@Vincent, too bad we are not closer, I could make short work of polishing up those wheels. We have all the correct tools for that, been doing it for over 35 years on alum., stainless, bronze.
Polishing factory aluminum wheel
As mentioned before, my front right wheel has alot damage caused by the previous owner. I was thinking of just buying four new ITP SS212 rims eventually. But in the spirit of being resourceful and cheap, I may have found a solution.
Everytime I picked up sled and quad parts at my yamaha dealer, I've been eyeing a new but incomplete set of factory unpolished aluminum wheels, collecting dust in a corner. Last week I finally broke down asked the parts guy how much for a front wheel. He said 75$. I left it at that. When back again yesterday and ask the same guy for his best price on that rim. This time he said 50$. Sold!
So here's my plan, I'm going to try and polish this rim in hopes that it will match or look simular to my polished Special Edition wheels. Figured it's worth trying and potentially saving 500$! If things work out, I mite even buy the other two wheels from the dealer as spares. Time will tell.......
Everytime I picked up sled and quad parts at my yamaha dealer, I've been eyeing a new but incomplete set of factory unpolished aluminum wheels, collecting dust in a corner. Last week I finally broke down asked the parts guy how much for a front wheel. He said 75$. I left it at that. When back again yesterday and ask the same guy for his best price on that rim. This time he said 50$. Sold!
So here's my plan, I'm going to try and polish this rim in hopes that it will match or look simular to my polished Special Edition wheels. Figured it's worth trying and potentially saving 500$! If things work out, I mite even buy the other two wheels from the dealer as spares. Time will tell.......
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Have some 600, 800, ( couldn't find my 1200) grit sand paper and some automotive style polishing products laying around so I decided to try to wet sand my rim just to see how the aluminum would react. Didn't want to experiment on the outer rim surface t'ill I was more comfortable with the process so I started in a small area that will never be seen once the tire is mounted.
Surprise!
Turns out the grey colour is not the aluminum itself, but a thin layer of gray paint with a thicker layer of darker primer under it. Once I finally cut threw that and got down to the aluminum I was able to do a quick amature polish job that gave the aluminum a nice shine. At this point it's obvious all the gray paint and primer will need to be removed before this project can move forward.
Surprise!
Turns out the grey colour is not the aluminum itself, but a thin layer of gray paint with a thicker layer of darker primer under it. Once I finally cut threw that and got down to the aluminum I was able to do a quick amature polish job that gave the aluminum a nice shine. At this point it's obvious all the gray paint and primer will need to be removed before this project can move forward.
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Baught some paint stripper. Here goes nothing!
P.S.Why do I do this to myself?
P.S.Why do I do this to myself?
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Ya the hole painted thing really threw a monkey wrench into this project! As much as my paint stripper does manage to cut threw the gray paint eventually, it ain't doing a very good job on the dark gray primer. I'm hitting some easily polished aluminum underneath it all, but the effort required to strip the primer has me rethinking my process. So I tried simple elbow grease and some 220 grite paper and in 40min I gained some ground.
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Agreed, media plasting would be the way to go.
But I live in the middle of nowhere and only have a few hardware stores around with limited equipment for this type of work. I'm slowly winning but it's much slower pace then having the right, tools, equipment, and resources for sure. Though, thank you for the ideas and sharing of knowledge.
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Been busy so this project has moved slower then I planed for. Anyways dedicated three hour this evening of hand sanding with scotchbrights pads, 500, 600 and 800 grit.
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