Nomad78SA

I am starting to clean up my slotted rims on my 1978 vette. I bought a Eastwood rim polishing kit which I will buff thwm out with in the end. I started out by cleaning mine and then hitting them with some 220 grit emery cloth. I will hit them with 320 or so next but how fine do I need to go to get these babies ready for the buffing compound. Any help is appreciated

Also, what is the best way to paint the black in the middle of the rim??Put a coffee can over the rim and paint??? Thanks for any input
Neil in Tenn




[Modified by Nomad78SA, 5:52 AM 7/22/2003]

78Vette-SA

Hi Neil, your 78 is looking great.

I used Simichrome on a buffing wheel in a drill. I got the buffing wheel in a kit from Sears for $10. If they are real bad, you can use either 1000 grit paper or a Scotchbrite pad (red). That will look terrible and scratched at first, but after buffing out with Mothers, Simichrome, Wenol or something, the shine will come together.

Crash Dummy

Neil,

I tried many of the aluminum mag wheel compounds on my slotted rims I had on another vette and never did like the way the looked afterwards although it was an improvement from the oxidization. I'm not suggesting you go buy a bottle, but if you know of anyone who has some *Safe Cut* by the Wax Shop you should try it in final buffing. It's more designed to get swirls out of clear coat, but really worth trying. Before I used to take my '69 vette to shows I would apply it to take all of the wax off for a mirror image and used it on the slotted wheels too.

Rockn-Roll

I use Mother's Chrome and Aluminum Cleaner and Polish. I think I would get sick if someone got near my rims with sandpaper! As far as I could tell nobody touched my rims for the last 10 years of it's life. When I got it the rims were white as flour. Mothers is a paste that removes the oxidation with rubbing...it takes a lot of rubbing, but the oxidation gets removed without marring the actual surface of the aluminum. I can still see the machine marks from when the rims were made! As long as I can shield my eyes from the glare of the near mirror polish on them. :)

Nomad78SA

Thanks for the replies so far and thanks Joe for the complement. Your vette is very sweet and your site has been in my favorites for a very long time..good inspiration..
As far as the sanding goes, mine had many cuts,nicks and just looked like crap. My vette is far from anything being stock so out with the paper and see if I can clean them up. Eastwood says use 320 prior to using there buffing compounds and some other stuff to disolve any clearcoat. I will be going with some 17" rims next year as I pay off some off my debt first.
Neil in Tenn

Gary79

i just bought a drill bonnet and used Mother's and Eagle 1 mag wheel polish. the sandpaper thing makes me cringe. I libererally applied the mag polish and kept buffing and buffing, then put a coat of wax of them. i did this last yr when i had the tires off, waiting for my new BFG's, also re-painted the blacked out areas and bought new center caps.

dman535

I started with some 600 grit wet then moved to 1000grit wet. It helped to remove any remaining clear coat and wipe out any defects.

gliot1

My favorite wheel polish is Mothers. As far as painting the inserts. Mask across each opening on the front of the wheel. Paint from the backside. they will come out like new.

mark79,80

Had good success using a tapered buffing pad purchased from the Eastwood
Co. It is their part no. 13045. Mounts to a drill arbor, Eastwood no.
13053. Purchase at least a few as they get dirty fast. The pads are cone
shaped so they follow the contour of the wheel. I used them on a
variable speed drill with semi chrome polish. I found that the semi
chrome is more abrasive than Mother's so it does a quicker job in shining
dull wheels. I also used various grits of sandpaper. Progressing from
320 grit dry to 600 grit wet sanding.

When I finished polishing the wheels I washed the buffing pads in the
washing machine.

Nomad78SA

Thanks Mark, that what I needed to hear.
Painting The inserts I can handle now but how about the middle or center of the rim.
Neil in Tenn

mark79,80

To paint the center of the wheels, I found a large (34 oz.) coffee can to
make a perfect shield to keep overspray off of the rest of the wheel.
I cut the coffee can in half and placed it in the center of the wheel. I
layed old towels around the coffee can and the rest of the wheel.
Used spray cans of black primer followed by black gloss lacquar.

81' Corvette Guy

I know one of the guys uses a high tech coffee can approach. Hey looked funny but it works and is the same perfect diameter of the wheel hub u have to paint.

bloodvette80

for the last few weeks glutamine has been trying to find a compound to polish the aluminum. I've seen him try a few things (we live very close) then he found Mother's aluminum polish. It makes it like a mirror and requires only abotu 5 seconds of rubbing. no buffing wheel just apply vigorously and then wipe clean. I bought a can and I've done my rims. I have been telling everyone and I think mother's production has gone up about 20% since me and glutamine found out about it. your didn't have to sand them down at all, glutamines rims looked dull and worn.... i suggested he cut them down with 400 then 1000 then buff. but serisouly, Mother's Aluminum Polish get it.

Captain Morgan

Neil,
When I lived in Utah, I had my wheels polished by a metal shop. The tires had to be off the rims, but that was fine since I was buying new tires. It was only $35 per wheel, so I wasn't about to spend hours on them myself. I know that doesn't help you since you're in Tenn, but I DID paint the centers myself. I bought a large, thin, plastic tarp and cut a hole slightly smaller than the center of the wheel. I then cut small slits going outward from the hole so that I could push the plastic down into the center without it wrinkling too much. I then used wide masking tape and tore off small pieces to tape to the polished part of the wheel. I was able to get a good circle out of it. I then sanded the center section of the wheel, being careful not to damage the polished part. I cut a small piece of cardboard to put into the very center, and taped off the back of the lug holes to avoid any overspray going through the back and getting on my new polished wheels. As for paint, I first used Zinc Chromate primer since the wheels are aluminum. I bought Mid Americas Semi-Gloss black paint and aluminum wheel clear coat. I chose not to paint the "windows", but I would do that this time around. I also suggest buying new center caps from Zip to finish off the wheel.

Here is a pic with the wheel taped off but not sanded:



Here is a pic with the wheel after sanding:



Here is a pic with the wheel at a show the following weekend:




[Modified by Captain Morgan, 10:35 PM 7/22/2003]

Nomad78SA

Thanks for all the suggestions on the rims and products to use..Time to stock up on some more stuff.
Capt. Morgan, looking good and appreciate the pics, they really speak volumes. I already have new lug nuts and new center caps to go on the rims and some Mothers polish along with the Eastwood stuff to include the primer.
Looks like I will hit them with the 320 and 600 wet and see where they stand and perhaps 1000. Hit them with the Eastwood products and the Mothers. I will go by the Harley shop here and see about the semichrome product too.
This forum rocks with a lot of experience..You can tell those that have put a lot of hard work into there vettes here and I appreciate those sharing the knowledge
Neil in Tenn