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Polishing aluminum


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I am attempting to polish the lip on a set of Advan Oni's. I started with 220 grit then worked my way up to 1000. After wetsanding with 1000 it was still leaving massive swirl marks. I then tried both 1500 and 2500 and even then there are still swirl marks after almost and hour of sanding.

 

I'm not sure what to do at this point, I'm about ready to give up and just order some Sportmax's.

 

Thank you,

Rob

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Sorry buddy but if your going to polish something you need get it smooth like you have done but then you need to buff the surface with a pretty good amount of force and the appropriate compound. you can get small buffs and rouge and home depot but your going to want to mount them on some thing with some horse power if you want to get a decent finish. We use 10 HP lathes with 1.5 inch thick arbors and 2 different 14 inch buffs to polish our rim outers. the whole opporation takes about 15 minuts but you have to be really agresive. If you are using a 1/2 HP grinder your going to put in at least an hour a wheel to get a good finish.

 

And remember if you are not getting the whhel hot to the touch your not pushing hard enough.

 

Be carefull though people have died in the polishing industry by leting the buff catch the wheel and spin it. 35lbs+1800rpm=really bad head ache

 

RE

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Roye, what would you suggest the best way to attack re polishing these new CCW's I screwed up by leaving them on the car while I had the engine bay soda blasted? The soda powder was rinsed off with water, but I did not wipe them dry and the soda etched water spots into the polished alum...

 

Thanks ahead for any advice!

 

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Yeah, it's pretty much the same for all parts made out of alluminum. of course if you are really getting into it there are differnt buff and compound combinations for different material applications but for most basic polishing you can get what you need at a hardware store. If you do want something fancy go on-line and check out National Buff or Jackson Lea, we buy some of our supplies from them.

 

RE

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I had a 1/2 hp oversized bench grinder with about a 6 inch arbor on it that worked ok but you have to bolt the things down so you can lean into them.

 

when we are polishing a wheel center we start off with 80 grit then we go to 240, then we use these abrasive wheels that our guys put together here, almost the equivelent of 800 grit, from there we use a sisal buff then two levels of custom made buffs.

 

A home hobbiest could get away with using 80-240-1000 grit then a small sisal buff and finally a cotton or flannel buff. I would still recomend a bench grinder but you need to have a long arbor on it so that you have enough work area.

 

RE

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I am attempting to polish the lip on a set of Advan Oni's. I started with 220 grit then worked my way up to 1000. After wetsanding with 1000 it was still leaving massive swirl marks. I then tried both 1500 and 2500 and even then there are still swirl marks after almost and hour of sanding.

 

I'm not sure what to do at this point, I'm about ready to give up and just order some Sportmax's.

 

Thank you,

Rob

 

 

Great you've finished about 3/4 of the job. Now you have to buff them out with a buffing wheel and some rubbing compound.

 

go to you local hardware stores (home depot, lowes has them for sure) and you can either buy a kit which comes with the arbor bit, the buffing wheel and a few differnt compound sticks.

 

When I did mine all I used was the red. Just attach the wheel to a drill and while totating apply the rubbing compound to the buffing wheel. Then your ready to go at it.

 

Just do a quick google search if your still unsure. i'm sure that stuff will pop up everywhere.

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You might need a grit between the 220 and 1000. You need to get rid of the marks by the 220 with something more like 600 then to the 1000 and so on. It is just like finishing an instrument. I use smaller jumps. I start with 220 then to a 400 to 600 and so on ending with 1500 and then a final buffing wax. It is a lot of work but in the end your finish will be beautiful. You can get the swirls out with the 1000 but it will probably be faster going back with a courser grit first like a 600.

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Sorry buddy but if your going to polish something you need get it smooth like you have done but then you need to buff the surface with a pretty good amount of force and the appropriate compound. you can get small buffs and rouge and home depot but your going to want to mount them on some thing with some horse power if you want to get a decent finish. We use 10 HP lathes with 1.5 inch thick arbors and 2 different 14 inch buffs to polish our rim outers. the whole opporation takes about 15 minuts but you have to be really agresive. If you are using a 1/2 HP grinder your going to put in at least an hour a wheel to get a good finish.

 

And remember if you are not getting the whhel hot to the touch your not pushing hard enough.

 

Be carefull though people have died in the polishing industry by leting the buff catch the wheel and spin it. 35lbs+1800rpm=really bad head ache

 

RE

 

Thanks Roy I apreciate the help

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