As the title says I am going to make an attempt to polish my own mags, yes i know very risky. I shopped around to get quotes to get it done properly and the CHEAPEST quote i could find was $440 which is not cheap, the most expensive was $600. This is just to get the rims polished and thats all.

I purchased a sander for around $100 with all the attachments and what i was wondering is if anyone has any advice about polishing mags, things i shouls avoid, the polishing will commence tomorrow, wish me luck :cry:

why are you doing it? what was the original finish?

advice

$440 sounds good
spend ya money on that

Would tend to agree getting done professionally saves you from blisters on thumb, breathing in dust (not good) and it takes quite a while to do.

If you were going to do it yourself, depending on the original finish, bead blast off paint and oxidisation, then use progressivly finer grades of sandpaper to remove oxidisation.

Finally, get the polishing disc that goes on an angle grinder and some 'rouge' (polishing compound) and wear glasses!!! The rouge will go black as it fills with oxide, and sits on the surface of the rims. You need to clean it of as you go with automotive thinners (easiest).

When done, either get it professionally clearcoated (so it doesn't get messed up too quickly) or use a protectant.

Will tell you that a chromed or painted finish is more durable after going through this before - it is a major pain in the a$$ to keep clean and it tends to water spot like hell - also, if you live near a beach - forget it - the aluminium is basically unprotected against salt.

Cheers
Heath Young

geezus, i didn't realise it was so involved! i wanna get my VRX wheels polished, but is that possible to do with the black surround??

Will,

When I got my VRX rims I just polished the shite outa them with normal car polish. I put heaps on a clean rag and rubbed it for ages.. came up pretty good I think.
Now when I wash them they hold their shine nicely.

see how you go.

-Dan

Will,

When I got my VRX rims I just polished the shite outa them with normal car polish. I put heaps on a clean rag and rubbed it for ages.. came up pretty good I think.
Now when I wash them they hold their shine nicely.

see how you go.

-Dan

I do that too. Polish helps dirty water just run off. Still, a clever design the VR-X rim (17" TJ) - the black centre area that bolts to the hub, and the black area on the inside of the outer edges hides brake dust pretty well, yet the silver highlights work really well.

btw.. The Mitsu VR-X wheel is made by ROH of South Aussie, I remember...saw this ROH wheel on a Commondore the other day.. looks like a cousin of the VR-X wheel. similar, but different.

http://www.roh.com.au/pages/html/fury_html.jpg

The VRX wheels are made by ROH in Adelaide.

-Dan

Where is everybodies sense of self belief!
I mean I am not made of money and i cant afford to just fork out $440 here and there.

I mean I have started the mags, but i have just been called into work so that ends that for today.

So far I'm pretty happy with how they are coming along, I will not get them perfect though as it is difficult to get into some of the small places but hey if I do a pretty good job then I'm happy.

again what sort of wheels are they and what was there original finish?

The VRX wheels are made by ROH in Adelaide.

-Dan

thanks Grecy. See my edit above. I found the wheel I had seen. Thanks. :D

thanks Grecy. See my edit above. I found the wheel I had seen. Thanks. :D

yaya. I saw that one you have up now, and the one you had up before.. I was thinking about them if I couldn't get my hands on the VR-X wheels.

I imagine ROH have a contract with Mitsu that says they cann't 'copy' their design.. but I'm sure they do what they can :)

-Dan

Im also self polishing mine.
I bought some paint stripper from Bunnings ($7/litre)
I put it on the silver paint and leave it for around 10min ... it blisters and the silver lifts..... then I put another coat on.. leave it and the black undercoat blisters and gets scraped off...
Then I put some more on and leave it and it blisters and tehn I can scrape of the primer....

3 BL00DY LAYERS OF PAINT!!!!!!

All because some over zellous tyre fitter decided to use some thiners to remove the stuck on inner rim weights gue and it ran down the out side of the rim... he wiped it off and off came the pretty silver coating :(
I had had the front only faces polished ($30/rim) but this stain was around the other bits...

Anyway I have finished totally stripping one rim and have 3 to go....
Let alone getting to the polishing point.

the Guy who polished them last time used a 8m belt sander (YES 8 METERES thats a lot of sandpaper :D) he first used a course one to remove any curb damage and tehn got down to a 400 I think... then he put on the polishing belt and buffed them to a shine.
So Im doing the same thing..
Corse paper to remove the larger nicks .. .then working finner until I buff and then hand cream polish.

Haydn