DIY: Polish your factory wheels, $70 each.....
04-20-2006 | 04:33 PM
#28
Lubricious
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,425
Likes: 4
From: SF Bay Area, California
Originally Posted by sssuperman82
yo stealth its april already!!...wuz up with the car still shines?.....let us see some complete pictures of ur mod so we can decide on doing it or not.. 
12-13-2007 | 09:46 PM
#30
Man, We Ain't Found Sh*t!
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 318
Likes: 2
From: Earth
i have this same mod.. from previous owner.. brasso works really nice to shine them up.. unfortunately he curbed the holy hell out of them along it.. like all 4 wheels.. i'm thinking he took the tires off and just drove like that..
03-30-2008 | 07:01 PM
#32
Guest
Posts: n/a
They are in storage now for the Canadian winter - got my 17"snowboots on!
They held up very well, better than I expected, none had any tarnish or surface corrosion, they just got dull, a tiny bit powdery on the surface. I gave them a quick polish before storage at Halloween, and that brought out my only problem- I had waxed one front wheel, and put a coat of clear polyurethane on the other as an experiment. They both dulled about the same amount, the caoted one was indistinguishable from the waxed - until it came time for the repolish!
The waxed one got washed and buffed, came back to its original gleam, but there was NO WAY to clean up the coated one! I first had to remove ALL the clear with some really nasty solvents (my usual acetone and toluene wouldn't touch it, hexane and methylene chloride just clouded the finish, I ended up using methylene dichloride gel - especially icky since it was supposed to be a quick buff, so the rubber is still on the rims!) I won't make that mistake again!
If you want them to be low maintenance, powder coating clear is the only way to go.
This is the best pic I could get in my shed, but they don't shine until the sun hits them, which may be some time in lat APRIL!
S
They held up very well, better than I expected, none had any tarnish or surface corrosion, they just got dull, a tiny bit powdery on the surface. I gave them a quick polish before storage at Halloween, and that brought out my only problem- I had waxed one front wheel, and put a coat of clear polyurethane on the other as an experiment. They both dulled about the same amount, the caoted one was indistinguishable from the waxed - until it came time for the repolish!
The waxed one got washed and buffed, came back to its original gleam, but there was NO WAY to clean up the coated one! I first had to remove ALL the clear with some really nasty solvents (my usual acetone and toluene wouldn't touch it, hexane and methylene chloride just clouded the finish, I ended up using methylene dichloride gel - especially icky since it was supposed to be a quick buff, so the rubber is still on the rims!) I won't make that mistake again!
If you want them to be low maintenance, powder coating clear is the only way to go.
This is the best pic I could get in my shed, but they don't shine until the sun hits them, which may be some time in lat APRIL!
S
03-30-2008 | 07:28 PM
#33
Mu ha.. ha...
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 14,361
Likes: 3
From: Cali
01-15-2009 | 09:08 PM
#36
Yeay Boosted!
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 271
Likes: 0
From: New Hampshire
well, I got 1 rim done perfect, stealth, I had a question. what did you use to get into the very corners of the spokes? a dremel? I Used a orbital sander starting with 80 grit, then moved up to 120 grit.. I used my dremel with a 120 grit flapper to get inside of the center and nut area. and dremel with 80 grit to get in the very corners of the spokes since they are such an odd area. after all that I hit it with 320 wet, 600 wet, and 1000 wet. and then used some mothers.. so far 1 rim done, looking mirror fine. I suggest an orbital sander, I tried one of those square ones, and it was Terrible!, orbital tore through. what a pain it was getting rid of all the casting as well.. 
01-16-2009 | 11:15 PM
#38
Yeay Boosted!
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 271
Likes: 0
From: New Hampshire
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...42#post2821142
Looking so far so good! only 2 more rims to go :P
Looking so far so good!
only 2 more rims to go :P
01-16-2009 | 11:24 PM
#39
you would of had a better finish if you sanded the wheels with higher grit sandpaper instead of steel wool.
I sanded my old enkei racing s wheels to a mirror finish using sand paper alone. 320 grit then 400 grit, then 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and finally 2000. The lip had a mirror finish with no irregularities to the finish.
I sanded my old enkei racing s wheels to a mirror finish using sand paper alone. 320 grit then 400 grit, then 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and finally 2000. The lip had a mirror finish with no irregularities to the finish.
02-15-2009 | 12:28 PM
#42
Yeay Boosted!
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 271
Likes: 0
From: New Hampshire
I guess it matters what you want to do.. if you want to polish those anniversary wheels.. you'll want to strip all the paint off. first.. then start polishing from there.. i'd personally strip the paint, then sand out that rash.. then repaint the rims with those..
02-15-2009 | 02:19 PM
#43
is looking for his torque
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 841
Likes: 0
ty! btw!
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