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Cheap rim polish for your daily wheels! (Pic heavy!)


Mdo227
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Hello!

Since spring and summer seem far away at the moment, i thought, why not try and shine up my summer wheels for the daily driver? I didn't want it to be expensive, as it is a daily, they will be dirty and ugly very fast again, but for showing off to friends after a nice wash or for some photoshoots?

I will first of all say, that this method might not be suitable for people who attend to shows with their wheels, as it is far from show standard, but it looks good a step or two back, and it makes the wheels look like new again!

What you would need:

A power drill

Polishing wheels with matching compounds (I got mine at a DIY store for silly money as 10£ including the compounds)

an old rag/cloth

Brasso (or similar metal polish stuff)

fine cloth / microfiber cloth

All shown in the picture:

IMG_2485800x600_zpse4d90186.jpg

Alright, let's get started! First of all, clean your wheel with wheel cleaner and rinse etc. many other guides for this i know! Then, i was left with something like this: (i know im not a good wheel cleaner!)

IMG_2484800x600_zps98907773.jpg

So, we want to get as much brake dust and corrosion off the wheel before starting to polish. Grab your rag/cloth and metal polish:

IMG_2486800x600_zps6edb4795.jpg

Pour a bit onto the cloth:

IMG_2487800x600_zps77473f3b.jpg

Now use some elbow grease and rub away as much nasty stuff as possible:

IMG_2489800x600_zpsadcd8b29.jpg

You're then maybe left with some black half liquid stuff like this:

IMG_2490800x600_zps6a12e1e1.jpg

Not to worry! just wipe it off with a clean bit of rag:

IMG_2491800x600_zps7f294883.jpg

And this is why you don't want to use your fancy and expensive cloth for this; it's impossible to get proper clean again:

IMG_2492800x600_zpsa3a50144.jpg

Now it's time for some polishing action! Mount the coarser polishing wheel to your drill (sorry for the nasty wheel, i've used it on a couple of other rims before):

IMG_2494800x600_zpsad32669c.jpg

Run it in the compound a bit and get a nice even coat:

IMG_2495800x600_zpsa2ab4ee5.jpg

Now, im only polishing my lip of the rim, but you can use this on the entire wheel, supposed your spokes aren't meshed like mine, but when doing a lip like this, i like to start in the deep end and work my way up, so i start out like this:

IMG_2496800x600_zps642e932d.jpg

(sorry for missing pics) I then work my way up the edge and onto the outer edge of the lip. If you're using an well used polish wheel, you might end up with this:

IMG_2497800x600_zps9892a0b5.jpg

But not to worry! clean the polishing wheel in your rag, maybe get a mate to help you strech the rag and then "polish" on it, to remove the dirt and nasty stuff from the wheel, then continue polishing your wheel and they should go away. you might need to do this a couple of times for each wheel depending on how dirty it is from the start.

Now it looks a lot better already, but it is missing a bit of shine!

IMG_2498800x600_zps5a5f6ac2.jpg

Now it's time for the second part of the polish process, so mount your finer polish wheel:

IMG_2502800x600_zpsc0c11a8b.jpg

Get some of the finer compound on it:

IMG_2503800x600_zpscd960e1f.jpg

Then work your way up like last time, you will see that this wheel takes all the small marks from the first run and also buffs a fair bit of shine into the rim:

IMG_2504800x600_zps4466a4ba.jpg

Now, i take my fine cloth/microfiber cloth and just give the wheel a good rub down. I though recommend getting some good wheel polish if you want to get a nicer surface, but i didn't have any at the time, but this did what it should, rubbing away excess compound and polish some of the finer scratches in the surface:

IMG_2506800x600_zps96a298b2.jpg

Now grab a beer (optional)

and enjoy your new shiney wheel:

IMG_2483800x600_zps5ede78fe.jpg

As i menioned before, this is not an optimal wheel polish guide, but it's cheap and makes your daily wheels looka a lot better in my opinion, below is a picture of the rought surface i talked about, but if you have some wheel polish, or spend a bit on it, you could end up with a much better result!

IMG_2508800x600_zps621ca15d.jpg

IMG_2509800x600_zps41e1d0be.jpg

I hope you enjoyed!

Disclaimer: if following this guide im not responsible for any damage it might cause and how many beers you drink! keep your common sense and nothing should go wrong!

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