Izover4u

Want to polish the inner wheel barrels before I put them back on the car…. My wheels are not clear coated. I have Flitz metal polish (tube) and the flitz polishing ball…What is the best procedure to go about doing this?

Should I apply the polish by hand then use the ball to buff off the polish?

Any advice would be great!!

C5naples

I like the spiral sewn buffing wheel available at home depot for $6 or $7, attach it to a drill, works well.

TkitPlz

For those of us lacking the equipment to take the wheels off to do this type of cleaning, any tips on the best way to get it done? Thanks. Dan

rwsr50

Are your wheels chrome or polished aluminum? You don't want to use Flitz and a wheel on polished aluminum with clear coat. I'm getting ready to try to clean my barrels up too, but mine are polished aluminum with clear coat.

Yello95

That looks nice. Now are you going to spray clear coat?

rws.1

the inner barrel is clear coated. It needs to be treated like paint.
If you plan to strip off the clear coat, then ( and only then) you can use the Flitz and the Mother's Powerball

Izover4u

Looks great! My wheels are not clear coated...

how do I apply the flitz polish? Do I apply by hand then buff off with the polishing ball?

Izover4u

polished aluminum no clear coat... how do i apply the flitz?

blacksedan87

The best thing for you Dan - is to get yourself one of those flat paint stirring paddles at Home Depot or Lowes and go after the barrels with your regular car washing solution. Your clear coated wheels should be treated the same way as your paint.

I thought you told me you have a neighbor that has all kinds of stuff like floor jacks and jack stands, etc. Maybe he'll let you bring your car over so you can take the wheels off, as that's the best way to clean the barrels.

The other thing you could do is drive that car down here and I'll do it for you!

Mr. Wonderful

The only real "equipment" you need is a floor jack (2 ton aluminum @ Costco for $99 or any other), and some jack stands. If you have room in the garage for storage of these items, they will certainly come in handy for other work you want to do on the car.
I took off one of my wheels yesterday, and it was a breeze to clean the barrel that way.

beden1

I have the '01 stock chromed forged wheels. I had never cleaned the inner wheel sections until reading these posts, and then the **** side of me flared up and I had to do it. I came up with a great solution to cleaning the wheels, without taking them off the car. I have a fish tank, and to keep it clean, they sell a long handled scrubber at any pet store in the fish section (the light blue handled one with white scrubber worked best for like $4.00). The scrubber part is like Scotch Bright. I used car soap and water in a bucket and the scrubber to take 5+ years of dirt off the inner wheels. I just rolled the car back to get to the sections that were blocked by the brake calipers, and finished with a small towel to dry, and another towel with MacGwiers (sp?) spray detailer. The wheels look absolutely great, and it only took like 10 minutes per wheel. I then finished by using the same scrubber to clean out the wheel wells.

For those of you who cringe at the thought of using a Scotch Brite type cleaning tool on the inside of the wheels, you really need to lighten up. I mean, who the heck is going to know if your inner wheels may have some hair line scratches? Actually though, my forged wheels did not get scratched by using the scrubber.

rwsr50

Are you sure you have no clear coat? I thought all the factory polished aluminum wheels came with clear coat. (Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to argue, or say you don't know what you are talking about. I just would hate to see you mess up your wheels.)

rws.1

Assuming there is no clear coat the spiral sewn buffing wheels and a buffing compound ( or jewellers rouge) on a 18V or stronger cordless drill is step 1
Step 2 is the use of flitz or Mothers power buffing AL polish .
You can apply it to the Powerball, but it will sling (spray) all over the place. Applying it to the wheel first and then using the powerball works better

Izover4u

All factory wheels do come with a clear coat but I dont have factory wheels. I have Iforged polished wheels

Cozmo

When I polished mine, I applied the polish by hand and used the mothers power ball when buffing.

Before and after pics.

edensknight

Beautiful wheel detailing, gang! A little elbow grease goes a long way.

sailohio

Very nice. Wanna do mine?

b98

all good info. thanks

c5BlackBeauty

That had to hurt




Sorry - I couldn't resist that one.

TkitPlz

Randy: I like your last suggestion the best. The first time I could bring the car to you and watch you do it and observe and learn the skill. While you are working I could smoke an Opus X and drink a beer. Great plan, Randy! Dan