Wheel Polishing 101

Free Web space and hosting from freehomepage.com

Wheel Polishing 101

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!!!

Back to Homepage