I got a set of CSS alloys (see CSS thread) and they looked like heck. Whoever had them before drove by braille and all four wheels were mangled by curbrash.
Since I'm halfway done with them, I thought I'd go ahead and post the process I went through to get them looking decent.
1. Sand out scratches and dings:
This was really a learning process. I initially used a drumsander on my Dremel, but after all was said and done it left the lip of the wheel "ripply". I couldn't get it flat to save my life.
It wasn't until my second wheel that I realized putting 60grit sandpaper on my palm sander would work just fine, keeping the whole surface even, or at least with gradual changes. So that's what I did.
2. Use finishing sandpaper to clean up the scratches from the 60 grit.
I used 800 grit paper on my palmsander, dry, for the lip and areas it could reach. I sanded by hand the inside and tight spots. It removed the scratches from the 60 grit and gave a dull shine.
3. Break out the polishing wheels!
I have a 3 wheel set from Sears ($10) that attaches to my drill.
****DO NOT USE A DRILL YOU CARE ABOUT FOR THIS!!!****
Drills aren't designed for lateral torque or constant use. The bearings go out quick. I have an old $10 Black & Decker that I use specifically for this. The bearings are easily replaced, and cost $8 a set from B&D.
If you buy a polishing kit, it will come with 4 different compounds:
* Emery Cake (black)
* Tripoli (brown)
* White Rouge (white)
* Red Rouge (red)
Unless your wheels are made from gold or silver, you can ignore the red. Aluminum is too porous for that stuff to do anything.
My kit had 3 different sized polishing wheels. Since you don't want to be mixing compounds on a wheel, you need to pick which wheel for which compound. I went with small to large with coarse to fine. So the smallest wheel got the emery cake, and the largest wheel got the white rouge.
Use the compounds and wheels in turn from coarse to fine. Reapply the compounds when the fibers of your wheel just start to look shiny. That means they've loaded up with aluminum from the wheel. It won't hurt with the two coarser compounds, but the aluminum will scratch with the white. Don't worry about using too much. The compounds are sold at Dollar Tree in big bricks.
You can do the whole wheel at once or in sections. I chose sections because I only get a few minutes at a time in the garage, so didn't want to forget where I was. After you've completed the wheel, a quick going over with the white rouge on the entire wheel will clean up any differences between sections.
4. Wipe everything with a clean terrycloth rag.
You want to wipe up any leftover compound.
5. Use a quality polish to protect the shine.
I've tried several different polishes, but I keep going back to Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish. It's inexpensive and uses the same basic ingredients as most of the aluminum polishes out there. It helps clean up any compound that got missed by the wipedown, and leaves behind a layer of silicone to protect the wheel.
If you don't reapply the polish regularly (after each wash minimum) the aluminum will oxidize and lose its shine. This is why clearcoating is so popular. I don't like the discoloration of clearcoating. Even good quality clearcoat will discolor eventually requiring sanding it off and starting all over. Light oxidation can be removed with the aluminum polish, so if you skip some washes, don't worry too much about it.
Here's some pics I took of polishing my wheels.
This one is after my 800 grit sanding:
After polishing one section. You can see the difference between sanded and polished easily:
And one complete wheel next to one wheel that has yet to be touched. You can see why I went to all the trouble:
Obviously the job wasn't perfect. I didn't want to try to sand out dings inside the wheel, so those got left behind. Also, there is much discoloration to the wheels that was soaked into the metal. Especially where some shop put the weights on the outside.
I'd love to have a wheel lathe to just turn the wheels and remove all the imperfections. Alas, that would cost way more $$ than I have available or am willing to spend on these. So it's just a matter of spending some time in the garage with the wheels.
