Im sure a lot of you have done this before but I am putting up the steps I take to make wheels look good again. A sort of tutorial type thing. I am not a professional nor do I fill in dents with alloy, however I do enough to make wheels look very presentable even though its not a show finish.
 
Hopefully some of you like it.
 
Ill start with a few photos of some Colin Cross Fevers I did for my mate earlier this year. These were in bad shape, scratched up and dull with quite a bit of gutter rash. I didnt address the gutter rash as I said I do not have the means to fill with alloy.
 
This is after they were stripped

Then a before and after photo after polishing

And the final product

 
Im in the process of repairing a set of 14x6 inch globes which I will sell.
My following posts will be the steps I have taken so anybody with enough time can get the same results
 
Cheers,
Ryan

Ok so here goes.
 
Started with this; they had been painted in cheap black paint

 
I used paint stripper and high pressure water to remove paint. Then used a kitchen scourer dipped in soapy water to clean up the outer rim. This is abrasive so I rub in the direction of the wheel to reduce work later and give a better finish.

 
After the scourer I used some 800 grit wet and dry sand paper, again dipped in soapy water. This step is to remove all the little marks and small scratches that are in the wheel making all surfaces that will be polished as flat as possible. I sand in the direction of the wheel again on the outer rim. On the spokes I use a cork block to keep the surface perfectly flat and I sand the spokes lengthways.

and another photo

 
So thats what I am up to after today, the next post will have photos of what the wheel looks like after wet sanding with 2000 grit paper. I will paint after the 2000 grit sanding, and then do a final polish with a polishing wheel in a drill after the paint has dried completely.
 
Cheers,
Ryan

Nice work, Ryan.  I was lucky enough to have access to a bead blaster for the initial cleaning of my mags.  Those polishing balls and cones in a drill certainly help reduce the elbow grease effort.
Len

Thanks Len, yea a bead blaster would have made things a lot easier and less messy
 
Ive finished wet sanding 2 wheels to a point where they have no fine scratches in them. Ready for paint and then a good polish.
 
I spent a lot of time cleaning up the outer edges, as the gutter rash wasn't very deep I was able to eliminate almost all the marks. I'm glad I took the time to do it as it lifted the overall look quite a bit. Used a file first to take off the high spots then 400, 600, 800, 1200 and 2000 grit wet and dry.
 


 
Cheers,
Ryan

All wheels are now painted (taking so long due to other things going on) and two are finished.
 
I roughly masked the polished areas then painted with vht satin black. After the paint dried for about 4 days I wet-sanded the paint off the polished areas. This gave a really good crisp line between the paint and exposed alloy however was A LOT of work. Next time I will find some 1/8 inch tape and use that to mask more accurately.
 
The first photo is the wheel after I sanded the paint off the polished areas with 2000. The spots on the outer rim are water, didnt bother drying off the wheel for the photo.

 
And then I used autosol metal polish to give them a good shine

 
Here are the two I have finished

 
The difference between the finish after 2000 wet and dry and after a polish is much more apparent than what the photos show. Sounds funny but they look stunning at night - outside under light.
 
When I get the other two done ill chuck them on the car and put a photo up.
 
Cheers

Great job, when can I drop mine off?
 
Matt

I`ve got a set of the same mags, they sure dont look like that. Might have the chance to clean them up when i put the body on the rotissery

GOOD WORK. QUITE SATISFYING DOING IT YOURSELF.
Oh sorry not yelling but not going back to retype it which would have taken less time than this sentence.
 
JP

Very well done Ryan...................

Matt75
Great job, when can I drop mine off?
 
Matt

Haha thanks Matt, was actually thinking of doing them for people but I dont know whether the quality would suffice or whether it would be worth the time. They look wicked but if you look really close there is still some slight oxidation marks which I couldnt get out unless I cut even further into the alloy. Pics look slightly better than in real life
 
Whooligan, they were bought second hand here in adelaide, the corolla (ke70/ae71) scene is quite big here so there are a lot of cool wheels in 4x114.3 floating about. Would love to put some on my escort
 
Thanks for the good words guys
 
Cheers,
Ryan