How to polish aluminum by hand (taken from my vwvortex post)

[secondslc]

Hi Guys, I figured i'd post this here if you never head to the vortex. I should update the post as things can be done better.

But here it is.

This is how i polished the face of my speedline in 4 hours, thats 4 hours pretty much non-stop. So figure 16 hours at least to get a set of four polished. In order to get the rims ready for polishing, they need to be stripped of any paint. I used the strongest paint stripper I could find. The best stuff i found was at pep-boys, its made my Klean-Strip and is called Aircraft Stripper. Its a paste that is applied thick with an acid brush, once applied it should bubble up quite a bit of paint, it will take a few applications for each rim to completely strip them. WARNING: This stuff burns....wear chemical proof gloves and avoid skin contact at all costs, water rinses it off, but its still a searing pain that you wont forget. Plan 2 hours per rim to strip, thats another 8 hours. Yea, thats 24 hours of solid work. :o
Now the fun part...
Tools needed:

220 grit sanding disks and an electric sander
320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit sandpaper, make sure this is automotive grade for wetsanding, you will be using lots of water.
A hose and a spray bottle with water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid, keep the hose next to you and put a nozzle on it so you have instant water, youre going to be using it alot.
You need at least one speedline .
(not pictured is an elbow and lots of grease :laugh: )

This is what the rim looks like when stripped, notice the curbage and scratches. Start at 220 with the electric sander and sand away all the machining marks and any blemishes. You want to remove any marks with the 220 since you will not be able to remove the blemishes with each grit you move up. Remember, you cant remove every blemish (like curbage) but you can definitely make things look better. Once you are satisfied with the 220, spray down the rim with soapy water and rinse very well, the point here is to remove any aluminum dust and sanding grit, if any of this is left, you will scratch the rim up with each grit you go up, forcing you to go back and start from scratch.

Now we start the process that will carry you to 2000 grit. Take your 320 and spray down the rim and your paper. Start sanding at one point and try to stay in the same direction(left to right, or up and down). Keep things wet, when things start sticking, add more water, the soapy solution makes things glide better but realise that the sandpaper will not bite as much. All the water will start turning black, thats good. Rinse this nasty stuff away so you can see your progress. You will want to keep sanding unil the sanding lines ALL go in one direction. If you see any lines from the 220, keep sanding until there are none. Remember, as each grit goes up, you will not be able to remove lines from a previous grit. if you want it to turn out well, be persistant and get rid of those marks.

This is how it looks after 320. Notice the less apparent curbage and less scratches on the rim.Continue the process in opposite directions until you reach 2000. Remember to keep washing the rim after each grit, and rinse whenever things get too dirty. You will be sorry if you catch a piece of grit and scratch everything up at 1000. And be sure to try and catch any sanding lines from a previous grit as soon as possible, its a big pain to backtrack.

This is halfway though 600, notice im not donw since the sanding lines do not go in one direction yet, i still have to remove the marks the 400 left behind.

Things should actually shine at 1000, only two more grits to go at this point.

First rim finished, middle rim at 2000 grit ready to polish, last rim is bare...i still dont know how im going to remove that huge scuff.

This is after one application of Meguiars NXT metal polysh...any metal polish will work, follow directions and be patient...the shine will come...trust me.

Final Notes:
Your results may vary. You may take more time and get a better shine, or you may take less time and get craptacular results. If you found a quicker way or a better way that works well, by all means please let me know, I have two left to do, and my hands are not excited. If you have any questions, please ask me via this post or IM...I will be happy to share advice. If this post is not complete or vague in any way, let me know and i will try to edit.

Legal Mumbojumbo..
I assume no responsibility for the results you achieve unless they make you happy...if you are happy with the results please share the advice and show them this post.if you aren't happy, well... what do you want me to do?

**some questions I answered**

Looks great. I am curious where that mixture of water and paint remover ended up though. Hopefully not into the drain.

woa, I didn't realize i bumped this post when i changed the pic links....

To respond, the paint stripper was a paste, and was soaked into paper towels and thrown out. The rest went into my grass when i rinsed the residue. Nothing died, grass was fine

you really didn't need to go to 2000 and you don't need to use that much elbow grease. but looks good either way.

After going through so many grits, a few more was not an issue

After reading it all than seeing the marks on the insides of the wheels, what if you blue taped the face of the wheel and re-sprayed in the inner wheel with something similar to the original finish? This way you don't see those blurs and stuff.
Modified by Rento_VW at 8:56 PM 10-19-2007

I guess I forgot to post the finished product, I painted the insides a gunmetal color. They have T1-Rs wrapped on them, and theyre on my black SLC for this season(red the last)

**yes they were backwards on one car, it was a test fit**

[The_Stig]

Polishing = HPITA

But boy those came out awesome. Great write up!

[gli_ryan]

I'm excited to get my wheels polished, but not excited for the work I'll put into them at all...

[aaronmjr]

Good write-up. I've done this, and am in the process of doing another set. It is a HUGE investment in time, but the results are damn satisfying. I've tried a few different aluminum polishes, and "Met-all" is my favorite by far.

[Peetah05]

I plan on doing my valve cover and intake manifold as well this winter. Gonna be a lot of work but using some power tools should save a lot of time on the big flat parts.

Here's another good DIY on vortex that I found...very helpful as well, with suggested products.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2368021&page=1

[Rowland]