Polishing Fuchs

I have read the tech articles about polishing up Fuchs and all the posts I can find but no one has mentioned using a power buffing wheel and jewelers rouge. I have polished a lot of tarnished brass in my house that way and am wondering if that would work on the wheels.

Has anybody out there tried the buffing wheel and rouge approach? Anybody have an opinion?

Depends on what you are cutting thru....some Fuchs have been painted, clearcoated or chromed....rouge and a wheel will not work very well.

If there is anything on them, they need to be chemically stripped. If they are not then the wheel and rouge will work, but slowly.

The first time I polished my Fuchs, I used a high rpm polisher. It was messy. Thereafter I only find it necessary to do it by hand. Only about 15 minutes per wheel. But I never let the shine tarnish very much. I performed the polishing before I knew about the anodizing, but I'm pretty sure it was not there when I started. I know for sure it is not there now. As for the chrome, I'm sure you would still have to polish the wheels to get a great shine and protect the finish. Bottom line, poilishing by hand does the job and really doesn't take too long. I believe PP has a tech article on preparing concours wheels you may want to check out.

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Paul
78SC Targa
Black, low, fast and fun in the sun

Paul, how do you polish them? Just a rag and elbow grease, or a polishing compound? I've recently got a set re-finished. Should I be doing anything special to them?

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T (3.6) sunroof coupe

Once upon a time (before I knew my wheels were annodized) I, too, tried the high powered buffing wheel and rouge approach... what a mess and I got nowhere. I only succeeded in making them dull where I had been! (see note above about annodization-ignorance!)

OK, I'm not sure what I've got. These wheels have never been refinished, just washed and maybe had some wax on them. So I guess that means they still have the anodizing on them?

The rims look ok now but they're just a little dull and I was hoping to get them nice and shiny. So if they are anodized is that even possible until you eliminate the anodized layer?

Jack,
I prefer Mothers Mag Polish, an old gym sock as an applicator, some elbow grease, and a soft terry towel to wipe the glazed polish off the wheel. I have used Eagle One Mag Polish and obtained a pretty good result, but I prefer the Mothers. Mothers seems to provide a longer polish. I just take my time and I can get a chrome like appearance. You don't need much and I always use a fresh area of the (If I ever get a scanner I post some picks.) In between polishing, and after a wash, I am sure to wipe the wheels dry with a soft terry towel before the wheels have a chance to dry naturally. It seems if the wheels dry naturally they become a little duller every time. And one other thing, I always make sure the wheels are cold whenever I polish or wash them. It seems that if the wheels are warm they will dull. Good luck.

The best way to start is to take the wheel to the car wash, spray on oven cleaner, yes i said oven cleaner and let it sit for about ten to fifteen minutes, then spray it off with high pressure soapy water. The wheel will look like its turning black with the oven cleaner but its just removing the anodized crap. Now polish with what ever you want, I suggest a power product or your arms are going to be sore. This is it in a nut shell, it is a lot of work because of the factory finish.

Tom
73RS cab (getting closer)

Tony,

The anodized layer will always look like a mat finish. My wheels had anodized area that were worn through to the aluminum, they were the only areas that shined to a high gloss. The rims looked like the PO parked it around to many dogs with a high amonia content.

The oven cleaner is the way to remove the anodized layer, it will leave the aluminum very dull until you start to polish it. If you want to keep the center black make sure you tape it off from the oven cleaner. Also remove the center caps a little spash of cleaner will remove the black anodizing (ask me how I know).

I bought a flex shaft for a 3/8" drill from Lowe's Medium and Fine polishing compond, and a fine buffing compound. 2 1/2" shanks for the buffing wheels and 4 (4"?) buffing wheels. It took about two hours per will to polish the rims only (left the center black). Invested about 8 hours of time and $75-80.

If you attempt to polish the center of the wheel it will take you much longer, it is a much rougher aluminum surface under the paint than you find on the rim.

PS911 is right...its messy and noisy with the drill locked on at full rpm. After they are polished I also use Mothers Wheel Polish (picked it up at Checkers Auto Part) to keep the shine.

I like the polished look. If the anodizing was in good shape I would have elected to keep them orignial, protecting the aluminum from the eliments and pesky dogs marking their territory.

Hope this helps, Todd

Ahhhhhh.. That oven cleaner trick was just what I was hoping for. I tried mechanically stripping the anodizing on one wheel and gave up. I'll give that a try. Wish me luck.

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Tyson Schmidt
72 911 cabriolet (964 bodywork)

I think the oven cleaner is working because it contains some caustic soda. An idea might be to try caustic soda in warm/hot water - but tie a rope on the wheel before you put it in the stripping bath, and stand back as the caustic has a pretty big reaction with the aluminium (spelling ?) content of the fuchs. Ummm sounds a bit hairy, try a weak mixture first.

I WaRNeD yOu......

Hey, just wanted to let you know the oven cleaner did not do diddly on my Fuchs. I tried ever brand name I could find and the wheel just laughed at me. Don't know what the deal was but just wanted to let ya know you MAY run into some problems. 5 minutes in a hot caustic tank and even the "super wheels" gave in.

I always used Ammonia for stripping Anodized belt buckles... I am sure the Fuchs are a little tougher, but it may be a little easier than tracking down a caustic tank. Just a thought.

Magilla

Well I thought I had tried every stripping agent available for anodizing (paint is relatively easy) and found that nothing worked better than your local Chroming shop and the aluminium-specific stripping tanks they keep---but maybe I'm wrong here. I never did try the oven cleaner method, but will do so with a pair of extra Fuchs that came with the car.

As to the rouge, basically once stripped you are looking at chucking up a buffing wheel onto a nice drill (Miluakee Magnum or equiv.) where the wheel is large enough to be able to apply the rouge without beating on the rim with the drill head or the buffing wheel shaft.

You'd need two buffing wheels: one for the brown tripoli rouge and one for the white rouge. Then you finish up with Mothers/Simichrome/McGuiars.

Spinning a buff wheel is pretty messy, but just do it outside with old clothes. Certainly the result is far superior to handwork, especially if you have deanodized and then 600/1000 wet sand the surface to be polished.

All polishing boils down to removing the scratches that you have put in the alloy. You strip the anodizing, and are left with a dullish finish. Sanding the surface is key to a nice finish, at least for me. After 1000 grit wet sanding, the brown tripoli then the white, then three times with the Mothers polish, the wheel look chromed. Except for the discolorization of certain glued-on wheel weights, the Fuchs are basically dazzling.

I also didn't reanodize, and it dulls the finish. I waxed the whole thing and hope that that is enough to keep the worst from discoloring my work.

All experimentation; I learn everyday!

Jw

I just polish the lip of my fuchs, first I used a sand paper 80 grade, I took all gray out, then took a 180 grade,to take the big scratches off, then a 260 grade finish with a 400. Then polish with a compound, then used a 600 with water, repolish them. It took me four hours per wheel but they came out perfect. If you have time on your hands, and good fingers that's the way to go.
Daniel