logikfive

Even though I don't hang out around here (sold my '83 Z28 in '02) I figured you guys might like this.

I picked up a set of crosslace wheels on eBay last week, typical clear coat failure. Since I would be mounting them on my '78 T/A, they needed to be cleaned up.

Before



In progress


Stages of completion (nearest original, mid is sanded, and furthest is polished)




I've maybe 4 hours into each wheel and that is taking my time. Centers are original and are still in nice shape so i'm not doing anything with those right now. Next year I will powdercoat them.

If anyone has any questions on my setup feel free to ask.

kuulkatdadieo

iTrader: (1)

Tell me if I'am wrong, but it looks like you just put the wheel on the rear axle; and had someone give it gas and you held some sandpaper on it while it spun. Is this what you did??

logikfive

I figured someone would ask that... :P

No, actually, I like dangerous stuff but that's one thing I wouldn't play chicken with. I mounted the wheel on the front of a car (a car being a project car), and since they do not have tires I wrapped a crazy big fan belt around the rim, jacked the car up to a desirable height, and put a jackstand under it. To spin the wheel I used a 3hp (eqiv.) electric motor used for powering an air compressor that I have mounted on a wooden platform with some HEAVY scrap steel stock to hold the motor in place so it doesn't get carried away.

Though I still ran the chances of turning my fingers to swiss cheese, it was much, much safer than running the car. Not to mention I didn't use any gasoline.

Here is a better view of an older setup I had when I refinished the stock wheels for my car.

Tmic87TPI

iTrader: (3)

thats awesome, those rims look alot better.

savagevulcan

Beeeee-yootiful!!

I wish i had that polished shine on my refinished wheels.
Very nice!

Cadillac

Details please. What materials did you need to achieve the shine on the aluminum?

They look great!

Xophertony

i found a prety decent write up on how to do this once.
polishing wheels using rear end

Cadillac

LOL

I posted that link up for another TGOer in the past. I'm not a big fan of running the car while it's up on a jack stand.

However, I did find this link:

Refinishing GTA's