Okay so
you have decided one of your winter projects is goingto be the
polishing of Aluminum hoops we all call wheels. These along with
the switch housings will be the easiest part of the Magna to
polish to an almost chrome finish since they do not require the
removal of any clear coats that might have been applied at the
factory.
| Anything
beyond these will require a lot of extra effort to polish
up and will obviously add to the hours spent on a
polishing project. |
With one
day and a fairly small amount of effort you to could bring those
machined surfaces of your wheels to a brilliant chrome like
finish. Below is the method that I used to achieve these results
and can be taken even further if you choose, but I tend to try to
get the most for what little time I have for these kinda
projects.
ITEMS
YOU WILL NEED TO SECURE BEFORE STARTING!!!!!!
|
| QUANTITY |
ITEM
DESCRIPTION |
| (1) |
3/8"
Variable Speed Drill |
| (2) |
4"
(Medium) Buffing Wheels (Purchased
at Sears Hardware) |
| (1) |
Arbor
for mounting Buffing wheels to drill |
| (1)
Packet of 10 |
1000
grit Wet or Dry Sandpaper |
| (1)
Packet of 10 |
2000
grit Wet or Dry Sandpaper |
| (1)
Pair |
Disposable
Rubber Gloves |
| (1)
Container |
Heavy
Duty Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound |
| (1)
Container |
Blue
Magic Liquid Metal Polish |
| (1)
Pack |
Steel
Wool |
| (1)
Pack of 2 |
Green
Brillo Pad |
| (1) |
8
hour day |
On your mark, get ready
and lets get to making those aluminum rims shine.
- 1st it will be a
lot easier and a lot faster polishing if the wheels are
removed from the bike. You will also want to remove the
front brake rotor to allow easier access to the machined
surfaces behind it on the front wheel.
- If you own a cycle
lift now is the time to pull it out and use it. If you no
not own one you will have to do each wheel at seperate
times. I used a bottle jack under the frame just in front
of the swing arm to raise the rear wheel off the ground
and remove it. The bike will be balancing on the side
stand so being gentle is very important.
- The front wheel
will be a little harder since there is really no place to
put a jack to raise the front tire. I used a concrete
block and a few pieces of wood to raise my front end.
This will either require you setting the blocks and
raising the bike by grabbing the forks and raising it
onto the blocks or a big burly friend raising the bike
while you slide the block and boards into place.
- Once the wheels
are off you will want to give them a good bath to get all
the grease and dirt off of them.
- Start by getting a
fresh bucket of warm soapy water, a green brillo and a
sheet of the 1000 Grit sandpaper and begin sanding all
the machined surfaces of the wheels until you have
eliminated any signs of the machining lines left at the
factory.
| NOTE:MAKE SURE THAT
YOU USE PLENTY OF WATER DURING THE SANDING PROCESS TO
SPEED THE REMOVAL OF THE MATERIAL. THIS WILL ALSO HELP
KEEP THE SANDPAPER FROM GETTING CLOGGED WHILE YOU WORK. |
- Once you feel that
you have gotten as much or all of the machining lines out
of the wheels you will switch to the 2000 Grit wet or dry
sandpaper and continue sanding until you reach a satin
type finish across all the areas to be polished.
| The sanding process will
be the most time consuming process in making those wheels
reallly shine. Make sure that you do not cut this process
short since the final results will definitely show the
efforts you put into this process. |
- Once you have
sanded to your little hearts content or until your
fingers are bleeding (just joking) you will want to go
over your work with the #0000 steel wool and give all
your work a bath in some fresh warm soapy water. Make
sure you get them clean since you are getting ready to
start the actual polishing and you don't want any foriegn
material on the wheel that might scratch the surface
during the polishing process.
- Okay, you are
ready to start polishing. Take your 4" buffing wheel
and arbor and mount them in the chuck of the drill.
| I purchased my
polishing wheels at Sears Hardware since most of the
other hardware stores did not sell the polishing wheels
with a BOLT type arbor that allows you to tighten the
arbor on the buffing wheel to prevent it from spinning
loose while you are working. |
- Alright then, take
some of the HD Turtle Wax Rubbing
Compound and spread iton the wheel
with a cloth and start polishing at a medium speed. Make
sure that you do not hold the polishing wheel in one
place to long since it will show up in your final work.
Continue working your way around the wheel foloowing the
above process until you have a mirror like finish. You
may need to clean the wheel periodically with a
screwdriver or a special rake that they sell .
| ATTENTION:
Make sure that while you are polishing that you are
careful not to let the bolt and nut end of the arbor come
in contact with the wheels smooth surfaces are you will
be using a few choice words on yourself as you try to get
the scratches or gouges out of the wheel. |
- Okay so now you
have the wheel looking really good. Now you need to give
the wheel a bath with some fresh warm soapy water and dry
it off before starting the next step with the Metal
Polish. Go ahead and take that old DIRTY polishing wheel
out of the drill and mount a fresh clean one in its
place.
- Now you are going
to make sure that you shake the bottle of Blue Magic
Metal Polish well before applying some to a rag and
spreading it out on the wheel in small sections before
polishing it with the drill and buffing wheel. Make sure
you do this process in small sections and do not allow
the polish to dry on the wheel. I also kept and old rag
or sock close by to wipe any access off the work.
| Again you will
want to make sure that you keep something close by to
clean out the polishing wheel periodically so that you
end up with and even shine. |
- No is the time to
give the wheel its final bath for the day and dry it off.
Stand back and admire what you have just done and at a
fraction of what it would cost to have them chrome
plated.
This may seem like
a lot of work but you have just saved yourself close to
$700.00 and can say that you did the work yourself.
GOOD
LUCK AND HAVE FUN!!!
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