320 grit and my finger tips are raw.

[rebar]

I read Busters 'how to' on polishing the aluminum scoops. Nice write up.

I though I would try that method on my rear wheel which had some pitting minus the paint remover step. After about 3 hours of sanding I still see a few deep pits and Im still on the 320 grit.:bang head: and all my fingers downright hurt.

Is there a easier way, not including painting?

I have buffing compounds. http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffing.htm
But Im not sure the grit of each. Meaning,, which compound is close to 320? I dont want to remove to aggressively and make a low spot.

Any other suggestions are welcome.:eusa_dance:

Thanks

 

[one2dmax]

Send them to me and get chrome ones. Easier to clean anyway.

Sean

 

[rebar]

Send them to me and get chrome ones. Easier to clean anyway.

Sean

Yes they would be easy to clean.

Im trying to retain the stock black/aluminum look though.

I may change my mind if my finger tips start bleeding. Maybe I will sand with my elbow.

 

[FREERIDER]

Maybe I will sand with my elbow.

Thats why they call it , using some elbow grease. :rofl_200::rofl_200:.
No pain, no gain.

 

[Heretic]

Once you polish them you will have to continue to polish them regularly to keep the shine. You are sanding them to get a smooth surface. The smoother the surface the shinier it will be. You can move on to a finer sandpaper and then buff them to see what they look like. The rouge that you probably have goes from course to fine in this order;

Black Brown White Blue

I tried to polish my scoops and gave up and had them powedercoated / painted. I suggest you look into powdercoating your wheels. They have every color Crayola has, its not that expensive and its alot less work.

 

[Miles Long]

I read Busters 'how to' on polishing the aluminum scoops. Nice write up.

I though I would try that method on my rear wheel which had some pitting minus the paint remover step. After about 3 hours of sanding I still see a few deep pits and Im still on the 320 grit.:bang head: and all my fingers downright hurt.

Is there a easier way, not including painting?

I have buffing compounds. http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffing.htm
But Im not sure the grit of each. Meaning,, which compound is close to 320? I dont want to remove to aggressively and make a low spot.

Any other suggestions are welcome.:eusa_dance:

Thanks

Chroming or powdercoating will save you a lot of work, and be much easier to maintain. unk:But if you insist on the polished aluminum look.....
You have to sand down to the lowest level, in your case the depth of the pitting, then using progressively finer grades of sandpaper, bring the metal to point where the buffing compound will "cut" and therefore polish.
I have found that generally this entails sanding to (at least) 600 wet-dry paper smoothness.
For deep pits and scratches, try sanding cloth made for power tools, such as belt sanders. The grit material lasts much longer than that on papers intended for wood or even metal sanding. Start with a 100, or even a 60 grit. This will of course leave a very rough surface, but you will soon eliminate the pits. Then try 100 dry, 220 dry,(aluminum oxide, garnet papers are useless for metal), 220 wet, 400 wet, 600 wet.
But before you start this on your rims, grab a piece of scrap aluminum, use a scratch awl or centrepunch to approximate the depths of the pitting on the rims, and then go to work as described above. This will give you an idea of how much time, work , and hurtin' fingers :bang head: are involved. You will soon no doubt be asking yourself "I wonder who does chroming around here?":ummm:
Good luck! Miles

 

[rebar]

The rouge that you will probably have go from course to fine in this order;

Black Brown White Blue

.

Thanks all. Found out black rouge was around 400 grit. Perfect..

I have the large Milwaukee angle grinder.
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...5-6&CategoryName=SC:++7+and+9+in.+Sanders

5000 rpm may be to much. What happens to the aluminum when your running to fast?

 

[EAGLEPI]

Thanks all. Found out black rouge was around 400 grit. Perfect..

I have the large Milwaukee angle grinder.
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...5-6&CategoryName=SC:++7+and+9+in.+Sanders

5000 rpm may be to much. What happens to the aluminum when your running to fast?

I think you should consider getting chrome ones from Sean.. they look better and easier to keep the shine. True you can't keep the two tone look but the chrome look is nice !!!!

 

[rebar]

I love power tools.unk:
But instead of my finger tips, my arms felt like noodles after a hour wrestling a 13 lb grinder.:biglaugh: I need the exercise.

My day job allows me to work on home projects. In fact, I need home project here at work to help pass the time.

The black rouge is much finer than 400. After polishing with the angle grinder and 8" buffer the wheel looked great! But I can still see some 320 lines I cant remove.

Any suggestions on a buffing wheel closer to 320-400? Or abrasive disks?

I think I will try...http://www.starboardsupply.com/product_info.php/products_id/3008980

 

[EAGLEPI]

I love power tools.unk:
But instead of my finger tips, my arms felt like noodles after a hour wrestling a 13 lb grinder.:biglaugh: I need the exercise.

My day job allows me to work on home projects. In fact, I need home project here at work to help pass the time.

The black rouge is much finer than 400. After polishing with the angle grinder and 8" buffer the wheel looked great! But I can still see some 320 lines I cant remove.

Any suggestions on a buffing wheel closer to 320-400? Or abrasive disks?

I think I will try...http://www.starboardsupply.com/product_info.php/products_id/3008980

Hate to press a point but have you thought about the ongoing polishing you will have to do to keep them the way you want ?? I srtill say chrome is the way to go.. Good part is if you ever decide to you can do it anytime.

 

[rebar]

Granted its allot of work. The wheel is done. Heres one of the scoops which had some nasty deep scratches from when the tow truck 'towed' my max. The scoop was just done with the black rouge and still needs finish polishing.

One thing I wont do is use anything rougher than 320. I did use some 240 in problem areas and it took allot of sanding to get it back to 600.

 

[4gasem]

Tell me you're not wearing the crocks! PLEASE!!!

lol
Chris

 

[Thevmaxrider]

Tell me you're not wearing the crocks! PLEASE!!!

lol
Chris

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!! My first thought was that there was a kid standing in front of him when he took the pic due to the perspective caused by the scoop being on a table....... then I realized he was wearing Crocs!!!

 

[rebar]

Tell me you're not wearing the crocks! PLEASE!!!

lol
Chris

No.. Thats my daughter taking the pic.:biglaugh:

I polished the scoop with brown compound and its really starting to pop!

Next step is blue or white.

 

[one2dmax]

That was the first thing I noticed (and then the second was there was a hell of a lot of polishing still to go).

I will note, when you start getting it really looking good you will realize there are "spots" in there that look bad. No amount of sanding or polishing will get rid of them. They are caused by imperfections in the casting (from whatever junk they tossed in the pot when they melted it down).

Sean

 

[rebar]

I will note, when you start getting it really looking good you will realize there are "spots" in there that look bad. No amount of sanding or polishing will get rid of them. They are caused by imperfections in the casting (from whatever junk they tossed in the pot when they melted it down).

Sean

Yea found quite a few of those Sean. Cant see them from a step back though.

Looking back I would not have done this because it is time consuming and a general pain in the ass. But I got paid to do them at work..:biglaugh:

 

[RaWarrior]

I don't mean to "toot my own horn", but I will anyway. Powdercoated wheels are the best. Absolutely any color you want, and they are zero maintenance. Anyone at BR saw my fire engine red ones, they're going on 3 years old now and still look brand new, not a scratch or flake anywhere. They don't even seem to get dirty. After a day of riding with my R1 pads(dusty)/calipers, the sides of the motor and general front of the bike is covered in dust, but not the front wheel. :confused2:

 

[rebar]

I don't mean to "toot my own horn", but I will anyway. Powdercoated wheels are the best. Absolutely any color you want, and they are zero maintenance. Anyone at BR saw my fire engine red ones, they're going on 3 years old now and still look brand new, not a scratch or flake anywhere. They don't even seem to get dirty. After a day of riding with my R1 pads(dusty)/calipers, the sides of the motor and general front of the bike is covered in dust, but not the front wheel. :confused2:

How much to powder coat a wheel? Can you mask out areas of the wheel?

 

[one2dmax]

Got a guy here with silver coated wheels that would probably trade pretty cheaply. You have to replace all the bearings when coating too which would already be done.

Sean

 

[gamorg02]

i know my local coater i think does them for $24 - $50 a pop. u gotta remove bearings tho. not a bad job. 2-3 beers if u get the rear one in one good pull and someone helps ya.