19 replies to this topic

[Retro Richard]

I fell over this topic on Detailing world forum and I got itchy fingers. So after at least 30 seconds deliberation I decided that my first project for 2011 would be to repair and polish my alloys on the 7. I bought a polishing kit from ebay, some scotch blue masking tape and some Nitromorse.




They don't look so bad from a distance but close up they are heavily corroded.



So I masked up the wheel



out with the Nitromorse.



And scrub with wire wool.



And I'm left with this.



Next week I will be sanding back the corrosion and hopfully putting back a whole lot of shine.

[ahmotorsport]

Christ! That Nitromors is the nuts! Wish i'd done my wheels with it now

[75nut]

Be intrested to see how you get on polishing them and removing the corrosion as need to do the same to the Alfas alloys so make sure you take plenty more pics. I tried it on my AMG Merc onnce and just marked them lol!

[ahmotorsport]

I just polished the rims for mine and used Autoglym Metal Polish from Amazon.co.uk for 9 quid and it's brilliant, comes up really nice.

[Retro Richard]

Sorry, no updates just yet, I have been very busy this week, I have started rubbing down the corrosion but nothing to show for it yet. I will do some more next week.

[Retro Richard]

Small update.
I have been rubbing down like mad but progress is slow.
240 grit paper gets out most of the marks.



But the worst corrosion still shows through.



I might just end up having to live with it.

More to come.

[Retro Richard]

I managed to put some hours in and finaly finished rubbing down.
After going all the way around with the 240 grit wet and dry I went on to 600, then 800, then 1500, then I was left with this;



But there are still a few marks visable.



In the dying hours of the day I started polishing the first 1/4.



Not bad for the first cut.

[Retro Richard]

Got it finished tonight.





What do you think?

Sadly the wheel centre paint is starting to brake up and lift so it looks like it wont be long before I have more work to do. And I still have the rest of the wheels to do.

[75nut]

Sweet Nice work!!! Whatg did you actually use for the final polish, compound and elbow grease or a tool?

[Retro Richard]

The polishing was done with a set of drill mounted mops, first a course sizel reinforced one with a cutting compund, then a softer one and finally a woolly sort of thing with a polishing compound on it.
This is the kit.

 IMOP.jpg   46.8K   0 downloads

I finished up with Meguires all metal polish applied by hand.

[ahmotorsport]

Christ! They look bloody lovely, good job mate.

[75nut]

Nice one ,always wondered how you used that equipment, Alfa rims here I come!

[Warphi1970]

you have given me insperation to try sorting my wheels out thanks was quoted £80 per wheel but i am willing to put some hours in whilst watching the tv lol

good job

[moomin]

Good work that man!

[Christian Skelton]

Job well done. I remember trying to do some old Metro wheels when I was at Uni, but in the end my patience ran out and I just sprayed them dark grey.

[Retro Richard]

Well it would appear that once you start with these things you find it hard to stop.

Back in January I was offered a set of alloys for my Caravelle. it was rolling on stock steels and trims so something a bit nicer would be great.I had been searching e-bay for something suitable in my (minuscule) budget but drawn a blank so these at a price I couldnt turn down were going to be better than the nothing I currently had. The decrpition was "7spoke" and thats it.

What turned up were a set of VERY crusty Ronal 15" Dealer fit alloys, heavily curbed and with corrosion in a lot of places, still fitted with tyres of which only 1 was salvageable. Still good for the money though.



With the tyres stripped off I had a plan - no polishing this time so I could go in with the DA sander to remove the curb damage and the worst of the corrosion and then wet and dry to smooth out between the spokes and to key the old paint.

Half way round;


Smooth;


Details;


Clean up the insides - dont want air leaks.




Clean up around the back too.



And prime;


And then..... a bit of a delay.






of about 4 months!
Finally I got my finger out, finished the last half of the last wheel and got them ready for paint.





High sparkle silver, Blue metalflake and 2k clearcoat.



Now with tyres and on the car.


9 months after I started, the wheels are on. The steels are now fitted with snow tyres so I have maybe 2 months before I need to fit the steels back on????

I am quite happy with the result and the total cost including materials and the wheels themselves. £45

[ricky]

can't grumble at that, nice wheels for that money even if it was a bit of work, nice job... regards ricky

[eefy]

great right up fella amd well done on the work put in, I'll be refurbing some old P-SLOT alloys in the spring hoping for a satin finish after the metal polishing

[BrettMRC]

That's some nice work there

Where did you buy the kit from?

[Retro Richard]

If you mean the polishing kit? it was an ebay purchase.

This sort of thing http://www.ebay.co.u...=item5aea006a38

But there are plenty of different ones available.