Just read the badge removal post and "Mattson" said that he will be getting his wheels polished (is it just me or does that sound rude).

Can anyone tell me what this entails and what is the end result. It sounds like it could be a good alternative to buying aftermarket wheels if you want shiny ones.

Any comments appreciated.

TurboCrazy,

I think you're on your own with the sounding rude bit (Well it doesn't to me!)

And you're on the right track with your thoughts as to what Wheel Polishing is too, It is basically the removal of the coating on the wheels, polishing the alloy up, and then I believe coating them in some sort of clear to make the shine last ?

Any wheel/tyre place would be able to get it arranged for you, and I believe anything from about $100 per wheel.

Just read the badge removal post and "Mattson" said that he will be getting his wheels polished (is it just me or does that sound rude).

Only rude if you get your nuts polished :lol:

I've seen mixed success with alloy polishing - get a good polisher and the results can look as nearly good as if they were chromed. Just need to be careful you don't cut through the clear coat.

edit - what I meant was if a protective coat is applied after polishing you don't want to damage this coat.

Just need to be careful you don't cut through the clear coat.

Mate! If they don't cut through the clear coat how do they get to the alloy to polish it?

Polished wheels can look good, there's only two problems I've noticed on polished wheels, 1: after being polished you can see heaps of fine scratches. 2: what do you do with the wheel centres? They're plastic they can't be polished, so you end up with shiny polished wheels and centre caps that are the original colour, it looks crap.

Each to their own I guess!

How to polish metal items:

take off the wheel (or other metal item), remove rubber, wash it, degrease it, dip it in strong paint stripper, then start rubbing, with 400 wet/dry, then 800 (oh, for two hours or so) then 1000 (another hour)

then go to someone that has a bench grinder with a polishing cloth wheel on it, and a stick of green polishing goo. The polishing bit only takes around 20 minutes.

Then it will shine

it's a long winded process but well worth it!