myc43amg

I been working on my wheels and today I decided to find out what was under all the paint. I used paint stripper and removed all the paint and clear coat. At the end of it all the rim is aluminum.

So, I would like to ask if I can now polish it up as it looks like it will look really nice if I can get a shine on it. Has anyone ever polish aluminum rims? How or what are the steps to do this in our rims?

And if these rims are not the type you can polish do you know the paint code for the silver paint?

Thanks.

StapleGun

I'm sure you can polish them - you're in for a whole lotta work. I powder coated mine, I had them powder coated in a darker silver titanium(akin to what you see on the new Landcruiser)...better adherence and will last longer than paint about $400

myc43amg

Ur right on both. I was able to get a nice shine on a spot last night. Mirror finish and looks real good. The trick is to use the right grit sandpaper. Im going to do the right side this week and the other side the following week.

thanks for the reply!

myc43amg

one almost done,3 to go. Left picture shows rim being slowly stripped. It had a thick coat of clear and and some white primer like stuff to seal the aluminum so paint will stick. Why on earth did MB cover such nice aluminum. Now I need to get some center caps made of aluminum or something that matches.

svt ricco

can you post some pix of your ride? i wanna see

Lona43

.........Not bad, what kind of a center cap are you going to use? I saw some nice AMG ones on ebay. Must be hard work!

Lona

myc43amg

I found these so far:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Black...em380010318087

It was hard at first since I have never done this before. Now that I know what to use and how to do it I will have a nice time doing the rest of them. Its really not that hard at all. The shine comes out with 1500 grit wet sanding paper dipped on a compound called MOTHERS. sand about 10 minutes and wipe off and you got a nice shine. The more you do it the more shine you get. It looks so much better in real life than pictures. Well worth the work and no longer will I have to worry about street curves. If scratched I just sand and polish and its done.

I can also just clear coat the insise of the rim and it will look grey and very shiney, no paint at all, nice!

myc43amg

Finally got done with one side. The rims still need a little more sanding to get it better looking but this will do.

I found the center caps at the dealer for $7.00 each.
Here's some pictures of the final work and the original rims to compare. I like the polished way better, does not look like chrome which is great but makes the car look more "manly".

myc43amg

BTW, MURRAYS HAS THE MOTHER POWER PACK POLISHER KIT FOR $15.00! I got it for $10.00 and bought 2 packs. The kit comes with the 3 inch power ball and a 6 inch and a bottle of polishing liquid and a 6 inch extension. $20.00 for 2 kits is a deal.

Murrays said they are discontinued,thats why the low price. I used the 3 inch with a drill and that thing works very good. Just thought I mention this.

ohlord

has large felt polishing wheels that go in a good drill and the sticks of polishing compound in different grades to take it to the next step in high polish.
ohlord
They look great,btw.

myc43amg

Any chance you be willing to post a link to this? Sounds interesting. Thanks for the compliment.

Kropf

An amazing job you've done!!
This brings back some memories!!! 40 years ago we equipped our "Hot Rods" with Aluminum/Magnesium "Mags" and had to polish them frequently. The best I found at the time was a spool of cotton fibers soaked with polish in a 3" can. It looks like it's still available as Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish #05100.
Here's a link that compares Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish to Mothers Billet Metal Polish.
There is no question in my mind of why they paint the wheels now-a-days... comparing the rear wheels in this photo, you can see that the front wheels need a good polish again. They all were shiny in this old photo.
And wow! A PowerBall would have saved a LOT of 'elbow grease' years ago!
(An amazing amount of information & gallery photos at Mothers.com!)

There is some more variety at ForMyMercedes.com.

mis-u-jerr

Wow, sweet Pinto Kropf!

myc43amg

Thanks, and you're right it will take alot of keeping up with the shine. Today I decided to go with this look (see pic). It looks really nice and matches the interior of the car (I sprayed the wood silver). Silver color also made the MB middle cap math better with the whole rim vs the shiny look.

ohlord

has similar kits but I found this old link to the real pros of polishing.Great diys and also if you tell them what you are trying to achieve they will supply you with the needed materials.
You have done a masterful job

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/alwheel.htm

myc43amg

Thanks ohlord!

jmg1848

painting the door handles white pulls it ALL together so nicely!