Found this on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KGHuzv8qB0&feature=related
Very tempting -- but I would have to remove the clear coat that protects the wheel to do this, and then would need to polish it regularly.
I might, though. It looks really nice.
My rear wheel is pretty well hidden, so I would only do this for the front.
Has anyone polished the front wheel on a Magna? How well does the aluminum wheel hold up once the clear coat is gone? Is there a way to protect it again (new clear coat)?
After you remove the clear coat and give it a good polish, can you not spray it with a clear coat again?
No clear coat on the rims, time to polish, get to work. :-P :-P
I ask because I stripped the clear coat off some parts to polish them or pain them. I really don't want to have to keep re-polishing. I was hoping after I polished I could just spray them with clear coat again. If not, then they are going to be black or silver paint.
I'm with you, DG. Don't understand Terry's post at all.
Has anyone successfully re-coated their front wheel?
:???: :???:
Yes you can respray with clear coat but you will have to remove all the polish residue to get a good clean surface for the paint to adhere on, use a good paint also. If the area is around where fuel might be a factor you have to use a paint resistant to gas.
Lawrence, on the 3 gen Magna's the rims are not clear coated, I polished mine a bit a few weeks ago.
How long do you think it would take to do this with a drill and the polishing wheel?
You can do it pretty fast with a drill and wheel, before I go on I better look at your video.
Get some sewn polishing wheels, polishing sticks, finish with Mag. Polish, it will look pretty good. The problem is getting in all the tight places your fancy drill won't fit. If you need more detail on how or what supplies to get, post up.
SmokedU also has a write-up on a different way using diesel, both work.
Here is a thread where I polished my GT380 motor.
http://www.magnaownersoftexas.com/forums/index.php?topic=1908.msg14518#msg14518
Quote from: TLRam1 on April 03, 2009, 05:30:47 PM
The problem is getting in all the tight places your fancy drill won't fit.
What about Dremel for the tight spots?
Quote from: tmds3 on April 03, 2009, 05:41:17 PM
Quote from: TLRam1 on April 03, 2009, 05:30:47 PM
The problem is getting in all the tight places your fancy drill won't fit.
What about Dremel for the tight spots?
If you have access, Dremel works well!
Quote from: TLRam1 on April 03, 2009, 03:55:53 PM
Lawrence, on the 3 gen Magna's the rims are not clear coated, I polished mine a bit a few weeks ago.
Thanks, Terry. I don't know where I got the idea that it was coated. I intend to polish away. I really like the polished look.
I use the Mothers Power Ball Mini. Works great on rims. Sometimes I use the Mothers polish with it but usually the stuff I buy at the Int'l Bike SHow every year that they show off by polishing the bottoms of coke cans and old coins.
http://www.autogeek.net/powerballmini.html
you can get the power ball at all auto parts stores.
I polished my rear wheel when I changed the tire last year. I tried using the Mothers Power ball or whatever it was called. It did not work well at all. I ended up using Mothers polish (which has always worked well for me. I had a lot of corrosion on my wheels that would not come off with mothers and a rag. So I went to my wife's kitchen and got a couple scotchbrite (green and yellow sponge scrubber pads) I used them and lots of elbow grease and it came out looking pretty good. I used soft rags after I got all the corrosion off.
After looking around on the web I found that Dupli-Color has a clear coat for wheels, so you could polish them up and then clear coat them and maybe cut down on the polishing to keep them clean. I know it already takes me almost an hour to polish all the chrome on the bike now.
I recently polished the wheels on Deb's 3rd gen and tried several things mentioned and finally found what worked for me. The wheels in our case were in very poor condition, they had so much oxide it felt like sand paper. I used a sewn polishing wheel with red rouge to remove the oxide and clear coat(if there was any :sad:) and cleaned up with MEK. MEK works very well and can be found at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. and my advice would be to use protective gear while useing it. Once I had the wheels down to bare metal I used a cloth wheel (not sewn) and red rouge and cleaned up with MEK. Deb put a coating of Mothers polish on to help keep them clean longer.
Well, today I tried the drill press/vice combination as shown in the video. It looked so cool, I had to try it. It looks cooler than it works :lol: :lol: :lol:
It was quite convenient to have the wheel captured on the axle in the vice -- for one thing, the shop has an air conditioner!! But this was not the only benefit. it was at chest height, easy to get to, etc. I used a sewn polish wheel from Harbor Freight, and Mothers Power Metal Polish. After 38K miles there are many pits and scratches in the wheel, but it still looks pretty nice. Much better than when I started.
One thing that puzzled me a bit -- the left (brake rotor) side was a lot more pitted than the right side. Perhaps because it is harder to wash?? :???: :???: Has anyone else noticed this?
Oh, and is there a link to the diesel fuel method? I use this stuff for all sorts of things, but not to polish aluminum (yet)!!