kkritsilas
Well-Known Member
I have posted some pictures of the 5 on 5 wheels that I have started to clean up and polish out in a previous post. That is on-going, and I will finish the 5 on 5 that I have started, but I am awaiting the arrival of some Micro-Mesh sanding pads before I can continue to work out my process.
Meanwhile, I have started the polishing process on a set of Snowflake wheels that I also own. What I want to do is to polish out the 'ribs" or edges only, leaving the original dark grey paint in place. As background, I got a set of 4 wheels locally (off of Kijiji, the Canadian equivalent of Craigslist) for $150. They were cheap because the owner didn't have any centers (which I have subsequently bought ) and the clear coat was in really bad shape.
The wheel looks like this right now (about half is polished outm should be obvious):
A close up of the polished edges and the way they looked before the sanding out:
This will take longer to do than the 5 on 5s. I cannot use the crushed glass abrasive blasting process on this wheel due to how narrow the edges are, and I actually want to keep the original paint intact. So I have begun to sand the edges out using 320 grit wet/dry sand paper. The 320 seem to be a good comprimise between speed, and keeping the sanding scratches from being too deep.
The edges are really complex, they are NOT flat from the rim edge/flange to the center hole (a broak flatish curve actually) and the points where the spokes meet are also not flat, they are sort of depressed in the middle, futher making the sanding process more difficult.
P.S. I now see what JasperJacko was talking about regarding getting the machining marks out. The crushed glass abrasive blasting process eliminated the machining marks, so I only noticed them on the narrow 5 on 5 spokes. There are a lot of machining marks on the edges, and they take some time and effort to get rid of.
Meanwhile, I have started the polishing process on a set of Snowflake wheels that I also own. What I want to do is to polish out the 'ribs" or edges only, leaving the original dark grey paint in place. As background, I got a set of 4 wheels locally (off of Kijiji, the Canadian equivalent of Craigslist) for $150. They were cheap because the owner didn't have any centers (which I have subsequently bought ) and the clear coat was in really bad shape.
The wheel looks like this right now (about half is polished outm should be obvious):
A close up of the polished edges and the way they looked before the sanding out:
This will take longer to do than the 5 on 5s. I cannot use the crushed glass abrasive blasting process on this wheel due to how narrow the edges are, and I actually want to keep the original paint intact. So I have begun to sand the edges out using 320 grit wet/dry sand paper. The 320 seem to be a good comprimise between speed, and keeping the sanding scratches from being too deep.
The edges are really complex, they are NOT flat from the rim edge/flange to the center hole (a broak flatish curve actually) and the points where the spokes meet are also not flat, they are sort of depressed in the middle, futher making the sanding process more difficult.
P.S. I now see what JasperJacko was talking about regarding getting the machining marks out. The crushed glass abrasive blasting process eliminated the machining marks, so I only noticed them on the narrow 5 on 5 spokes. There are a lot of machining marks on the edges, and they take some time and effort to get rid of.