Polishing Wheel Spokes and Between

S

Setec Astronomy

Well-known member
I picked up another leftover on a good deal and unfortunately it's been through the dealer scratch n' swirl bay a few times. The wheels, which are CC'd high polished aluminum, are scuffed (wash swirls). My hands are too old for this, not to mention it will probably take forever by hand. I don't think a 4" pad on the PC will get in deep enough, has anyone used a Mother's Powerball or a Mini for this? Mostly what I hear the powerball being used for is chrome or uncoated aluminum. Any other suggestions? I searched and found nothing.
 
For general polishing it should be fine but personally I would go with the Flitz ball. I believe you will get better "cut" with it than the foam.
 
I guess I should have mentioned that the only drill I have is ancient, dunno if that's got the RPM for this, a PC solution would be nice. Also I'm presuming that I will just use my regular paint polishes with any of these "balls", and will they "throw" into the corners between the spokes and the rim, or leave an unpolished area there?



3Dog: Will I have to follow the Flitz Polishing Ball with the Flitz Buff 'n Wax or a Mother's Ball, just like I would step down in pads?
 
The Flitz "ball" is made from a..for lack of a better word..chamios material. Cuts better and leaves a final finish. If there is room and a few coins for investment...you may try a 2 7/8 backing plate with a 3" pad.
 
I've got 4" pads for the PC...I looked a little but didn't find any 3" pads anywhere, although I remember them being discussed...search didn't help me either :think:
 
I ordered both and will actually be trying them out tomorrow...the Flitz ball and the Mothers mini power ball. I plan on taking my wheels off to polish them, but from the looks and size of the mini ball, it more suited for those thin spokes you may worried about. I will post my review after the weekend when my car is fully detailed!
 
I don't really have thin spokes, I mean not a lot of spokes with small spaces, they are 17" 7-spoke, so the openings are fairly large, it's just trying to hit all the surfaces, which aren't flat/accessible.



Edit: What kind of RPM do those cordless drills run at? Or will my 30 yo Craftsman 3/8" drill be alright? I'm still worried that one of these balls won't polish into the corners, and will leave contrasting area there...maybe I'll be reduced to felt bobs and my Dremel...:(
 
Not a recommendation really, just brainstorming so take this FWIW. For the tight spots or more difficult scratches on the wheel, what about a polishing tip on a Dremel tool?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I don't really have thin spokes, I mean not a lot of spokes with small spaces, they are 17" 7-spoke, so the openings are fairly large, it's just trying to hit all the surfaces, which aren't flat/accessible.



Edit: What kind of RPM do those cordless drills run at? Or will my 30 yo Craftsman 3/8" drill be alright? I'm still worried that one of these balls won't polish into the corners, and will leave contrasting area there...maybe I'll be reduced to felt bobs and my Dremel...:(
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You will need a corded drill to do much polishing. (I assume if it's 30 years old, your Craftsman is corded). I have a 19.2 v Craftsman drill and a powerball drains it almost immediately.



The Powerball will not get into corners very well - I used it on my 17" 7-spoke wheels-great for the outside- misses most of the inside.
 
While it's easy for me to spend somebody else's money :o I recommend the purchase of a a flex-shaft attachment for the drill/Dremel (or you can even mount it directly to an electric motor).



Two issues: how to spin the media (drill/etc.) and how to manipulate it.



IMO you're gonna want some way of regulating (and then locking) the speed to whatever you deem appropriate, so consider that when choosing the means of spinning the media (the Dremel is sorta a minimum-acceptable approach IMO, though you can clamp a drill in some kind of housing instead).



Mounting the abrasive/etc. media on a flex shaft is gonna be *so* much easier to use than putting it on a regular hand drill (or even a Dremel) that you just can't imagine the difference; flex shafts are worth the money. A Dremel with a flex shaft oughta be a must-have anyhow ;) I have a number of different grinders with flex shafts and I wouldn't be without any of them.
 
Accumulator said:
While it's easy for me to spend somebody else's money :o I recommend the purchase of a a flex-shaft attachment for the drill/Dremel (or you can even mount it directly to an electric motor).



Two issues: how to spin the media (drill/etc.) and how to manipulate it.



IMO you're gonna want some way of regulating (and then locking) the speed to whatever you deem appropriate, so consider that when choosing the means of spinning the media (the Dremel is sorta a minimum-acceptable approach IMO, though you can clamp a drill in some kind of housing instead).



Mounting the abrasive/etc. media on a flex shaft is gonna be *so* much easier to use than putting it on a regular hand drill (or even a Dremel) that you just can't imagine the difference; flex shafts are worth the money. A Dremel with a flex shaft oughta be a must-have anyhow ;) I have a number of different grinders with flex shafts and I wouldn't be without any of them.
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That's a great idea. I've used my drill to polish a few things here and there but it's always too bulky to get into some areas and I get tried of moving it around. I never thought of the flex shaft. I think the dremel would work great too because you could adjust the speed easier
 
Boy, I have a headache now. So I've got a wheel on the bench under an incandescent light, and it looks terrible. Some areas look almost dull, like the clear is failing...different areas look different. These are GM high-polished clearcoated wheels, but the same wheels are silver painted on the lower end models. Can I be sure that the swirls I am seeing are in the clearcoat, and not in the high-polished aluminum underneath? Tried some 4" pads on the PC, both Powerballs, not really sure if I'm doing anything. I tried some SSR3 by hand in a different direction to try and modify the swirls, although the underlying swirls were still visible when changing perspective. I then polished away the SSR3 marks with the Powerball Mini and the other swirls were still there.



Bottom line is I don't want to polish all the way through the paint to find out that the swirls aren't in the paint. Opinions?
 
Setec Astronomy- Those incandescents really show the flaws, huh?



I generally figure that scratches are in the coating...to scratch the underlying metal I'd figure the abrasion would have to go through the coating (to get to the metal) but that might not really be the case :nixweiss



I have similar scratch-issues on my wife's A8 wheels ("machined finish") and I decided *not* to try polishing them aggressively. One of those "rather not make a bad situation worse" things. So I'd recommend just settling for "better"...gee, seems like I say that a lot but I'm strongly in favor of erring on the side of caution.



Other side of the coin: the clear on many wheels is thick and tough, guess it's a matter of how lucky you feel ;)
 
Accumulator said:
Those incandescents really show the flaws, huh?



I generally figure that scratches are in the coating...to scratch the underlying metal I'd figure the abrasion would have to go through the coating (to get to the metal) but that might not really be the case :nixweiss
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Maybe I didn't explain that properly. GM provides these wheels in two finishes; silver paint and high-polished aluminum (clearcoated...although I presume the silver is cleared also). I presume for the high-polished version, they take the regular wheel and do extra polishing, so I'm suggesting that the surface, before it was painted, was not flawless, and now I'm seeing "swirls" in the aluminum which are under the paint, which I'll never get out. The clear does seem to be quite thick and full of orange peel in some places...under the bright light the whole wheel seems to have all kinds of dissimilar finishes and characteristics and I'm not sure if it's due to inconsistent machining/polishing before painting, the dealer cleaning processes, paint inconsistency on different, irregularly shaped surfaces, etc.



Edit: I thought of a better way to explain the "swirls under the paint". If you had a sheet of brushed aluminum, and sprayed a nice thick layer of clear on it, it would flow out smooth. If you looked at it obliquely, it would be perfectly smooth and shiny, but if you looked directly at it it would look like brushed aluminum...same thing with a carbon fiber hood.
 
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