Need a ATC250r front wheel polished..any suggestions

[cyal8er]

Hey guys, I just wanted to know if anyone knows of a reputable place where I can send my 86 front wheel to for polishing? I just bought some red label douglas's for the rear and need a matching front. I have a old Douglas rim that the previous owner gave me when I bought the trike and its in mint shape but needs polishing..any ideas? thanks

[rustyhondas]

go to a autozone or pep boys type of auto parts store and get a thing called a "power ball" and a tub of aluminum polish.

the power ball is a pom pom looking thing you stick in a drill and slather with polish to polish stuff. it works awsome . it is so easy and works ver well

you dont have to send them any were. for the price of the shipping you can buy all the stuff ,and do it many many times and to many other things like your truck wheels or something.

[cyal8er]

Hey thats not a bad idea as I've seen those things at autozone too. I could just get a container of Mother's Mag polish and give it a try, thanks for the idea!:beer

[chris200x]

yeah, I was going to metnion that mothers polish. it's real good stuff! For the tight areas use a dremel and a little buffing wheel attachment on slow speed. you may be surprised! :)

[EyeKandi]

if the wheel what i think it is. It has a gold look to it. i did two of those to a mirror shine took me a long time to get the gold off and make it look like it should be. polishing ball won't take that off. Be honest with ya i've never seen one of those things work. seen a guy try it on a truck here the other day, and all i did was lmfao. waste of money.

[brddog7683]

I wouldn't call them a waste of money, these powerballs are awesome! Thanks for the idea guys. I decided to get the mini powerball instead of the original size for tighter spots and my results imo turned out great so far. I only spent about an hour and half so far on each side of rim and later will go back and do another round with the mothers polish. This rim is a Douglas so I did not have the original gold finish to remove. I still have those original gold rims for backup but i want the polished aluminum look instead to match my ITP's in rear. I recommend the powerball highly:p Check out some before and after pics so far.....

[Bryan Raffa]

Im thinkin i need one of those!!!!

[Kintore]

WOW! thats a night and day difference! Nice work! please post the pics when its all done. I want to see it!

[Billy Golightly]

Whoa thats pretty impressive! This is at Autozone? I'm gonna have to pick one up :)

[rally4x4racer]

you want to polish aluminum?

depending on how bad the surface is ... (your call here) but typically you should start with 400 grit wet sandpaper. fill a bowl with water then add a tablespoon of dawn (or similar) dish liquid. wet sand with the soapy water and after you get a uniform surface move to the next finer paper. i.e. go from 400 to 600 to 800 intil you get to 1200 and then polish it with mothers or other premium mag polish.

If you have air, a die grinder will rev higher than a drill. another thing to consider is a roloc pad on a mandrel bit in a die grinder. This is pretty much hi speed green scrubbies. either way, using some sort of buff wheel to finish it would be easiest. enjoy your shine!

If you need to send the wheel somewhere you can send it to me! I can put a mirror finish on it - but youll have to compensate me for the time!

[chris200x]

Huffa might say:



you want to polish aluminum?

depending on how bad the surface is ... (your call here) but typically you should start with 400 grit wet sandpaper. fill a bowl with water then add a tablespoon of dawn (or similar) dish liquid. wet sand with the soapy water and after you get a uniform surface move to the next finer paper. i.e. go from 400 to 600 to 800 intil you get to 1200 and then polish it with mothers or other premium mag polish.

If you have air, a die grinder will rev higher than a drill. another thing to consider is a roloc pad on a mandrel bit in a die grinder. This is pretty much hi speed green scrubbies. either way, using some sort of buff wheel to finish it would be easiest. enjoy your shine!

If you need to send the wheel somewhere you can send it to me! I can put a mirror finish on it - but youll have to compensate me for the time!


This guy needs to be banned for not completely reading this thread. :lol: :banned:

[Rustytinhorn]

WOW! thats a night and day difference! Nice work! please post the pics when its all done. I want to see it!

Agreed, lets see these things on your trike. ;)

[rustyhondas]

aint that great. those babys work.:beer

aluminum polish works on bare open raw aluminum. it don t work on clearcoted or anodized aluminum . so if some of yall are having trouble that is probably why.it dont work on all truck rims because most of them a clear coted.or even clear anodizing,yes there is such a thing.

i like the looks of silver rims myself.i think it is more race looking.

the gold is more of a clasic old school look.wich is great on nice restore bikes, or original bikes. but mine is more of a race bike.

looks great.glad that worked out for you.:w00t:

[cyal8er]

Whoa thats pretty impressive! This is at Autozone? I'm gonna have to pick one up :)

Yeah, it really surprised me how well it worked. I didnt get mine at Autozone but at Summit Racing (http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=700+115+318835&D=318835) since I only live 10 minutes away from them:w00t:
Whats also nice about it is the extension piece it gives you. There is actually a shaft that runs down through the black outer sleeve so that part you can hold on to for extra stability.
I'm going to try it out on my front forks once I get them sanded down some, we'll see.

[rally4x4racer]

chris - that went right over my head, you will have to explain it to me.

honestly, I can do what brddog did to that wheel in about a half hour using my methods. I just thought I would share.

(btw, I was being sarcastic about sending it out)

*I can read the date stamps*

[Nightbiker07]

Hey thats not a bad idea as I've seen those things at autozone too. I could just get a container of Mother's Mag polish and give it a try, thanks for the idea!:beer

very best thing you can do. my wheels were CORRODED....looked like total garbage.
about 10 minutes per wheel with the powerball and Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish, and they is shining like NEW!!!

i cant believe it took you that long to do.......mine are minorly pitted, and they shine like that....after only 10 minutes of high-rpm powerballing :)

best wheel polishing tool known to man :D