This was a great video! I had been looking for these kind of videos and none of them were doing wheels similar to mine, but although my wheels are GM they are very close to the style and finish of these. You did a great job!
Sorry I comment as I see needed, if not, I'll forget. Klean -Strip AEROSOL paint stripper is you new favorite stripper! lol! And a pressure washer. If you have to, take them to the car wash. If you have one, get the turbo nozzle attachment. There's NO overnight covering either. Even with using plastic wrap, you will have drying which is why you had uneven removal. It will simply evaporate and harden right back. I've stripped so many wheels with one can for all 4 80% of the time removing 80% of the paint/clear on the first 15 minute application. The best thing about the pressure washer is that it's doing the removal and clean up at the same time. Then what was left on the wheels was easily removed with hard bristle paint stripping wheel. The Wal-Mart Hyper-Tough one is amazing. It will actually remove more coating than wire wheels. And that something else I was gonna touch on. By scuffing first and then using that metal scraper along with the wire wheels, you're just adding a lot of various scratches and gouges that is gonna take a lot time to removed. Aluminum is soft but scratches from different angles, OMG, can take forever. Also, when you go to remove the last bit of clear, use a heat gun to soften the left overs. The chemical did remove some and start the process. Don't waste more stripper and have more harzardous itchy clean up. The heat and hard plastic drill brush will surprise you!!!! Links coming below for ya..... Stripper.... www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-16-oz-Premium-Stripper-Aerosol-CA-Formula-EKPS302SC/311799645 Sorry the brand of the brush is "Hart" at WallyWord. www.walmart.com/ip/HART-4-inch-Nylon-Abrasive-Wheel-Cleaning-and-Polishing/339717286?athcpid=339717286&athpgid=AthenaItempage&athcgid=null&athznid=si&athieid=v0&athstid=CS004&athguid=6a0bK52hyUyVtuk03kYzG_6vDuKBlctDHweH&athancid=null&athena=true
Im curious on how the corroded wheel turned out? One of mine are corroded just like yours so I’m wondering how I should tackle them. How did you do it?
All 4 wheels turned out exactly how the finished product turned out in this video. All my wheels are mint now. With the corrosion, I just sanded it until the wheel surface was smooth. So I took a lot of time just sanding with really coarse sandpaper like a 80 grit to remove the corrosion, then I just kept stepping up the sandpaper like I did in the video. Polished the wheel after and came out mint. Your only option is really to sand it out. You have to remove all the corrosion either way by sanding it.
Using a sisal wheel with black emery also works for removing the clear coat while smoothing out the metal, that way there are no imperfections from using sand paper.
Hey mate, great video. One thing I found with paint stripper, if you scuff up the paint with 80 grit before applying the stripper it work wayyy better.
That's exactly what I did. The stripper just sucks compared to the non environmentally friendly strippers. I remember strippers were way better back in the day.
Pro tip: a little Isopropyl Alcohol mixed with distilled water 1:1 and a microfibre towel works really well to take off the sanded bits before polish and after polishing before any coatings
I'd recommend the aircraft paint stripper, but to be honest, all these non-methylene chloride paint strippers are horrible. They don't work as good as the old ones that have methylene chloride. So you can really just use any automotive paint stripper, but aircraft stripper has been the go to. You can just search it up on google. Here's a link I found just randomly googling. www.autobodytoolmart.com/product/klean-strip-aircraft-non-methylene-chloride-paint-remover/automotive-paint-stripper-remover
Good work! I refinished an EM1 wheel which looked really bad like this one. I didn't polish the wheel like you did, I stripped the old clear coat and then re-recleared with really pretty good results.
Nice. I wish I could just strip and reclear. The corrosion was bad. Caused pits and stuff in the rim. So I had to sand and grind it all out. At that point there won't be the machined lines like stock. So it was either polish or paint them. So I went the polish route. I would have preferred the oem stock brushed aluminum look.
@@BudgetGears couldn’t you just leave it looking brushed with like 220grit scratches, use some fine steel wool or a scotch brite pad to even it out and have enough tooth and just shoot it with urethane clear?
@@dirtyaznstyle4156 Short answer: NO. Long answer: there was corrosion with pitting that destroyed the machined lines. Yes, I could have re-cleared them having the brushed look, but the rims would look like garbage with all the pitting. And 220 grit scratches won't come out with scotch pad or steel wool. If the rims were fine, I would have stripped, hit it with 600 or 800 grit and then re-cleared. I went the option of polishing because the wheels were in bad shape. The other option would have been to send them to a machine shop and re-machine all the faces and then clear coat. It would have cost me a lot more money doing that then just finding myself a better set.
Most aluminum wheels or any aluminum, for sanding grits should only be 200, 400, 1000, and 2000. Now of course curb rash is another issue all along. In fact a simple 3 in disc grinder attachment called a "Roloc" by 3M will come in a kit from a knockoff Chinese brand on Amazon for like $15 and have 3 grades that will let you shape and clean up wheel rash fast. And when you sand, you have to wet sand to get the most life out of your paper and save you time. The water simply flushes the metal particles out of the grit letting it keep cutting. I actually like to hand sand wheels by wrapping my paper around foam blocks. I like to work in a straight line also. The sanders Dual Action motion can lead to deeper marks hear and there because the surfaces are curved. Plus, it's a lot harder to wet sand with an electric sander....even battery powered as they are not water proof. That's why you see wetsanding done with air sanders and foam insert transfer discs in between the tool and paper. Try this when you get to your last two grits....use WD-40 as your lube instead of water. You will see mirroring before you ever even touch a polisher and foam pads! Knock off Roloc kit. The best thing ever for working metal injuries..... www.amazon.com/Coceca-Inches-Surface-Conditioning-Sanding/dp/B07T1M9KC1/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1JAHWRRKTLGU1&dchild=1&keywords=2+inch+roloc+disc&qid=1632476395&sprefix=inch+roloc%2Caps%2C274&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVlc1RUwwOVY5TkQ4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODYwODQzMUtGMUlGS0VWUFdTRyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODY4Mjc3MzlJWkZQWklVNzZFQSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= Polishing pad kits. Best bang for you money hear. And get Meguiar's Ultimate Compound at Wal-Mart for your wheel polish. It's abrasives break down so it will turn into a finer polish as you work it. Just go to a less abrasive pad and spritz with water to keep it going and refining. It's all you need. Clean WELL with brake cleaner then 80% iso alcohol. Coat with ceramic coat or a 2k Clear Coat with the can in a can which is your hardener. Don't even attempt to clear coat with Krylon or similar. It will never harden. www.amazon.com/Coceca-Inches-Surface-Conditioning-Sanding/dp/B07T1M9KC1/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1JAHWRRKTLGU1&dchild=1&keywords=2+inch+roloc+disc&qid=1632476395&sprefix=inch+roloc%2Caps%2C274&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVlc1RUwwOVY5TkQ4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODYwODQzMUtGMUlGS0VWUFdTRyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODY4Mjc3MzlJWkZQWklVNzZFQSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
@@BudgetGears thank you! I have 13 screws in my back and waiting on surgery to have two broken ones taken out and hopefully all of them. So I sit here at 3am and want to just give a little help without sounding like I'm trying to correct you. I just start typing and well you get lots of my real world, and real life, experiences from where I did this day in and day out for 15 years. It doesn't help that I actually just like being nice and want to help. I think some people are scared of that these days! LOL! Thank you for being receptive of me and my comments/tips.
@@justinmurphy2227 Yikes. The screws in your back sound painful. I hope your surgery goes well and you have a speedy recovery. Any help and tips are great! The more info the better. Especially when they're coming from someone experienced as yourself. 😁👍
I know I'm a bit late... But I've worked in an auto refinishers for 14 years. For around 2years of my apprenticeship, I rubbed down some of *THE* worst wheels on the face of the planet at the time. What the original comment says is 110% true. As soon and he said that he starts with an 80grit I cringed sooo bad . You can/I have, refurbished wheels that look like the driver uses the streets like a pinball course home to the stage of painting with worn out, ready for the bin, DA discs no coarser than a p180. The time you save in using a coarser grit disc you equally loose in getting rid of the gouge marks left by them. Ally is super soft and malleable compared to steel and if you've ever welded it you'll understand how weak it actually is.
I am currently going through this same process with the exact type of wheel. I followed the same steps with the exception of not stripping them. I have used the same grit of paper in the same order. When finished the wheels are super smooth but appears to have a smudge appearance. No scratches just smudge/haze. I plan to clearcoat them. Wondering if the clearcoat will even out this appearance?
I dont think clear coating will fix that. You're supposed to buff it till its perfect then clearcoat. Maybe you need some different metal buffing rouges and buffing wheels. It does take a long while to get the desired finish with a drill. If you can get a rotary polisher, it'll give you quicker results.
Be very careful with the paint stripper and maybe use a good masking tape. The paint stripper did bleed through some of my masking tape and messed up some of the inside spokes. But not very noticeable.
I skip all the grit changes, I use a strapping disk in my 4 1/2" grinder to strip the clear, then 220, then 400. Then I use a series of burring compounds on a stiff buffing wheel on my 9227 buffer. Emery compound, tripoli, and jewlers rouge. Then mothers wheel polish. The last 2 steps, I use a loose sewn buffing wheel.
Good tips. That would save a lot of time from sanding. I'll have to try that. For one of the wheels, I sanded to 800 grit and then tried to buff and it didn't work. The drill buffing probably wasn't aggressive enough.
@@BudgetGears I am still in the learning process but I don't like paint stripper, it always seems to get where I don't want so I am doing 4 wheels on my Caddy and each one will have a different way to get out the shine. I forgot the name of the buffing pads that your supposed to use but never tried them. I don't think a drill will do it but don't spin the buffing pad over the RPM that should be on the back. I wrap my left for arm with duct tape as I buffed my skin off 4 times on this project.
@@Viktory2k1 paint stripper does get everywhere and strips or fades areas you don't want stripped. Even bleeds through masking. Lol. But I guess its fine if someone wanted to strip an entire wheel to the bare before sand blasting. Damn the video looks like a ton of work. But definitely a polisher with the right polishing disc would definitely work better. I was trying to buff mine out as cheaply as I can so opted for drill polishing. It does an ok job but not mirror finish. Would be sweet to do a mirror finish and less sanding. I hate sanding.
great video ! The only problem is that you need to apply an aluminum type of clear that is similar to stock. if not then they will not stay clear and nice due to the exposure to elements.
It really depends on the weather conditions you put them through. I haven't experienced any dulling or issues with my polished rims and I've driven the car a lot and gone through many washes. But keep in mind my car isn't a daily and I never drive it in harsh conditions. My car never sees rain at all. I haven't had to repolish or do anything to the rims since I polished them and they've definitely experienced months of driving. A clear coat is a good way to protect them, but depending on the clear, it may dull the rims. It's also not a lot of work to shine them up again with some mothers polish and a rag if they ever get dull. Another good option is to ceramic coat them, which should provide some decent protection.
Used the same stripper. Didn't even cut thru the clearcoat. Used a brass wire wheel to ruff up the paint then tried it again. Better (but not great) results
Funny you said that paint stripper sucking, someone took my 99-00 si wheels before I got them, painted em like dark grey. Looked bad, I tried to strip the entire wheel with whatever product advance or autozone sold as an aircraft stripper and it was absolutely trash too.. I ended up doing two coats each wheel.. and just physically sanding through the crap.. took forEVER
Yeah these new enviro friendly strippers are horrible. Takes so much more time and more product and sessions and won't fully strip. So different from the strippers from back in the day.
I actually left the clear coat inside the spokes, which is why I masked it up. But any clear that remained on the face of the wheel was removed when I wire brushed and sanded it.
It may take more effort doing it all by wire brush. It'll also leave a lot more deeper scratches wherever you wire wheel. Paint stripping is a better option, but these crappy paint strippers do take a long time to strip the paint. It's always best to chemically strip as much as you can and then mechanically do the remaining bits.
Thanks man. It was a lot of work. I'm still working on finishing the other wheels. It takes so much time. But its something to do when there's free time. 😁
@@Mctzuma Its a lot of work to polish. I mean they look sweet once polished, but will require maintenance to keep it shiny. I think some people would apply a ceramic coat on them to keep them shiny longer. Once you start polishing, there's no going back. Well I guess you can always scuff and paint. Painting them would be wayyy easier though. But I love how bling a polished rim looks.
@@BudgetGears tbo i don’t like how they look polished its to shiny for me and you know how you putted the tape on the wheel i putted it on also but after putting the paint remover the tape got wet and the paint remover dripping down the sides and now it looks bad but not too bad
@@Mctzuma yeah the paint stripper dripped down for me too. I mean its not too bad. Mine ate away at some of the taped areas. I like the shiny more than how people paint them. But they still look way better than peeling and corroded.
No, you don't have to. You can if you choose to. If you don't clear, you just have to hand buff them here and there to maintain the shine. I havent had to do anything since I polished them and its been 2+ years. Still shiny as the day I polished them.
Did you have to get your wheels balanced? I don’t really care if I need to get my wheels balanced because I need new tires anyway, but with the material I took off idk 🤷♂️
Yes, I did. The tires on the wheels were garbage anyways, so I got new tires mounted and balanced and everything was fine. Used the sticky weights since I dont want any weights showing on the rims.
I would loved to have kept them OEM looking, but the corrosion and pitting on the wheels made that impossible. The condition of the wheels before the polish were really bad. No one would have put the time to save them like I did. So it was either polish or paint or toss out. I don't like how painted EM1 wheels look and I didn't want to toss them out, so I put the time in polishing them. I think they look great. I get compliments from everyone that sees them.
I'm in Canada so i got it from Princess Auto. It would be equivalent to Harbour Freight if you're in the US. I used 1 kit and the kit is still good to polish more things if I need to.
Stripper works better when it’s kept wet. Even aircraft stripper has the new formula and isn’t as effective as before. Isn’t the area you masked still coated? Isn’t that basically where it’s guaranteed to have water intrusion under the clear and it’s gonna flake off? Also, mother’s mag and aluminum polish no need for the rouge and wheels. Extra step and more opportunity for there to be grit putting scratches in your wheel
The instructions do say to lay it on thick, but yes, the new environmentally friendly formula's aren't as effective as before. And the area I masked is to retain the clear that was fine there. During the sanding stage it feathers the edge of the clear out so no water intrusion. The clear wasn't flaking off in the masked areas. It was still very well bonded to the rim. When I finished the sanding the rims, I did try just using Mother's. It didn't come out as great without the rouge. With just Mothers, I did many buffing passes and it was still duller than the rims I did with the rouges. However, I did figure out that I can skip all the sanding steps after 1500 grit since that was the lowest grit I can go where I can still buff it out. It did however take more effort and time to buff than when it was sanded to 3000 grit.
I'm trying to restore my junkyard Si rims, but they had some nasty failiure between the spokes, too. I've already started to get that out, but I ate through the clear in several places. How should I sand/fix this?
I'm assuming you're talking about the triangles between spokes? Are you polishing the faces of the rims? You have a few options: you can strip the clear off and polish inside the spokes and reclear or just leave polished; you can sand the between spokes smooth and then paint them. Another option is to turn them into how the European style rims are like. They were painted silver and wasn't the brushed aluminum look.
@@BudgetGears Yeah I'm polishing the face of the wheel. I wanted to leave the gap between the spokes alone but there was corrosion and some damage between them. I've since started sanding the inside of them to get rid of the damage, but now it won't match unless I do the rest. You think a lower grit in the spokes is fine or do you think I'd need to polish them just like the faces?
@@jsk2276 So like what I did with my between spokes. The stripper did take some of the clear off my between spokes too. I left them alone since it wasn't noticeable. You can always paint them black. My original plan was to either polish the between spokes as well or spray them black. Either option would look pretty nice in my opinion. But polishing between there isn't easy to do so I was heavily leaning towards painting them.
No clear coat. I dont know if the clear would even stick. After polishing, there's nothing for the clear coat to bite onto. Unlike when you paint, it bonds to the base coat. Not sure if I'd want to risk it not sticking. Easier to ceramic coat it later and apply polish again when it stops shining.
I just did this to a set of Acura TL Type S 17” wheels that look similar to these. I also repainted the inserts but I clear coated them. They had been painted black by the previous owner so the stripping process involved removing paint and clear coat. That first one took me 10 hours start to finish, but I was able to strip the remaining 3 at the same time in 3 hours. Tip: lay the stripper on as thick as you can and then after the appropriate amount of time, use a pressure washer to blast away most of the clear coat.
@@rickblackledge8948 Awesome tips! A pressure washer would have been handy when I stripped mine. Which paint stripper did you use? I find the aircraft stuff is still the best stripper to use. The Amazon stuff I tried was so weak.
There's a few options. 1. You could spray a clear coat on it but that obviously will give it a different appearance. 2. Simple maintaining by cleaning every few months and then a quick hand buff using mothers aluminum polish. 3. You could put a ceramic coating on it which will allow you to go longer without having to maintain. 4. You can try car wax or using a metal sealant of some sort. Similar to ceramic coating itll prolong the time before you have to clean and buff. I personally just clean wheels with car soap or dish soap if really dirty and then give it a quick hand buff with mothers and they'll look great. But I also don't expose the wheels in the elements aside from a little rain.
You spent 10hrs on one 16” wheel cos you didn’t have proper tools and process you did was backwards that was time wasting … try using rotary polisher tool and sand off whatever you can comes contact with the wheel and use dremel to sand off rest of whatever spots u couldn’t touch with rotary polisher… and after sanding off with 240 grit and sand with 1000 grit and 2000 and wipe off the wheels with microfiber cloth using rubbing alcohol and once dry! spray wheel clear coat and it should look better than how it was factory
Thanks for the advice. For the record. 220 would take forever to remove pitting and corrosion and curbage. Not to mention the machining. But on a perfectly good wheel with minor imperfections, 220 would work fine.
@@BudgetGears after i do 1500 i still have small scratches and imperfections. Should i sand again with 2500 and then 5000 to remove all scratches? Then do i polish by hand or using a foam pad like you would on a car?
@@JeLifeCoach What grit scratches are remaining? As you sand, you want to use the next grit to remove the prior grit scratches. Every grit will leave finer and finer scratches. Once you're left with fine enough scratches, you can then use a buffing wheel and polishing rouge to buff the metal. Metal polishing requires a buffing wheel, not a foam pad. Foam pads won't work well because they're not meant for metal polishing.
@@BudgetGears oh ok. Thank you very much. I did 320,400,600,800,1200 by hand after washing the wheel. Got rid of lots of oxidation and such but still many scratches. Wasn’t sure when to start the buffing / polishing stage.
@@JeLifeCoach the buffing stage is easier the higher grit you get to. So if you finish off at 2500 grit, which is more than fine enough, you can start buffing. 1500 may be ok too. But if the scratches don't come out you'll end up having to sand it to 2500 then buffing again. There really isn't any need to go as high as 5000. But if you do, the buffing will be much easier.
80 grit to start ? too deep of scratches to start with they weren't wrecked lol making more work for yourself.. to anyone watching this 600 should be fine to start...
I started with 80 to smooth out pitting corrosion and curb damage. I dont disagree with you on using a higher grit to start but it'll depend on the condition of the rims your working on. 600 won't take out machining marks, curbage, or any damage in the rims.
It most definitely is a lot of work. I feel like it might not have been worth the time spent, but it sure looks way better than painted. And not too shabby having a very clean set of stock rims.
This was a great video! I had been looking for these kind of videos and none of them were doing wheels similar to mine, but although my wheels are GM they are very close to the style and finish of these. You did a great job!
Thanks! 😁Polishing these wheels were a ton of work, but definitely happy with the results.
Sorry I comment as I see needed, if not, I'll forget.
Klean -Strip AEROSOL paint stripper is you new favorite stripper! lol!
And a pressure washer. If you have to, take them to the car wash. If you have one, get the turbo nozzle attachment. There's NO overnight covering either. Even with using plastic wrap, you will have drying which is why you had uneven removal. It will simply evaporate and harden right back. I've stripped so many wheels with one can for all 4 80% of the time removing 80% of the paint/clear on the first 15 minute application. The best thing about the pressure washer is that it's doing the removal and clean up at the same time. Then what was left on the wheels was easily removed with hard bristle paint stripping wheel. The Wal-Mart Hyper-Tough one is amazing. It will actually remove more coating than wire wheels. And that something else I was gonna touch on. By scuffing first and then using that metal scraper along with the wire wheels, you're just adding a lot of various scratches and gouges that is gonna take a lot time to removed. Aluminum is soft but scratches from different angles, OMG, can take forever. Also, when you go to remove the last bit of clear, use a heat gun to soften the left overs. The chemical did remove some and start the process. Don't waste more stripper and have more harzardous itchy clean up. The heat and hard plastic drill brush will surprise you!!!! Links coming below for ya.....
Stripper....
www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-16-oz-Premium-Stripper-Aerosol-CA-Formula-EKPS302SC/311799645
Sorry the brand of the brush is "Hart" at WallyWord.
www.walmart.com/ip/HART-4-inch-Nylon-Abrasive-Wheel-Cleaning-and-Polishing/339717286?athcpid=339717286&athpgid=AthenaItempage&athcgid=null&athznid=si&athieid=v0&athstid=CS004&athguid=6a0bK52hyUyVtuk03kYzG_6vDuKBlctDHweH&athancid=null&athena=true
Legend
Perfect video ..I just picked up a set of sir rims for my ef ...now I know what I'm doing this weekend lol
Lol! Nice! Its a lot of work polishing but looks so good after its done. 😁
Im curious on how the corroded wheel turned out? One of mine are corroded just like yours so I’m wondering how I should tackle them. How did you do it?
All 4 wheels turned out exactly how the finished product turned out in this video. All my wheels are mint now. With the corrosion, I just sanded it until the wheel surface was smooth. So I took a lot of time just sanding with really coarse sandpaper like a 80 grit to remove the corrosion, then I just kept stepping up the sandpaper like I did in the video. Polished the wheel after and came out mint. Your only option is really to sand it out. You have to remove all the corrosion either way by sanding it.
@@BudgetGears Alright thank you!
Using a sisal wheel with black emery also works for removing the clear coat while smoothing out the metal, that way there are no imperfections from using sand paper.
Hey mate, great video. One thing I found with paint stripper, if you scuff up the paint with 80 grit before applying the stripper it work wayyy better.
That's exactly what I did. The stripper just sucks compared to the non environmentally friendly strippers. I remember strippers were way better back in the day.
@@BudgetGears My bad! I
Missed that bit! You’re right though, the older stuff used to work with just one application.
Pro tip: a little Isopropyl Alcohol mixed with distilled water 1:1 and a microfibre towel works really well to take off the sanded bits before polish and after polishing before any coatings
What percentage of Isopropyl alcohol is best?
What paint remover do you recommend then? I know you said one in the video but I could not find it. Do you have a link or anything?
I'd recommend the aircraft paint stripper, but to be honest, all these non-methylene chloride paint strippers are horrible. They don't work as good as the old ones that have methylene chloride. So you can really just use any automotive paint stripper, but aircraft stripper has been the go to. You can just search it up on google.
Here's a link I found just randomly googling.
www.autobodytoolmart.com/product/klean-strip-aircraft-non-methylene-chloride-paint-remover/automotive-paint-stripper-remover
@@BudgetGears oh okay, thank you !
Great job on the rims, I have the same wheels and I think they look great on my 1990 Civic Si.
Good work! I refinished an EM1 wheel which looked really bad like this one. I didn't polish the wheel like you did, I stripped the old clear coat and then re-recleared with really pretty good results.
Nice. I wish I could just strip and reclear. The corrosion was bad. Caused pits and stuff in the rim. So I had to sand and grind it all out. At that point there won't be the machined lines like stock. So it was either polish or paint them. So I went the polish route. I would have preferred the oem stock brushed aluminum look.
@@BudgetGears couldn’t you just leave it looking brushed with like 220grit scratches, use some fine steel wool or a scotch brite pad to even it out and have enough tooth and just shoot it with urethane clear?
@@dirtyaznstyle4156 Short answer: NO. Long answer: there was corrosion with pitting that destroyed the machined lines. Yes, I could have re-cleared them having the brushed look, but the rims would look like garbage with all the pitting. And 220 grit scratches won't come out with scotch pad or steel wool. If the rims were fine, I would have stripped, hit it with 600 or 800 grit and then re-cleared. I went the option of polishing because the wheels were in bad shape. The other option would have been to send them to a machine shop and re-machine all the faces and then clear coat. It would have cost me a lot more money doing that then just finding myself a better set.
The chipmunk music never fails
the music made me want to rip my ears off
Thanks for the video! Bought some cheap BB6 Prelude wheels which needs some attention, fortunately they weren't curbed!
Most aluminum wheels or any aluminum, for sanding grits should only be 200, 400, 1000, and 2000. Now of course curb rash is another issue all along. In fact a simple 3 in disc grinder attachment called a "Roloc" by 3M will come in a kit from a knockoff Chinese brand on Amazon for like $15 and have 3 grades that will let you shape and clean up wheel rash fast. And when you sand, you have to wet sand to get the most life out of your paper and save you time. The water simply flushes the metal particles out of the grit letting it keep cutting. I actually like to hand sand wheels by wrapping my paper around foam blocks. I like to work in a straight line also. The sanders Dual Action motion can lead to deeper marks hear and there because the surfaces are curved. Plus, it's a lot harder to wet sand with an electric sander....even battery powered as they are not water proof. That's why you see wetsanding done with air sanders and foam insert transfer discs in between the tool and paper. Try this when you get to your last two grits....use WD-40 as your lube instead of water. You will see mirroring before you ever even touch a polisher and foam pads!
Knock off Roloc kit. The best thing ever for working metal injuries.....
www.amazon.com/Coceca-Inches-Surface-Conditioning-Sanding/dp/B07T1M9KC1/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1JAHWRRKTLGU1&dchild=1&keywords=2+inch+roloc+disc&qid=1632476395&sprefix=inch+roloc%2Caps%2C274&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVlc1RUwwOVY5TkQ4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODYwODQzMUtGMUlGS0VWUFdTRyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODY4Mjc3MzlJWkZQWklVNzZFQSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
Polishing pad kits. Best bang for you money hear. And get Meguiar's Ultimate Compound at Wal-Mart for your wheel polish. It's abrasives break down so it will turn into a finer polish as you work it. Just go to a less abrasive pad and spritz with water to keep it going and refining. It's all you need. Clean WELL with brake cleaner then 80% iso alcohol. Coat with ceramic coat or a 2k Clear Coat with the can in a can which is your hardener. Don't even attempt to clear coat with Krylon or similar. It will never harden.
www.amazon.com/Coceca-Inches-Surface-Conditioning-Sanding/dp/B07T1M9KC1/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1JAHWRRKTLGU1&dchild=1&keywords=2+inch+roloc+disc&qid=1632476395&sprefix=inch+roloc%2Caps%2C274&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVlc1RUwwOVY5TkQ4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODYwODQzMUtGMUlGS0VWUFdTRyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODY4Mjc3MzlJWkZQWklVNzZFQSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
Awesome! Thanks for your tips!
@@BudgetGears thank you! I have 13 screws in my back and waiting on surgery to have two broken ones taken out and hopefully all of them. So I sit here at 3am and want to just give a little help without sounding like I'm trying to correct you. I just start typing and well you get lots of my real world, and real life, experiences from where I did this day in and day out for 15 years. It doesn't help that I actually just like being nice and want to help. I think some people are scared of that these days! LOL!
Thank you for being receptive of me and my comments/tips.
@@justinmurphy2227 Yikes. The screws in your back sound painful. I hope your surgery goes well and you have a speedy recovery.
Any help and tips are great! The more info the better. Especially when they're coming from someone experienced as yourself. 😁👍
Thanks for the Tips 👌👌👍👍
I know I'm a bit late... But I've worked in an auto refinishers for 14 years. For around 2years of my apprenticeship, I rubbed down some of *THE* worst wheels on the face of the planet at the time. What the original comment says is 110% true. As soon and he said that he starts with an 80grit I cringed sooo bad . You can/I have, refurbished wheels that look like the driver uses the streets like a pinball course home to the stage of painting with worn out, ready for the bin, DA discs no coarser than a p180. The time you save in using a coarser grit disc you equally loose in getting rid of the gouge marks left by them. Ally is super soft and malleable compared to steel and if you've ever welded it you'll understand how weak it actually is.
Awesome video. Doing mine now following these instructions.
I am currently going through this same process with the exact type of wheel. I followed the same steps with the exception of not stripping them. I have used the same grit of paper in the same order. When finished the wheels are super smooth but appears to have a smudge appearance. No scratches just smudge/haze. I plan to clearcoat them. Wondering if the clearcoat will even out this appearance?
I dont think clear coating will fix that. You're supposed to buff it till its perfect then clearcoat. Maybe you need some different metal buffing rouges and buffing wheels. It does take a long while to get the desired finish with a drill. If you can get a rotary polisher, it'll give you quicker results.
This will work well for my prelude blades
in that process rn!
Dope , I like how only the actual face is polished but the inside of the spokes isn’t. I’m going to have to try this out
Be very careful with the paint stripper and maybe use a good masking tape. The paint stripper did bleed through some of my masking tape and messed up some of the inside spokes. But not very noticeable.
I skip all the grit changes, I use a strapping disk in my 4 1/2" grinder to strip the clear, then 220, then 400. Then I use a series of burring compounds on a stiff buffing wheel on my 9227 buffer. Emery compound, tripoli, and jewlers rouge. Then mothers wheel polish. The last 2 steps, I use a loose sewn buffing wheel.
Good tips. That would save a lot of time from sanding. I'll have to try that. For one of the wheels, I sanded to 800 grit and then tried to buff and it didn't work. The drill buffing probably wasn't aggressive enough.
@@BudgetGears I am still in the learning process but I don't like paint stripper, it always seems to get where I don't want so I am doing 4 wheels on my Caddy and each one will have a different way to get out the shine. I forgot the name of the buffing pads that your supposed to use but never tried them. I don't think a drill will do it but don't spin the buffing pad over the RPM that should be on the back. I wrap my left for arm with duct tape as I buffed my skin off 4 times on this project.
There is a video out there that I base my technique from. I will link it if I find it.
th-cam.com/video/LFcQubS_S-g/w-d-xo.html
@@Viktory2k1 paint stripper does get everywhere and strips or fades areas you don't want stripped. Even bleeds through masking. Lol. But I guess its fine if someone wanted to strip an entire wheel to the bare before sand blasting. Damn the video looks like a ton of work. But definitely a polisher with the right polishing disc would definitely work better. I was trying to buff mine out as cheaply as I can so opted for drill polishing. It does an ok job but not mirror finish. Would be sweet to do a mirror finish and less sanding. I hate sanding.
bro that was worth the 12min. Good stuff!
great video ! The only problem is that you need to apply an aluminum type of clear that is similar to stock. if not then they will not stay clear and nice due to the exposure to elements.
Does the clear coat keep the shine and do we use spray can
Just curious after you finish this process, won't the rims dull up again in a few months unless you clear coat them again?
It really depends on the weather conditions you put them through. I haven't experienced any dulling or issues with my polished rims and I've driven the car a lot and gone through many washes. But keep in mind my car isn't a daily and I never drive it in harsh conditions. My car never sees rain at all. I haven't had to repolish or do anything to the rims since I polished them and they've definitely experienced months of driving. A clear coat is a good way to protect them, but depending on the clear, it may dull the rims. It's also not a lot of work to shine them up again with some mothers polish and a rag if they ever get dull. Another good option is to ceramic coat them, which should provide some decent protection.
Used the same stripper. Didn't even cut thru the clearcoat. Used a brass wire wheel to ruff up the paint then tried it again. Better (but not great) results
The paint strippers these days suck. They don't work well since they removed methylene chloride from them.
Funny you said that paint stripper sucking, someone took my 99-00 si wheels before I got them, painted em like dark grey. Looked bad, I tried to strip the entire wheel with whatever product advance or autozone sold as an aircraft stripper and it was absolutely trash too.. I ended up doing two coats each wheel.. and just physically sanding through the crap.. took forEVER
Yeah these new enviro friendly strippers are horrible. Takes so much more time and more product and sessions and won't fully strip. So different from the strippers from back in the day.
Way better than painting!
nice!! did you end up stripping the rest of the clear coat or were you able to sand it away?
I actually left the clear coat inside the spokes, which is why I masked it up. But any clear that remained on the face of the wheel was removed when I wire brushed and sanded it.
should I even bother with paint stripping the wheels or just strip it all with a wire wheel?
It may take more effort doing it all by wire brush. It'll also leave a lot more deeper scratches wherever you wire wheel. Paint stripping is a better option, but these crappy paint strippers do take a long time to strip the paint. It's always best to chemically strip as much as you can and then mechanically do the remaining bits.
My biggest problem with this was the sound track
Lol. Whats wrong with the sound track? The artist of the track puts out amazing stuff.
Damn they look nice asf but mad work
Thanks man. It was a lot of work. I'm still working on finishing the other wheels. It takes so much time. But its something to do when there's free time. 😁
I want to fix my rims but idk if i should polish mines
@@Mctzuma Its a lot of work to polish. I mean they look sweet once polished, but will require maintenance to keep it shiny. I think some people would apply a ceramic coat on them to keep them shiny longer. Once you start polishing, there's no going back. Well I guess you can always scuff and paint. Painting them would be wayyy easier though. But I love how bling a polished rim looks.
@@BudgetGears tbo i don’t like how they look polished its to shiny for me and you know how you putted the tape on the wheel i putted it on also but after putting the paint remover the tape got wet and the paint remover dripping down the sides and now it looks bad but not too bad
@@Mctzuma yeah the paint stripper dripped down for me too. I mean its not too bad. Mine ate away at some of the taped areas. I like the shiny more than how people paint them. But they still look way better than peeling and corroded.
Don’t you have to apply clear coat afterwards?
No, you don't have to. You can if you choose to. If you don't clear, you just have to hand buff them here and there to maintain the shine. I havent had to do anything since I polished them and its been 2+ years. Still shiny as the day I polished them.
Did you have to get your wheels balanced? I don’t really care if I need to get my wheels balanced because I need new tires anyway, but with the material I took off idk 🤷♂️
Yes, I did. The tires on the wheels were garbage anyways, so I got new tires mounted and balanced and everything was fine. Used the sticky weights since I dont want any weights showing on the rims.
Great work ,you need to dimond lapping compound to bring out the shine ✨️ 😎
Do u clear coat it after ?
@@loukanghexican2593 no, I didnt.
@@BudgetGears looks really good thanks
Not too bad, keep the spirit boss!
Thanks! 😁
@@BudgetGears Where is the location of the workshop, boss?
@@ASTINAOTOART I'm in Vancouver in Canada. How about you? I checked out your channel and you do a lot of cool rims!
Kind of sad to not see the factory machining marks on those EM1 wheels :/
I would loved to have kept them OEM looking, but the corrosion and pitting on the wheels made that impossible. The condition of the wheels before the polish were really bad. No one would have put the time to save them like I did. So it was either polish or paint or toss out. I don't like how painted EM1 wheels look and I didn't want to toss them out, so I put the time in polishing them. I think they look great. I get compliments from everyone that sees them.
Where you get the Power Fist 7pc Polishing kit and how many you used?
I'm in Canada so i got it from Princess Auto. It would be equivalent to Harbour Freight if you're in the US. I used 1 kit and the kit is still good to polish more things if I need to.
Which special clearcoat we have to use? Sure not a classic autobodyclear
I didn't use any clearcoat on my rims, but if you were to clear the polished rim, you'd just use a 2K autobody clear.
Your dedicated cant deny that i would have just bought new wheels and called it a day
Stripper works better when it’s kept wet. Even aircraft stripper has the new formula and isn’t as effective as before. Isn’t the area you masked still coated? Isn’t that basically where it’s guaranteed to have water intrusion under the clear and it’s gonna flake off?
Also, mother’s mag and aluminum polish no need for the rouge and wheels. Extra step and more opportunity for there to be grit putting scratches in your wheel
The instructions do say to lay it on thick, but yes, the new environmentally friendly formula's aren't as effective as before. And the area I masked is to retain the clear that was fine there. During the sanding stage it feathers the edge of the clear out so no water intrusion. The clear wasn't flaking off in the masked areas. It was still very well bonded to the rim.
When I finished the sanding the rims, I did try just using Mother's. It didn't come out as great without the rouge. With just Mothers, I did many buffing passes and it was still duller than the rims I did with the rouges. However, I did figure out that I can skip all the sanding steps after 1500 grit since that was the lowest grit I can go where I can still buff it out. It did however take more effort and time to buff than when it was sanded to 3000 grit.
Put that alchemy shine on em
I'm trying to restore my junkyard Si rims, but they had some nasty failiure between the spokes, too. I've already started to get that out, but I ate through the clear in several places. How should I sand/fix this?
I'm assuming you're talking about the triangles between spokes? Are you polishing the faces of the rims? You have a few options: you can strip the clear off and polish inside the spokes and reclear or just leave polished; you can sand the between spokes smooth and then paint them. Another option is to turn them into how the European style rims are like. They were painted silver and wasn't the brushed aluminum look.
@@BudgetGears Yeah I'm polishing the face of the wheel. I wanted to leave the gap between the spokes alone but there was corrosion and some damage between them. I've since started sanding the inside of them to get rid of the damage, but now it won't match unless I do the rest. You think a lower grit in the spokes is fine or do you think I'd need to polish them just like the faces?
@@jsk2276 So like what I did with my between spokes. The stripper did take some of the clear off my between spokes too. I left them alone since it wasn't noticeable. You can always paint them black. My original plan was to either polish the between spokes as well or spray them black. Either option would look pretty nice in my opinion. But polishing between there isn't easy to do so I was heavily leaning towards painting them.
Looking nice tho!
But a ton of work!
No clear coat?
No clear coat. I dont know if the clear would even stick. After polishing, there's nothing for the clear coat to bite onto. Unlike when you paint, it bonds to the base coat. Not sure if I'd want to risk it not sticking. Easier to ceramic coat it later and apply polish again when it stops shining.
I just did this to a set of Acura TL Type S 17” wheels that look similar to these. I also repainted the inserts but I clear coated them. They had been painted black by the previous owner so the stripping process involved removing paint and clear coat. That first one took me 10 hours start to finish, but I was able to strip the remaining 3 at the same time in 3 hours. Tip: lay the stripper on as thick as you can and then after the appropriate amount of time, use a pressure washer to blast away most of the clear coat.
@@rickblackledge8948 Awesome tips! A pressure washer would have been handy when I stripped mine. Which paint stripper did you use? I find the aircraft stuff is still the best stripper to use. The Amazon stuff I tried was so weak.
that is a lot of work
It is. But it came out looking great though.
Jet Li polishing Honda rims? Hell yeah!
Nice
How do you stop it going dull and corrosion
There's a few options.
1. You could spray a clear coat on it but that obviously will give it a different appearance.
2. Simple maintaining by cleaning every few months and then a quick hand buff using mothers aluminum polish.
3. You could put a ceramic coating on it which will allow you to go longer without having to maintain.
4. You can try car wax or using a metal sealant of some sort. Similar to ceramic coating itll prolong the time before you have to clean and buff.
I personally just clean wheels with car soap or dish soap if really dirty and then give it a quick hand buff with mothers and they'll look great. But I also don't expose the wheels in the elements aside from a little rain.
nice!!!!
You spent 10hrs on one 16” wheel cos you didn’t have proper tools and process you did was backwards that was time wasting … try using rotary polisher tool and sand off whatever you can comes contact with the wheel and use dremel to sand off rest of whatever spots u couldn’t touch with rotary polisher… and after sanding off with 240 grit and sand with 1000 grit and 2000 and wipe off the wheels with microfiber cloth using rubbing alcohol and once dry! spray wheel clear coat and it should look better than how it was factory
Make a video and show him how to do it 😂
@@MrDmoney300 i should charge him $500 for a training if he wanted to learn the professional ways how i do it
Couldn't hang through the video dude with the music
You have to gob the stripper on just get sloppy with it.
Holy shit that's a lot of work for a busy dad, n if I do it, I'll still have 3 more rims to go! Help meh please!!
It is a lot of work, but it looks so good after its done.
Gotcha, Ill follow the procedure and give it a go.@@BudgetGears
HeLLO wHo's THat
80 grid way way to low I do wheels all the time the lowest I go for this type of wheels is 220 all the way to 1,500
Thanks for the advice. For the record. 220 would take forever to remove pitting and corrosion and curbage. Not to mention the machining. But on a perfectly good wheel with minor imperfections, 220 would work fine.
@@BudgetGears after i do 1500 i still have small scratches and imperfections. Should i sand again with 2500 and then 5000 to remove all scratches?
Then do i polish by hand or using a foam pad like you would on a car?
@@JeLifeCoach What grit scratches are remaining? As you sand, you want to use the next grit to remove the prior grit scratches. Every grit will leave finer and finer scratches. Once you're left with fine enough scratches, you can then use a buffing wheel and polishing rouge to buff the metal. Metal polishing requires a buffing wheel, not a foam pad. Foam pads won't work well because they're not meant for metal polishing.
@@BudgetGears oh ok. Thank you very much. I did 320,400,600,800,1200 by hand after washing the wheel. Got rid of lots of oxidation and such but still many scratches. Wasn’t sure when to start the buffing / polishing stage.
@@JeLifeCoach the buffing stage is easier the higher grit you get to. So if you finish off at 2500 grit, which is more than fine enough, you can start buffing. 1500 may be ok too. But if the scratches don't come out you'll end up having to sand it to 2500 then buffing again. There really isn't any need to go as high as 5000. But if you do, the buffing will be much easier.
80 grit to start ? too deep of scratches to start with they weren't wrecked lol making more work for yourself.. to anyone watching this 600 should be fine to start...
I started with 80 to smooth out pitting corrosion and curb damage. I dont disagree with you on using a higher grit to start but it'll depend on the condition of the rims your working on. 600 won't take out machining marks, curbage, or any damage in the rims.
Dude just get with the program and start you talk more than you should
40 hours for stockies.. alotowork
It most definitely is a lot of work. I feel like it might not have been worth the time spent, but it sure looks way better than painted. And not too shabby having a very clean set of stock rims.