Another "Polishing Fuchs" question
 

I've read some of the posts of polishing, or maybe cleaning fuch 4 bolt wheels. I've tried a few of the milder approaches with little result. I've tried polishing compound on a power buffer. The small polishing cloth wheels on a drill with the white compound. And also a SOS pad. But the stains don't seem to come out. Any conservative suggestions? Here's a pic.
Thanks!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457817406.jpg

well, I just got finished restoring my fist set. I started with a really rough set of abused wheels, so I was not so conservative but here is what I did.

600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 sandpaper wet sanding on a random orbit sander. when you hit 1500 the shine will return! Then I kept going, 2000, and 3000 grit. shine was really great. then I bought a cheap polishing kit from Harbor freight, came with the polishing wheels and compounds. attached to a drill, run the wheel on the black then polish, then brown then wheel, then white compound and polish the wheel. I sold the set as they looked great, I was well rewarded. best of luck!

Jim

Jim, post some pictures if you can. I've got a set of Fuchs that could use a little help...

You could polish the petals and lip and then just paint the rest with the same silver Rustoleum paint the RSR wheel restoration guys have used.

If you're polishing the whole wheel the trick is remove the anodising first using caustic soda (also known as lye or Sodium hydroxide) solution.
Lye Crystals is a common cleaner you can get from most hardware stores and is the main ingredient in oven and toilet bowl cleaner.
I use 4 heaping teaspoons to about 2 gallons (10L) of water.
Takes about 30-40 minutes to strip the anodizing.
Wash well with water.

This stuff is caustic so use proper safety gear and have a good supply of water on hand.

Once you have polished you will then have to paint (clear coat) or clear anodize your rims.


BTW if you did forget about your rim in the solution, say overnight, you most likely would find a puddle of goo the next morning. Even this weak you can see the aluminium coming off.

Thanks a bunch Mark. Now you've given me another weekend project :D

If you want more info on stripping ask, I have some pics.

Whatever wisdom you have to pass on I'll gladly accept. I love the Fuchs over the Rivs they replaced, but they do still need some work. Thank you, sir!

refinishing the fuchs photos and hint
 

BTW caustic works great, but if you want a safer way to go, buy the nylon wheel from HF for $4. removes the anodized layer just fine. no puddles of goo

some photos for beatnavy
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915602.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915628.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915641.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915652.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915668.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915680.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915715.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915727.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1457915768.jpg

Thanks for the pictures Jim. Those are 5-lug Fuchs. They look great on your 911. I think the OP has 2.0 Fuchs (like I do). Is removing the anodizing the same process?

Not my 911, but those are the wheels I restored for him. both wheel types are aluminum so will polish up the same. the nylon wheel will easily remove the anodization, and paint, and even most scratches. the wheels will look dull and scratched evenly ,when you are done,( pic 2 above) then hit it with increasing grit sandpaper until they are nice and shiny again. then polish to a nice finish. takes time, but its quite rewarding!

Jim

Just be careful to ask about stripping anodizing off wheels. You don't want to see his "other" stripping pictures.... :eek:

--DD

Lol

Yea, those wheels on the 911 look pretty good. From the methods listed, each seems like there's a lot of elbow grease in certain stages. I like the idea of the lye doing some of the work but polishing only the spokes and lip sounds tricky, If I have that right. I have a few days to decide before I get a chance to start. Thanks for the info.....

hey bob what did you decide? lets see some pics?

Jim

Hum? Too be honest, I've been paralyzed with indecision. I'm thinking of leaving them as they are since I'm a little nervous about sanding into the original finish in hopes of getting it back to like. The spokes are a smooth polish and the other areas are a textured anodized, or something like that. I'm not sure I can match the two finishes. They look OK from 20 feet. Here's some pics of last Sunday at a "Coffee, Cars, Bikes in Vacaville". We had a great time and one of the other Pelican guys gave me the heads up on this event. One of Vacavilles finest came to check us out and let me wife try on his gear.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1458775658.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1458775904.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1458775947.jpg
I also discovered, that if you don't try and wrestle a cops gun away from him, he doesn't shoot you.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1458776210.jpg

Nice pics! I understand your reluctance. but take a look at the blue car next yours in the pics. Your wheels can easily look as nice! if you dont want to sand them down. you migjht try mothers polish and a speedball attachment on a drill. would likely make them look a bit nicer without the worry of ruining them.

JIm

Just my opinion, I found a shop here in my area that does anodizing. Stripped the paint from the wheels, then had the shop dip the wheels to remove the anodizing. Best way to go. After I polished the wheels myself, took them back and had the wheels anodized. BTW, the wheels are paint ready after anodizing.

Sorry totally forgot about this.
This is a pic of lye crystals and paint stripper. The caustic solution won't strip the paint so it took a good evening to strip the paint.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads...5812_thumb.jpg

First I did a test to be sure I wouldn't wreck my rims. Took the anodizing off this stair bullnose in about 10 minutes. No damage to the aluminum.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads...1529_thumb.jpg

I found a lid from an old water softener that was the perfect size for a 15" rim for my solution.
I used 4 heaping teaspoons to about 2 gallons (10L) of water.
Takes about 30-40 minutes to strip the anodizing.
Wash well with water.


http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads...1129_thumb.jpg

I just laid the rim face first in the solution and let it work, you could see a definite bubbling action.
Do this outside with a hose right beside you. As long as you have a good supply of water it's not that dangerous, as I did it in my shorts and certified safety flip-flops.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads...1313_thumb.jpg

Gaaaa!!! look what it did to my rims! Ohhh Nooo's!!

So I did a little research and found out it will look like the one on the right coming out off the tank. Turns out as an alloy and it must have a bit of copper in the mix.

The rim on the left is after less than 5 minutes with a scotchbrite pad, it looked exactly like the one beside it.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads...4023_thumb.jpg

The final result all ready for polishing. :)

Not counting the paint stripping the day before, these rims took about 3 hours to get to this point. The big plus is I have not accidentally over sanded any area of the rim
In fact other than the anodizing and scotchbrite pad, maybe .001"-.002", I have not removed any material.

BTW the solution I used was very weak, so it was fine just dumping it on the lawn and diluting it with lots of water.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads...5873_thumb.jpg

Very Cool! where does one find lye crystals? I have looked at our local hardware store, to no avail.

BTW- lye is a great way to clean a gas tank!

Common ingredient in drain cleaner, but just make sure it's 100% lye (Sodium Hydroxide).
This stuff below will work and has many dealers including Lowes.

Professional Strength Crystal Drain Opener | ROEBIC Laboratories, Inc. - The Septic Professionals

You can DIY as well, it's a common ingredient of soap.

Where to Buy Lye for Soap Making - Soap Making Sources for Lye

Very Cool! gonna have to try it!

Great photos of the process. It still seems like a bit of a crap shoot with the chemicals. Reminds me of Greg Brady, when he used this new shampoo and it turned his hair green. I'm not sure what I will end up with. But as Jim mentioned, try a polish. I did use a power polisher (7" bonnet) with a fine polish. I think I will try the heavy cut polish and see what happens. I have experience doing this with new paint so I'm more comfortable this way. Thanks for posting.

No crap shoot, personally I've seen rims ruined from over sanding and a polishing wheel won't cut the anodizing on fuchs.

This is a damn weak solution. Honestly if you can zip up your fly without getting your beans and frank caught in it, you can do this.

If your DIY conscience is hesitant, merely take the wheels to a metal polisher with instructions not to remove too much material. Polishing will first remove the harder anodizing layer (about .001-.002"), then polish the softer aluminum alloy under it. Re-anodize, then paint the background (or not).

Sherwood

OK, here we go: Mark Henry lit the fire under me. I took the wheels in, today, to have the tires removed. I will do the chem dip this week in an old garbage can lid, that I think will work. Will update soon.
Thanks!
PS - have an appointment this week to have beans and franks mended.

Subscibed
 

Great info. I'm going to be polishing the petals and edge and then painting the rest black. Has anyone ever tried to use 3M matte black vinyl instead of paint?

Mark

I've never been a fan of the black relief on four bolt fuchs, but to each their own.

If I was going for the more traditional /4 look with a bit more 'pop' I'd highly polish the petals and lip, then paint the relief with Rustoleum Brilliant Silver Metallic.

I would agree with Mark. My personal preference for 2.0 Fuchs is the "stock" look albeit clean and polished so they stand out. It's on my to-do list, but may not make it to the top for a while :D

Aside: y'all are lucky there's no Spring yet in Canada. Mark's spending time here helping us out instead of driving...

I agree, I like the polished look. BUT......I am working on a 71 right now, and Im gonna black out all the chrome trim, tint the windows as dark as legal, add a rear spoiler in black, and I have a set of FUCHs on the car, one side is polished, the other side is polished and black. the polished and black fits the look much better. so I know its not original or classic, but it does depend on the cars color scheme. IMHO

Jim

That's why I asked about the black 3M vinyl. I'm not sure about the black out. But paint is just paint. I think I'm going to polish the petals and repaint the silver as suggested and see how I like that before I decide on the black. A staged and measured approach may be the approach.

Mark

A measured strategy is good. I assume you've already looked here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=porsche+fuchs+wheel&biw=1401&bih=916&sour ce=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_y_SUnObLAhXFOCY KHb0DA3kQ_AUIBygC#q=porsche+fuchs+wheel&tbm=isch&p ws=1

S

Before I go further:
 

I started the "dipping" process and did one wheel, so far. Not sure it's turning out right so here I am. I couldn't find crystal lye but researching brings up crystal Drano which appears to be the same. I did a 20 minute soak last night then rinsed to check on it. I did another 25 minute soak today and this is what I have. I looks like the silver is coming off. Correct? The wheel on the left is the treated one (not how I expected it). The right is original:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1459560708.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1459560771.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1459560835.jpg
Should I soak more?

Looking at the draino ingredients that's not 100% Sodium hydroxide. you don't have a Lowes near you?
Shop Roebic Laboratories, Inc. 32-oz Drain Cleaner Crystals at Lowes.com

You haven't removed all the anodizing, up your time or the lye.

Yea, I did go to Lowes and asked for crystal lye (in the paint department). Two guys weren't sure what it was and looked over the paint remover and related chemicals and said, that's all they had. I think I was in the wrong department.
I'll increase time and mix ratio today and report back soon. Thanks Mark Henry~!! I know now, I'm going in the right direction....

Thing is it's not pure lye (Sodium hydroxide), when I researched this 100% lye was key.

This is a dealer list of the roebic product, but there must be other products that are pure lye.

Where To Buy | ROEBIC Laboratories, Inc. - The Septic Professionals

I "think" I may be going back to Lowes today? Yesterday, I increased the soak time and a little stronger Drano mix. Seems like more anodizing came off but not sure if I'm going too far? The red lines are showing the difference in finish (not all removed?)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1459706206.jpg

Look at post #20, there shouldn't be a blotchy finish left, but it may turn dark. Five minutes with a scotch brite pad should clean it up. You can go straight to polish from here.

Be aware that I was dipping the whole rim face in a tray, post #19. make sure it's a plastic tray.