• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Alloy Mags - How Do I Clean Up ?

Share this page

G

Gary Pope

Jedi Trainee
Offline
I bought a very used set of 15" alloy Mags of an 83' Datsun to go on my TR6 which are oxidized all over. I bought some mothers Mag alloy paste and started with a rag and elbow grease and started to rub. The result was fairly good, the problem is, it takes a long long time. I have no motivation to get these wheels cleaned and polished up due to the hard work involved. I am wondering weather or not to get them bead blasted and painted or perhaps there is some quicker automated polishing method I can use. Any advice appreciated.
 
You can purchase a rag buffing wheel which will fit into the chuck of an electric drill from a hardware store. Use this to do the "elbow grease" part of the job, then just polish up by hand with the hard work taken care of.

[ 01-06-2003: Message edited by: Steve ]</p>
 
For the detail areas (if you have any) the bigger buffing wheel might miss, try getting a Dremel-tool and a Dremel polishing-tool kit (about $12 at Lowes for the polishing attachments).
 
You can also just polish the raised flat surfaces and leave the rest grey or black. Try to resist the temptation to clear coat the whole mess, cause the clear will eventually wear and crack, or maybe go dull, and then the wheels will look shoddy again..
 
Old wheels often need professional help, check around ,there are places that re-condition mag wheels to a like new condition for a fair price.
This is often the only way to get them back like you want them . You can spend a lot of time and only get so so results (depending on the wheel)
MD(mad dog)
 
Do you have any teenage sons or neighbors who isn't afraid of a little work to get the shine done??? It might also be a good into to auto refurbishing for some young kid. I know...I had neighbor who used to let me help him restore a '58 Corvette, a 56 Sedan Delivery and a '65 Chevelle SS...and learn the rewards of hard work! God rest his sole!

Bruce
cheers.gif
 
where do you find these kids? My daughter says she wants to help but the minute it gets dirty she's history, but I expect this from a teenage girl
 
My son's are 8 & 4 , so I can't really trust them to do any kind of job on them. However, the future looks good.
smile.gif


I haven't seen any professional shops around here that might offer a reconditioning service. I had been toying with the idea of bead blasting or Walnut shell blasting. I really would like a blast cabinet.
 
Back
Top