Bunky
Well-known member
- Jun 20, 2007
- 6,410
- 139
I got to play with the new Mothers Power Cone. I had purchased the Mothers mini-ball 2 years ago to work on some headlights but did not use it for much else.
I decided to polish up some chrome wheels on a 2001 Sebring this weekend after I did paint correction and waxing. These wheels have always been a "shiny" chrome wheel with many spokes so it can be a pain to clean them since brake dust/grease can gather near the inside. I am not a user of strong wheel cleaners so I really on soap and chrome polish but they have never been that bad.
I took out our cordless drill which we never use any more since it is one of those older lower voltage models (7.2 V?) so it could not do much of anything (drilling, etc.)
To get the chrome polish on the cone, I pulled the trigger slightly on the drill and drizzled the chrome polish as it turned. I then rubbed it around some to evenly spread the polish. The cone was probably more saturated than needed but it tended to soak it up readily. Amazingly, I really never threw much polish off the cone when it spun.
I worked the cone in each spoke and at various angles to try to get the cone surface in contact with the wheel and never really did crank of the speed.
The cone cannot completely penetrate that far on some areas of the wheel due to the brake caliper directly behind the spoke opening. However, the nose of the cone does collapse a lot so you end up jamming it against whatever it hits to work the sides of the cone on the wheel surfaces. I was not trying for precision polishing with the tip (brute force method).
Therefore, the tip of the cone gets rather nasty since it contacts the calipers, wheels, and other crud on the backside. I liked the fact I could easily twist it around to get most areas well despite the calipers. Obviously, for the perfect job, you should use this with the wheels off the vehicle.
It felt more stable than the mini-ball in use since it seemed to stay put where you placed it rather than wanting to roll off the spot on flatter surfaces. It am sure I spent more time polishing since the cone was doing all the work.
The final result was very nice.
For clean up, I soaked it in Dawn dish washing liquid and it was remarkably clean. I would suggest cleaning after immediate use to get rid of the brake dust, grease, etc that may get on it. Initially I put it in a tub of water to soak but it floats so I ended up filling a large cup with soap and then wedged it in place so it would be fully immersed.
If you do a polishing in tight or intricate places, this may be just what you need. I plan to try polishing my Dakota wheels with some plastic polish. I had used Plastic Polish by hand but know several spots to see if this will really get rid of some embedded brake dust.
I decided to polish up some chrome wheels on a 2001 Sebring this weekend after I did paint correction and waxing. These wheels have always been a "shiny" chrome wheel with many spokes so it can be a pain to clean them since brake dust/grease can gather near the inside. I am not a user of strong wheel cleaners so I really on soap and chrome polish but they have never been that bad.
I took out our cordless drill which we never use any more since it is one of those older lower voltage models (7.2 V?) so it could not do much of anything (drilling, etc.)
To get the chrome polish on the cone, I pulled the trigger slightly on the drill and drizzled the chrome polish as it turned. I then rubbed it around some to evenly spread the polish. The cone was probably more saturated than needed but it tended to soak it up readily. Amazingly, I really never threw much polish off the cone when it spun.
I worked the cone in each spoke and at various angles to try to get the cone surface in contact with the wheel and never really did crank of the speed.
The cone cannot completely penetrate that far on some areas of the wheel due to the brake caliper directly behind the spoke opening. However, the nose of the cone does collapse a lot so you end up jamming it against whatever it hits to work the sides of the cone on the wheel surfaces. I was not trying for precision polishing with the tip (brute force method).
Therefore, the tip of the cone gets rather nasty since it contacts the calipers, wheels, and other crud on the backside. I liked the fact I could easily twist it around to get most areas well despite the calipers. Obviously, for the perfect job, you should use this with the wheels off the vehicle.
It felt more stable than the mini-ball in use since it seemed to stay put where you placed it rather than wanting to roll off the spot on flatter surfaces. It am sure I spent more time polishing since the cone was doing all the work.
The final result was very nice.
For clean up, I soaked it in Dawn dish washing liquid and it was remarkably clean. I would suggest cleaning after immediate use to get rid of the brake dust, grease, etc that may get on it. Initially I put it in a tub of water to soak but it floats so I ended up filling a large cup with soap and then wedged it in place so it would be fully immersed.
If you do a polishing in tight or intricate places, this may be just what you need. I plan to try polishing my Dakota wheels with some plastic polish. I had used Plastic Polish by hand but know several spots to see if this will really get rid of some embedded brake dust.
