Wheel polishing

[deafwish]

I am a stingey sod and don't like to spend my money.
I have a problem as I want to polish the outer edge of my rims.
I've heard some people simply mask the areas they want left painted and use paint stripper on the bits they want to polish. Can this be done? If you're careful, can you leave the tyres on or is that pushing your luck?
Daz.

[ozkat]

Deaf, personaly id strip the whole wheel of paint and def remove the tyres( you will end up with much better finish as paint stripper will get under the tape no matter what you do)

[deafwish]

It would be a nightmare having to polish the entire wheel by myself!
There must be some way of masking it better......?
What's the going rate for a shop to remove and refit front and rear tyres incl. balancing?

[Gsxar]

I find paint stripper wont work on powder coat etc, so I use a wizzer ( little air tool thing with twist off pads) not sure of its proper name.
Then 800,1000,1500 wet and dry sandpaper
Then Soapy steel wool pads
Then on2 the buffing stages
Could be done without taking tyers of but I think it would be a pain in the butt personally

[ozkat]

Deaf, paint strip the whole wheel, polish where you want, mask off the polished area, repaint where you want, simple as that.

[deafwish]

Gsxar: I think my wheels are simply painted from factory.

ozkat:You are a fukn genious.
You're wasting your time being a brain surgeon.
Daz.

[ozkat]

Daz if you cant get the micron paper let me know ill send you some. See the wire brush post.

[deafwish]

ozkat. In your professional opinion, you don't think this would work?
http://sportbikeguy.com/garage/floor/rimstrip.html

[ozkat]

Sure it will work but you will most proberly get a really shitty line between the polished area and the paint.

no need to remove the tyres,just deflate then break the bead. my local wheel guru charges $210 rear and $190 front polished and painted.No need to take ya wheels off,just roll the bike in and pick it up the next day or 2.

[deafwish]

quote:Originally posted by ozkat

Sure it will work but you will most proberly get a really shitty line between the polished area and the paint.

I have a raised lip which seperates where I would want polished.
They are Fireblade wheels.
I'll try it the lazy way and if all else fails, then I'll pay someone to do it. [)]

[sluglie]

120grit - 240 - 400 - 800 - 1200 - autosol - done, no masking out, no nasty paint stripper, no having to repaint the rims (unless you want a diiferent colour like i did)

just bloody sore fingers

[deafwish]

sluglie.
SO you simply sand the paint off, yeh?
I also assume you can leave the tyres on doing it this way?

[sluglie]

yeah, no need to remove tyre, it gets a bit messy though

[Deano]

i polished the rims of this wheel without stripping the complete wheel.

[Deano]

i mashed off the rims from the rest of the wheel

[Deano]

then applied paint stripper, washed it off, pulled off the old tape and put some new tape on. sanded with wet and dry as Ozkat said then polished.

the paint stripper will soften the glue on the tape so don't leave the paint stripper on for any longer than you have to.

I have done 2 wheel this way and both look fine.

Different horses for different coarses. I just couldn't be fucked painting the whole wheel.

easiest to pull the tyres off if you can.

[deafwish]

Deano.
Good work, mate!
Won't the paint stripper eat your tyres?!
Any finished pics?

[Gix11]

One word of warning. Don't take the centre paint off unless you really want the spokes polished. Reason?: If you do and then get it painted it starts to lift off after a couple of months. If you need the centres a different colour just get them to paint over the original paint. If ound this out after doing what Oz suggested on the back wheel and then getting the shits and taking the front one in to be done professionally. The front one is still fine, the back one is chipped to fuck.

Oh, and another thing, as Davo said, at least take them off the bead as otherwise you won't get the very internal edge properly and that looks shite! Again, experience. One set I have has white bits where the tyre meets the wheel. You can see it close up.

[Deano]

will get finished pic for you.

I ended up taking the tyre off the rim after i stripped the paint off but before i stated the sanding/polishing process.

turbokat has had some great experience with chemical stripping the paint off the rims.

Might be worth looking at if you want to strip the whole wheel.

the stripper didn't effect the tyre but it is a pain with the tyre on