Is it possible to buy a set of silver rims, then go somewhere and get them polished for the polished metal/silver look as opposed to chrome?

--Alex

Polished silver or metal or whatever you want... If you buy silver rims, then they will be painted that colour, the polished part would require them to be stripped to the metal, polished and coated with a clear coat, which defeats the purpose :confused: Just buy chrome?

Is it possible to buy a set of silver rims, then go somewhere and get them polished for the polished metal/silver look as opposed to chrome?

--Alex


good question, sorry to steal the thread,

But i am going to sandblast my 19"s. What can i do to the rims after blasting other than painting?

What can i do to the rims after blasting other than painting?Anodising? Not sure what the content of the alloy is, different aluminium alloys react differently to anodising, for some it would be a definite no-go (eats away the other metal, etc...).
Plus it would most probably be rather expensive, but maybe in a similar price range to getting chromed.

Just throwing it in there as a possibility, no matter how unobtainable.

Polished silver or metal or whatever you want... If you buy silver rims, then they will be painted that colour, the polished part would require them to be stripped to the metal, polished and coated with a clear coat, which defeats the purpose :confused: Just buy chrome?

Well, both of them look totally different...and besides...Chrome is heavyer, and more likely to flake off...

--Alex

Wheel polishers will tell you that it depends greatly on the quality of the rim as to the finish when polished. Generally they’ll turn out looking ****, nowhere near the nice mirror polish finish you get on billet aluminium wheels. The problem being the impurities in the alloy used to cast the average wheel.

You could try polish them up yourself, Autobarn and car stores will sell that kind of stuff but generally 'shiny' rims requires to to just buy shiny rims. You can get them chrome plated but it will cost you a fortune.

[QUOTE=

But i am going to sandblast my 19"s. What can i do to the rims after blasting other than painting?[/QUOTE]
You will curse the rims for their co**** finish and realise how difficult it will be to make them look any good - it is a huge job to polish most wheels to a flawless, chrome look finish, if the alloy is even good enough, as Cummins said.

although my mate had his EL XR6 rims sent away and polished, and they came up VERY nice. its definitely different to chrome, looks much classier

Well the rims in question are ROH Furies that were originally Silver. The dude i bought em off powdered them white. I just repainted over it all again when i got them.

Now i need to know the effects of bead/sand blasting and what to do with them once done.

Mind you i could just respray them again with a good finish.

well ROH are one of the higher quality rims, so i'd say they'd come up damn nice after a professional polish

a work mate just chrome polish his xr6t factory alloys and looks alright and it cost him 400$ on all 4:think:

Well,

Im trying to find a cheap set of plain 5-spoke rims that i can polish for the 'silver/metal polished' look. I recon it would look WAY better then chrome..

--Alex

Sorry to dig this thread up again but i still have unanswered questions.


Has anyone had any experiences with sand blasting ROH Rims?

How did they come up?
Do they polish well?

Thanks in advance.

You could just do it yourself like previously mentioned.
Never done roh wheels so can't comment but nearly all alloys should be able to be polished.
I did it to my xy falcons 14" mustang hotwire alloys and they came up good but i don't have any pics.
But i do have pics of the magna's alloys. When i got the tp i bought them off another member who had painted them.
So i stripped off the old paint, wet sanded over and over using a finner grit as i went. then i bought a few different types of metal polishes from an auto store and a bag of clean rags plus some black engine enamel . Then putting a few hours of polishing, then masking and painting.
And this is how they turned out.

http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beforeandaftermediumlz9.jpg

http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=after2bi1.jpg

http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=before2sq2.jpg

http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=afternm5.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/my.php?image=elitemagszi8.jpg

so at the end of the day i think that u can polish/paint and facelift almost any alloy wheel to make it look alot better then it did.
Also keep in mind i did those mags buy hand so if you had a buffer it would cut the time in half and give a better finish.
Plus if i spent a few more day rubbing i could have got a mirror finish but did't see the need to do that to factory alloys:D

Blasting is ok, beads might leave a better finish than sand, but it might take something aggresive to get through if its powdercoated - as long as your not making more work for yourself. the co****r the cast finish is the better the paint sticks so it could be rough as when you strip it either way. roh fury looks like a smooth design so shouldn't be too difficult, you just need time . ROH's alloy quality is much better than some of the imported crap made from melted down saucepans. Anyway, the photos are VTSS, done mainly by hand. I can't remember how long it took, but they are perfect flawless show finish. Maybe 12 hours each wheel, including stripping with chemical stripper -quick but disgusting. So you can definately do it yourself, as smooth2 outlined above, and you will have unique wheels, but you they are high maintenance if you use the car a bit. Let us know what you do cause it is worth the effort, I reckon mirror polished alloy looks better than chrome.

Blasting is ok, beads might leave a better finish than sand, but it might take something aggresive to get through if its powdercoated - as long as your not making more work for yourself. the co****r the cast finish is the better the paint sticks so it could be rough as when you strip it either way. roh fury looks like a smooth design so shouldn't be too difficult, you just need time . ROH's alloy quality is much better than some of the imported crap made from melted down saucepans. Anyway, the photos are VTSS, done mainly by hand. I can't remember how long it took, but they are perfect flawless show finish. Maybe 12 hours each wheel, including stripping with chemical stripper -quick but disgusting. So you can definately do it yourself, as smooth2 outlined above, and you will have unique wheels, but you they are high maintenance if you use the car a bit. Let us know what you do cause it is worth the effort, I reckon mirror polished alloy looks better than chrome.


I would have to agree there, it looks of higher quality than chrome. IMO

I have had a few suggestions from mates about various things to clean them up and one of them was ACID BATHING. Would this have any/much affect on the rims at all?

and chrome plating them will start to flake after a while, especially if they get 'gutter buffed'

Depends what you mean by acid bath- there are a lot of acids out there, and most of the ones that will etch alloy are worth keeping away from. Ask a powdercoater how they would strip them if they were going to paint them, or if you know someone with a biggish compressor you could buy a cheapo blast gun and a bag of sand and DIY.