Civic EG

[teal_dx]

Polishing Rims
This is a project that takes time and patience. You will be wet sanding and it makes a mess and your finger nails will be black for a while, the ladies will be impressed. The important thing is to sand long enough with each grit to remove the scratches from the previous grit. If you rush through the grits, you will end up sanding much longer with a finer grit to remove scratches from early grits.

Here's what you need:
-A variety of sand paper, I had
180 grit
240 grit
320 grit
400 grit
600 grit
1000 grit
1200 grit
1500 grit
2000 grit
- Mother's Wheel polish
- Blue Magic Wheel Polish
- any automotive carnuba type paste wax in a can




Here is of lightweight rims from a civic hx. As you can see they are badly corroded. They are painted silver from the factory, but had already had most of the paint stripped before I bought the car.



I began with 180 grit on these because there was so much corrosion to sand through. I sanded so much that I probably made them even lighter lol, yet still could not get through all the corrosion on the lips. You could start with 240 on a cleaner set of rims. You want to sand all the lines out of the factory machined surface.



Some pics after sanding with 400 grit



After 600 grit



After 1000 grit


Be sure to clean the inside of the rims as well so you can have the stick on weights put there rather than on the outside of the rim you just polished. I just used 180 grit to get the dirt off.




On the first wheel, between 1000 and 1200 grit, I masked off all the inset areas between the spokes to be painted. I did this before the 1200, 1500 and 2000 so that the rough edges from the masking tape would be sanded smooth as I finished the surface.






I sprayed them with Duplicolor Wheel Coating, Graphite





These are after sanding with 1500 grit. The rim in the background is 180 grit to show how far it has progressed.





after 2000 grit... almost done!!



Mothers wheel polish is good stuff, I have been using it for almost 10 yrs.
Just dab some on a terry cloth you dont use for anything nice (it turns black) and rub it on a section of the rim for about 30 seconds. Let it haze over for a minute after wiping and wipe the haze off with a clean cloth.


Done! (with that little area)



Spoke before Mothers


Spoke after Mothers



Half polished

Complete!



Compared to the 180 grit rim



Now I have 3 more to do

Also not yet pictured, I find that waxing them with a wheel polish called Blue Magic will make them a little bit brighter. Mothers is an abrasive, but the Blue Magic is much finer. It removes what is left of the black oxidation from the Mothers.

Finally wax them with a coat of regular carnuba paste wax. This will act like a seal on the surface and keep them looking good after a rainstorm. On the inside, wax but do not wipe it off after it hazes. This will make it much easier to keep the insides of the rims clean in the future. They aren't clear coated, but I hope you wouldn't even think about using them in the winter anyways!

edit: finally, here's some finished pics:

[fresh eh2*]

dammnn! thats some good shyt

[sihatch9508]

them things look damn good. good job!
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"if sparks dont fly, you're too high"

[littledelsol]

Those look nice.
If I know that could be done I would have kept my stock rims

[solbrothers]

that looks great!!!

now i need to do that to my stock del sol fat fives!!
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mensalmanac

[EtherEg]

Im going to be doing this to some optional 96-98 alloys,
im wondering how much of the mothers you used, ie: how fast you use it up

[teal_dx]

If you buy the small can like I had in the pics, that will be plenty for a set of 4 rims. I might guess 1/4 to 1/2 of that can depending on how thick you put it on.

[EtherEg]

alright, went and bought my small can like you,
the guy was like no don't sand the small lines that go around the whole wheel, just spray them with aircraft stripper and polish them and then clear coat them.

i was like no i need to sand them to bare metal then polish them,


but what about clear coat, if the canuba wax comes off will my wheels ever start to corrode in rainy weather or crappy weather, or if i drive after it snowed, like when i mount my wheels for summer and it snows once or twice?

[teal_dx]

Road salt will cause your rims to corrode. If you keep a coat of wax on them, this will protect them from rain and snow, but I would not skip the clear coat if there is any chance of road salt.

If you do not clear them and you don't keep them waxed, you will need to polish them again with the mother's again eventually.

That guy is thinking of a Machined finish. Many OEM wheels come like that. But when you smooth the rim and remove those tiny lines, that will make the surface flat and give you the polished aluminum surface that you will see reflections in.

I didn't clear mine because I was 100% sure they would never see snow. (or probably never see rain either)
If you do clear coat them, don't wax them first, you will just have to remove all the wax with a degreaser. All wax and grease must be removed from the rim before clear coat.

[EtherEg]

Yeah i told him I'm taking the machined finish off, and he was like you will be there all day, i said thats fine, lol 1 wheel at a time

But what do i do polish them with the cream and then buff out and then clear coat over top of the polish? will it adhere?

[teal_dx]

After you wipe off the mothers, clean them good & paint them then. Or after you sand with 2000 grit, you could clean & paint them then. The paint might adhere better to the 2000 grit surface than the mother's polished surface. But the mothers polished surface will shine more.

I have never went the clear coat route... you're the first lol.

I might try one wheel first, or just a small section to see how it adheres. Maybe use mothers on one wheel and try that, and then on another wheel try it after 2000 grit. Just a small test area on each wheel. Be sure to follow the directions on the paint, often times there is a re-coat window, especially with enamel paints.

Just be sure that the rims are clean of all grease & dirt or the paint will not adhere well at all. use a wax & grease remover to clean the rims.

edit: or maybe look into geting them powdercoated clear. That might be able to adhere better to a smooth polished surface...

[EtherEg]

omg, i started with 220, the machined finish is taking all day, but once that is off the switching or courses is a cinch, not near as long as it takes to get the machined finish off, ill have pics up soon

Any idea? should i go down to 180? i mean really it took me an hour to get the wheel polished in about an 1inch margin

yes i did all steps in a small area to test it out, i wanted to see results today, i saw a shine but only went up to 1500, ill need some finer grits

[teal_dx]

here's some more pics of polished rims!





cl rims = hawt

RZR's


Si's only slightly polished

HX's only slightly polished


RSX, these must have been a bitch, all curved surfaces!


Teg Blades


CRX Si's


LS Meshies




slipstream


some optional Honda wheel


Integra fat 5


Here is member eg8ferio's sedan w/ polished fat 5's
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My 1992 SOHC Turbo Hatch Build Thread

[-EJ1- COUPE]

i want those HX's u polished amazing simply amazing
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[asianrob]

damn! those slip streams are the hotness! haha i am thinking of getting some even those one of my friend has it on has DB8
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92 civic cx sold!!
horizon gray 94 LX-A (WRECKED 10-31-06 RIP)
white 92 civic Si (traded)
primered 94 teg sold
92 civic DX
93 LS400 Midnight indigo sold!
92 civic LX