Another "Polishing Fuchs" question

[bobswei]

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!

[jimbeaux911]

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

[beatnavy]

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

[Mark Henry]

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.

[beatnavy]

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

[Mark Henry]

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

[beatnavy]

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!

[jimbeaux911]

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

[beatnavy]

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?

[jimbeaux911]

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

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

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

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

--DD

[jimbeaux911]

Lol

[bobswei]

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.....

[jimbeaux911]

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

Jim

[bobswei]

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.



I also discovered, that if you don't try and wrestle a cops gun away from him, he doesn't shoot you.

[jimbeaux911]

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

[rkulina]

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.

[Mark Henry]

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.



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.



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.

[Mark Henry]

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.

[Mark Henry]

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.