Alcoa or other aluminum Bud type wheels or fuel tanks

tuscarora dave

tuscarora dave

Active member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
5,403
Reaction score
0
Have any of you AG members done any polishing of these type of wheels? I am looking for some facts about this type of polishing so if someone feels compelled to write something like "Don't do it it's a PITA", please take the time to explain what it was that you didn't like about doing them.

I live in an area littered with trucking firms and truck stops and I am considering getting involved in the polishing of the aluminum wheels, fuel tanks, bumpers etc. I was recently laid off from my regular job and need to generate some income so I really don't care that it is a dirty job or that it may be difficult to get started in this particular line of work.

I am looking for more in the way of tips on how to polish them in a timely manner with good results. Pros and cons are both welcome in this thread but please be specific about your replies. Also, Ideas stemming from other (non automotive) industries are encouraged in this thread.

I have a friend who has offered up a free Alcoa aluminum bud tractor trailer wheel for me to practice on and I will post the before, during and after results in this thread at the time I do the work on it. Any other pics of this type of polishing work that some of you might have are also encouraged in this thread.

What tools have you used, what processes have you used, what type or brand of products are effective for this particular application, how much time was involved in doing a wheel or a fuel tank, what were some of the hangups that you may have experienced, any logistics nightmares (where did you do the work), any magic products for this type of work? these are the type of things I am wondering about. Thanks in advance for any useful replies. TD
 
Actually Budd wheels are about the best aluminum wheels a trucker can buy. Polished aluminum is fairly easy to maintain. Maintain being the key word. They're difficult to "pit" from brake dust. BUT if they do pit, it takes a pro metal polisher to bring them back. Use any product safe for specialty wheels ( P21s, DP etc). Great little niche, truckers love em shiny!
 
jpegs13 said:
Actually Budd wheels are about the best aluminum wheels a trucker can buy. Polished aluminum is fairly easy to maintain. Maintain being the key word. They're difficult to "pit" from brake dust. BUT if they do pit, it takes a pro metal polisher to bring them back. Use any product safe for specialty wheels ( P21s, DP etc). Great little niche, truckers love em shiny!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the speedy reply and helpful info, TD
 
Being a truck driver and having polished out plenty of Wheels going as farsanding them.Its very time consuming make sure you wear plenty of protect aluminum is
very piosonous. Gloves,face mask,longsleve shirt. Wheel are much easier of the truck then on .Front wheel are a harder compuond then rears and fuel tank a soft as well. AG's Metalworks works well just a few to many steps for small apps. Take a Look At Zephyr Polishing ,Eastwood or Britemax 2 Step my personal favorite for ease of use

Good Luck with It
Pm with Question Steven
 
Polishing aluminum is not bad once you have found a polish you like and a method of application that works for you. I would say give it a try but i wouldnt get into sanding on wheels i feel that its way to time consuming to return them back to perfect when they are that far gone.
 
To answer the last part of your question most pros use jewelers rouge and a cloth disk on a grinder probably the quickest way i have seen it done. I use a polish bought locally that i prefer and i use a small palm DA with a cloth bonnet and a Flitz ball (mothers power ball and other foam polishing balls are a waist of money they come apart after one try) for wheels. for tanks and other larger easy to get to surfaces i prefer a rotary buffer with a wool pad. As far as time goes it really depends on products used and condition of the wheel. if i where going to attempt to make money at polishing aluminum i would certainly look into jewelers rouge
 
whitemopar said:
To answer the last part of your question most pros use jewelers rouge and a cloth disk on a grinder probably the quickest way i have seen it done. I use a polish bought locally that i prefer and i use a small palm DA with a cloth bonnet and a Flitz ball (mothers power ball and other foam polishing balls are a waist of money they come apart after one try) for wheels. for tanks and other larger easy to get to surfaces i prefer a rotary buffer with a wool pad. As far as time goes it really depends on products used and condition of the wheel. if i where going to attempt to make money at polishing aluminum i would certainly look into jewelers rouge
Click to expand...

Twinkies come in flavors now??
View attachment 5719:laughing:
 
Last edited:
I have uncoated aluminum wheels and likely would NEVER purchase them again. However they look quite special when polished so as others have offered upkeep is better than starting after neglected. Here are some hints I have found useful:

1. Use a safe wheel cleaner (like P21S) that wont etch/stain wheel
2. Consider using P21S Polishing Soap to remove alot of tarnish
3. Get a Powerball/Powercone/PowerBallMini to help final polish
4. Look for a great metal polish (most are highly caustic) -- I often use English Custom Polishes and our Wolfgang Product Metalwerks is a nice option too.
5. Seal wheels with Poorboys/DP/Optiseal to help keep nice
 
I've owned quite a bit of polished aluminum including multiple sets of aluminum slotted mags, I had two sets for my 1971 Chevy 4x4, 2 sets for two Spitfires, one set for a 1960 MGA, one set for my tandem axle boat trailer and am currently looking for 2 for my 74 Datsun 620 truck, (I have 2 already), and a set of 12" side slotted mags for my next project.

I like aluminum wheels because they are light, strong and can be polished. Because the wheel is made out of aluminum, there is no coating, you don't have to worry about harming and then having to fix a thin coating like you do with most other wheels, either chromed or painted.

As for polishing them, I always did it the old fashioned way by hand and as someone already mentioned, as long as you 'actively' maintain the finish then polishing and maintaining the high shine is fast and easy. Once they deteriorate via oxidation then restoring them is a lot of work.

There are a number of polishing tools out now that make it much faster and easier to polish aluminum wheels while they are on the vehicle using a drill corded or cordless, so a majority of the "work" portion of the job has been removed. How perfect you want to get them is probably the determining aspect of the job as you'll want to balance the quality of your work with the time you can invest to make the job profitable, this means you can't be removing the wheel in order to polish them because that's too time and labor intensive.

You'll want to find a way to do a great job of polishing them on the truck and this will mean a finding a balance between what you charge and the quality you deliver as the job is done best with the wheels removed but most customers are not going to want to pay what it will cost to remove and re-install the wheel PLUS what it will cost to polish the wheel. Of course any potential customer with common sense should be able to understand this but that's another story.

Autogeek offers a number of different polishing tools for working on wheel as well as metal polishes but I have not used these tools myself so I can't offer you an opinion.

Here's a link to all kinds of metal polishing chemicals and tools


As I get time and find a set of very wide, 8-lug, 16" or 16.5 wheels you will for see see a write-up in the way of a before and after.


:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top