying that you have to secure the car from coming off the stand. Then just use wet-sanding paper until you have the finish you want. Mine where sandblasted so I used 120-240-800-1200-1500 grit, finishing off with Autosol. Shiny, but not mirror finish. If you DO want mirror finish continue up to 3500 grit and use one of those wax "soapbars" for aluminium.

[henk]

same here belgom alu for the fuchs wheels and the belgom chrome for the bumpers

[Jordy/DVK]

 I use Belgom too... (is it Belgian btw? Belgom... the name makes me think so... not that it's useful knowledge to know wether Belgom is Belgian but still... it keeps my mind busy...)

[LuftsickTero]

Pol for maintaining the wheels:


Something like this for polishing (after sanding with various grits):

[Rennsurfer]

Or... don't secure the car when the rear wheels are spinning and become a member of the Darwin Awards. Just kidding.

What IS true, however, is using corn starch to absorb the spent polish and tarnish when polishing raw metal. Best way to ensure that everything is pulled out. Without the corn starch, you're leaving behind a lotta stuff. Don't believe me? Go take the test. An old truck driver taught me that back when I built my first car, 30 yrs. back.

[John Rayburn]

You finally stopped hanging out in those truck stops, didn't you ?

[nicolas]

You finally stopped hanging out in those truck stops, didn't you ?

yep he joined the callookers again. don't know which is worse. or maybe he still hangs out in skateparktoilets... 

as for the Belgom stuff i have to look into it. the idea with the engine turning would be great, if i had an engine 

[wolfswest]

You finally stopped hanging out in those truck stops, didn't you ?

yep he joined the callookers again. don't know which is worse. or maybe he still hangs out in skateparktoilets... 

as for the Belgom stuff i have to look into it. the idea with the engine turning would be great, if i had an engine 

Nicolas,

Believe me, unipol or belgom is the way to go, drop every other sh*t in the garbage, I had it all (sonax, grandma polish, etc…) to polish my moped wheels and these 2 products are IT.  I got plenty of tips, pb me, I will explain it to you in dutch…

Dem

[Rennsurfer]

You finally stopped hanging out in those truck stops, didn't you ?

HAHA!! Funny, but I've never been to a truck stop. Thank God.

You all can use whatever you want... I just thought that the main objective was to find out what people use(d) to polish raw metal. I've prepped many kinds of different cars for shows or simply detailed cars. Haven't heard any complaints yet. That being said, I won't be throwing any of my detail products in the garbage anytime soon.

[Neil Davies]

Interesting thread - I've got some real 8 spokes as well, have been fully polished a very long time ago (early 80s!) but now I'm only polishing the rims. I used Autosol, wasn't overly impressed, but a friend recommended Wenol, he bought it off ebay. I saw the wheels he did for his '81 BMW 3-series and was very impressed!

While we're on a wheel-related theme (sorry for the hi-jack Nicolas!), what's the best way to remove the clear laquer from Porsche cookie cutters? The laquer has lifted in places and I'd like to polish the rims up properly.

[speedwell]

belgom too nicolas or if you want we can call the guys who polish my torker  i paid 120€ for the 4 wheels polished ,  ;)it's cheap

[nicolas]

yeah i know. thank you for the offer.  i have to see if i have the other set completed or the riviera's... but this is for the golden ones. they just need some elbow grease and a good cleanup. so i will get belgom and clean them like it should be done.