C3 wheels, how to clean up
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 23
Likes: 1
C3 wheels, how to clean up
My '78 has the orginal slotted aluminum wheels. The machine finishing work is pretty rough. Not sure that these wheels ever had a shine. Any suggestions on how to get them polished.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,192
Likes: 27
From: Boca Raton Florida
Factory slots are actually good wheels and will take a very nice shine. I did mine starting with some 800 wet paper, lightly sand them smooth and then go over them again with 1500, then a polishing bob and Mothers Aluminum polish. They will do a near mirror finish
Pro
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 712
Likes: 4
From: caraquet N.B Canada
I did the same to my wheels. There not stock but they are aluminium wheels. I had to start with 100 because they were in real bad shape but i did finish with 2000 wet sanding and use mothers aluminium polish.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,507
Likes: 114
From: St. Louis Mo
Just a little tip, When i did mine I took them off the car and used a bar stool to sit them on which gave the right height and took my time.............LT
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,812
Likes: 2,028
From: eastern NC
On 1978's the only ones that came polished were the Pace Cars and they had a small red stripe around the bead of the rim, so they're pretty easy to identify.
I bought a left over '77 in 1978 and it came with the aluminum wheels. They were not polished, nor did they have clear coat on them, so they were rather dull even when new. After looking at them like that for a while I decided to give my Dremel a try using Simichrome polish. It's available online or at most good motorcycle shops.
It did a pretty good job and they looked at least 100% better when finished. I now use an air powered die grinder to do this job, and it's a lot easier. The results are the same, they look terrific.
I do not use clear coat on them and the shine is excellent and I just do a quick polish once or twice a year and they look as good as when I finished them.
Good luck... GUSTO
I bought a left over '77 in 1978 and it came with the aluminum wheels. They were not polished, nor did they have clear coat on them, so they were rather dull even when new. After looking at them like that for a while I decided to give my Dremel a try using Simichrome polish. It's available online or at most good motorcycle shops.
It did a pretty good job and they looked at least 100% better when finished. I now use an air powered die grinder to do this job, and it's a lot easier. The results are the same, they look terrific.
I do not use clear coat on them and the shine is excellent and I just do a quick polish once or twice a year and they look as good as when I finished them.
Good luck... GUSTO
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 86
Likes: 2
From: Covington, La
I have an 81' with the original slotted aluminum rims, the clear coat is spoty and looks pretty bad.
I just want to make sure before I start, I can wet sand with a coarse grade and finish with a 2000 grit without re-clear coating? Just aluminum polish?
Is there anyway to remove the clear coat before I start sanding or will it wet sand off easily?
thanks
I just want to make sure before I start, I can wet sand with a coarse grade and finish with a 2000 grit without re-clear coating? Just aluminum polish?
Is there anyway to remove the clear coat before I start sanding or will it wet sand off easily?
thanks
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