andyvvc Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 ....is easier than i thought it would be. Both rears wheels on my Zed are pretty shot in the lip department. One is poor, the other really poor. Laquer has peeled and dirt/corrosion has gotten underneath it. I've had a few specialists people look at them, and they have all said: 1 - LOTS of manual labour to take-back the laquer and then polish the lip 2 - OR pay a specialist £150+ to us a CNC machine on both rears to clean them up, then polish and laquer I've gone for option 1 for now. With only 1 hour spent on the 'worst' rear alloy, it looks a lot better! Closer than 0.5m and you can still see some dirt/corrosion. I will need to spend more time polishing! Which begs the question - is there a small 'Dremel' style power tool that i can buy that will speed-up the polishing etc? Once ive got that to a good standard, all i need to do is get it professionally laquered and they should look like new (centre caps and edges need doing yet!) (After just 1 hours work) (Close up - still needs a few scratches and corrosion polishing out) (How the other alloy looks - not corroded as badly as the one i'm working on, but you get the idea) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Mcgoo Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Looks good So how are you doing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 The only thing i can think of is the fact that the other wheels will have diamond cutting on them and these will have polished lips. Also now the lacquer is off them, what you gonna use to seal them up again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Personally I would rather pay for someone to do them..... but good effort for having a go yourself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyvvc Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 The only thing i can think of is the fact that the other wheels will have diamond cutting on them and these will have polished lips. Also now the lacquer is off them, what you gonna use to seal them up again? At the moment the rear still looks slightly duller (rim wise) than the front. I think i can get away with a really small amount of Autosol metal polish for a few more polishes. Then it's gonna be a case of tidying up the edges and scratches/stone chips as best i can before i get them professionally laquered. From anything other than up-close they look flawless already. A massive improvement on the state it had got to before. I just wish i had a spinning polishing tool to make it less hard work! Have a few people on here used some kind of power tool to polish their engine plenums/covers? Or has it always been done by hand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyvvc Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 Looks good So how are you doing it? Lots of water-soaked "Oakey" wet+dry (400 weight initially) from B&Q. To finish i might have to get some even finer stuff to leave as clean a surface as i can. There's still laquer/corrosion left to sort out on the alloy i have been working on.... it's been over an hour of manual labour so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choptop Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Looking good mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 The only thing i can think of is the fact that the other wheels will have diamond cutting on them and these will have polished lips. Also now the lacquer is off them, what you gonna use to seal them up again? posting.php?mode=quote&f=61&p=856149# At the moment the rear still looks slightly duller (rim wise) than the front. I think i can get away with a really small amount of Autosol metal polish for a few more polishes. Then it's gonna be a case of tidying up the edges and scratches/stone chips as best i can before i get them professionally laquered. From anything other than up-close they look flawless already. A massive improvement on the state it had got to before. I just wish i had a spinning polishing tool to make it less hard work! Have a few people on here used some kind of power tool to polish their engine plenums/covers? Or has it always been done by hand? Yeah my lmgt4's are corroded to fook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bockaaarck Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Must say I'm tempted to have a go at this on my Rota GTR's, where the lacquer has peeled and I've got the same sort of issue. Lepson's in Swindon have quoted me £400 to get all four wheels refurbed. However the because of the tightness of angle and gap of where the spokes on the Rota GTR's meet the rim (between the wheel rim and the bend of the spoke) they say their unable to get right in to the area and won't be able to retain the polished finish on the rim. This means it'll be a 'platinum finish' all over for the wheels, which will maintain the colour but not the polished lip itself That being said, with the wheel refurbed in the appopriate finish all over, I won't have to worry about the same sort of lacquer peel happning again. I like the polished finish lip though, that's partly why I bought the wheels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisS Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 If your having then re laquered by a pro, why not strip the lacquer before the wet and dry polishing. Rustins Strip it will do it,just need to be carefull. Do a bit and wash off regularly. (cup of warm water with one drop of Fairy Liquid and '0000' wire wool). For the final polish you have the perfect spindle . Jack up the wheel and rotate. They will probably want the tyres off to spray them as well. Loads of work Andy.............Go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimper Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I did this with a set of Watanabes I had for my MX5. They when from this... To this... I used a project pack from Halfords and stepped down a grade over each time the finish got uniform. Finally it was finished off with t cut and then autosol. I would think about leaving the rims unlacquered. That way if the corrode again you can just polish them up. It you have them lacquered over, any chip/scratch will start worming under the lacquer and you will have to do the whole process over again. A little polish with some autosol when you clean your car will keep them looking loverly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzr350z Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 If you dont use some sort of protection on the polished rim it wont take long to deteriorate,trust me,i had some polished minilites on my TR6 two years ago,they used to go dull just after a couple of days as the bare aluminium starts to oxidise.Definitly better to give a good coat of lacquer.You can buy a good multitool for around £45,with a polishing wheel and Autosol you should be able to get a near mirror finish.May take a while tho!We use a bigger version of polishing wheel at work and can obtain highly polished finishes on Ali and Stainless steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I had the lips on the Rays of my previous 350 polished and they were not lacquered but in the subsequent near-on 2 years I had the car there was no sign of deterioration at all, and as wimper says, it was an easy task to file/emery/polish the lips when they did get, er..........you know viewtopic.php?f=61&t=13182&hilit=rays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyvvc Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 I have to say the longer i leave the first rear-alloy that i have polished, the more inclined i am to not bother with a re-laquer. In the last month all i have done is wash the car as normal, and the lip doesn't seem to be corroding or fading at all. Autosol seems to offer a very quick solution to the problem if it does start to tarnish I really need to get one of these 'Multi-tools' - im assuming not something that Halfrauds or B&Q are likely to stock? Do they come with spinning tips that can be used to polish surfaces as they rotate? That seems like a lot less hassle then elbow grease...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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