Polishing Wolfrace wheels

[peter freeman]

I "paint" my wheels with Waxoyl for the winter - easy on easy off.

[scmarf]

I used this firm in Melton Mowbray to refurbish the Revolution wheels on my TR6 about 3 years ago.

http://www.alloywheelrepair.co.uk/

The Revolutions had a diamond polished rim with lacquer that had blistered. I had the wheels cleaned and polished but not lacquered - the rims just need a polish once a year to keep smart. This service wasn't cheap, about £50 per corner from memory, but I'm happy with the result.


Nigel

Hi Nigel. Welcome to the light/dark side (delete as appropriate)

A local contact is most welcome.

[scmarf]

Noggin wisdom last night was that glass bead blasting gives a good finish. Discuss.

[piman]

Hello Scmarf,

I wouldn't have thought that would give a polished finish but a matt one? Although aluminium is soft it is difficult and tedious to polish to a good shine with just average DIY kit.

Alec

Alec

[Roger Pennington]

Yes, I can't speak from personal experience, but I would have thought that if you wanted a polished finish, you'd still have to polish it afterwards? It might be a good way of removing dirt, lacquer, and light corrosion, (without using chemical strippers) though how it would deal with heavier corrosion pitting, I don't know?

[ScimmyMike]

I've blasted the ally bumper trims on an SE6, I can assure you you will certainly not like the finish it gives

[caravan1963]

On my SE6 I had, I did one wheel (the spare) then sold the car
I used Brillo pads, very lightly and T cut and then if I remember right I used WD40 to finish off with, it was just an experiment really but quite pleased with the end result.
I did it all by hand, no tools used at all and God did I know about it, It did take about a day to do the one but it looked good in the end.
There are places out there that do them and like Nigel says about £50 per wheel but I don't think that is bad really for the work that goes into them, but some people would like the challenge and to say I did that

[Arlow]

Brought a set of wolfrace slotmags and I'm going to polish them up, any recommendations on products? Tools? Cloths? Techniques? Cheers

[the 70s]

.......depending who bad they are id try sanding wet n dry with some 2000 grit, then get a firm mop head on a mopper with some cutting paste G3 THEN G10, im sure itll work on alloy, my slots have been sprayed silver, ill be looking into getting them polished to original spec

[the 70s]

.......depending how bad they are id try sanding wet n dry with some 2000 grit, then get a firm mop head on a mopper with some cutting paste G3 THEN G10, im sure itll work on alloy, my slots have been sprayed silver, ill be looking into getting them polished to original spec

[peter freeman]

Don't use Autosol as your final polish use Meguiar's - far better

[Roger Pennington]

I've merged this thread with the previous one on the same topic, so there's now a number of posts of extra info, before your question.

[ScimmyMike]

.......depending who bad they are id try sanding wet n dry with some 2000 grit, then get a firm mop head on a mopper with some cutting paste G3 THEN G10, im sure itll work on alloy, my slots have been sprayed silver, ill be looking into getting them polished to original spec

Were they ever polished though, looking at mine I'd have thought not, dog rough finish only suitable for paint

[Roger Pennington]

Were they ever polished though, looking at mine I'd have thought not, dog rough finish only suitable for paint

My belief is that the original finish would be diamond-cut and polished, followed "probably" by lacquer. Certainly when I bought my car back in '83 the lacquer showed plenty of evidence of having been on the car for the 3 1/2 years or so from new, and when I stripped it, the original surface, complete with the tiny grooves from the cutting, was still visible.
Surely the whole point of a "slot-mag" style wheel, is the shiny polished dish?

Of course, 30 years down the road, who knows what wheels may have been subjected to, by uncaring previous owners?

[*JP*]

Back in the eighties I purchased a new set of Wolrace wheels for my SE6 to replace the tatty chrome alloys and was given the option of having them normal or "super polished."
I opted for the latter and very shiny they were but also unlacquered...which was fine until they were used on salty roads which was an immediate disaster.I spent many hours re-polishing them myself and,lesson learned,applied a few coats of lacquer before they went back on the car.