Advice on Polishing Rims
04-30-13, 06:49 AM
#1
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Advice on Polishing Rims
Hey guys,
So Ive decided to remove the paint off my Axis Penta Rims for the LS430. Ive gone ahead and used Aircraft Remover to remove all the paint. My question comes down to finishing.
The wheels look to be painted after they were purchased. I removed all the black paint down to the lip and the lip seems to come polished from factory. The face on the other hand had a grey paint underneath which i am assuming is factory from Axis.
The lip (6") looks to be pre polished, as it is machine groved (Tinny ridges) and is shinny. The face on the other hand is now down to bare metal.
My next move is to sand the faces starting with a 600 grit and moving to a 3000 eventually.
Heres my question. Will i need to clear cost the rim and/or face... of can I just leave it as is after polishing. I am assuming this is aluminum aloy which wont rust? I only assume this due to there being paint chips in the rims in the past with no rust to the surface metal.
Thanks in advance for the help!
So Ive decided to remove the paint off my Axis Penta Rims for the LS430. Ive gone ahead and used Aircraft Remover to remove all the paint. My question comes down to finishing.
The wheels look to be painted after they were purchased. I removed all the black paint down to the lip and the lip seems to come polished from factory. The face on the other hand had a grey paint underneath which i am assuming is factory from Axis.
The lip (6") looks to be pre polished, as it is machine groved (Tinny ridges) and is shinny. The face on the other hand is now down to bare metal.
My next move is to sand the faces starting with a 600 grit and moving to a 3000 eventually.
Heres my question. Will i need to clear cost the rim and/or face... of can I just leave it as is after polishing. I am assuming this is aluminum aloy which wont rust? I only assume this due to there being paint chips in the rims in the past with no rust to the surface metal.
Thanks in advance for the help!
05-03-13, 06:26 AM
#2
Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you...
First off, the ridged area you are talking about is a machined finish, which is done on a lathe and usually clear coated afterwards...
Some aftermarket wheel manufacturers clear coat their polished and/or machined finish wheels when they are new, and others leave them bare metal. You are correct that aluminum doesn't rust, but it does oxidize. It also tends to get very dirty usually very quickly and loses its lustre. It can be gotten back, always, obviously, by polishing though, and a newly polished wheel is much shinier than a clear coated wheel. A clear coated wheel looks newer longer and cleans up the same way a painted wheel would, simple soap and water and it is usually back to new again, not requiring any heavy duty polishing...
First off, the ridged area you are talking about is a machined finish, which is done on a lathe and usually clear coated afterwards...
Some aftermarket wheel manufacturers clear coat their polished and/or machined finish wheels when they are new, and others leave them bare metal. You are correct that aluminum doesn't rust, but it does oxidize. It also tends to get very dirty usually very quickly and loses its lustre. It can be gotten back, always, obviously, by polishing though, and a newly polished wheel is much shinier than a clear coated wheel. A clear coated wheel looks newer longer and cleans up the same way a painted wheel would, simple soap and water and it is usually back to new again, not requiring any heavy duty polishing...
05-03-13, 10:17 AM
#3
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Thaks Mitsuguy, seems to me like clear coating would be a good decision. I am assuming any clear coat on the machined surface has been removed when I used the aircraft remover to remove the top layer of black paint.
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