How should I clean up these 2g Talon rims?

[lasthope05]

You know Im suprised that nobody suggested a fine wire wheel. That would of taken seconds to take it off and then just polishing real quick by hand....Would of been a 15 min job max.

 

[kenamond]

Holy yowtch. Great result, though. But a Dremel? Kinda like mopping-up Lake Superior with a Kleenex.

Well, the wheel weights are still on the rims, and I have an AWD, so the idea of polishing it in gear on jackstands was a problem. The dremel is maybe 6 minutes per wheel. Then another 20 minutes per wheel of waxing/buffing. The long and painful (literally) part is getting the corrosion off and sanding with 100/220/600dry/wet. The polishing and waxing/buffing stuff was easy and fairly painless.

You know Im suprised that nobody suggested a fine wire wheel. That would of taken seconds to take it off and then just polishing real quick by hand....Would of been a 15 min job max.

My guess is that it would eat into the aluminum too much. I tried an 80-grit flapwheel and it was not possible to get into the "corner" of the lip without hitting the center of the wheel (which is painted, not polished). I think the best solution is to get the wheel weights off and somehow get the wheel turning on something and just hold sandpaper to the lip. I couldn't do that, so I did what I could. Lost some skin and fingernail in the process, but it's turning out pretty good. It's something I can do for pennies at night while the family is in bed that really makes a visible difference to the car. I don't mind (the pain part was a deterrent, though).

 

[bmoha2]

That rim turned flatout beautiful! Very nice! How did the exhaust tips and side trim come out?

 

[kenamond]

That rim turned flatout beautiful! Very nice! How did the exhaust tips and side trim come out?

Thanks! My fingertips will be healed tomorrow, so I'll try to polish the other three. The wheel above had no wheel weight on it, but the other three do, so I'll probably only be able to polish up so close to the weights. Any idea how hard it is to remove/reinstall them? I need to Google that.

As for the muffler and tips, I couldn't be happier with the result. I can't help but be proud of myself; it took me a lot of time (I went REALLY slow), but I learned buttloads, met an awesome welder who is willing to weld for me in the future, and got my car looking a helluva lot better IMO. I've scattered some pictures in other threads, but here they are again.

My mockup (posterboard). Helped me a lot in the beginning when I didn't know how to pull it off:

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Magnaflow fits the 2gb Talon bumper perfectly:

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Tips cut down to size, everything welded, BBQ black Krylon paint, ready to bolt up:

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Installed on a dirty car:

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Washed the car and took some more (rear end has issues...on my long list But the exhaust isn't one of them anymore:

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[Defiant]

I think the best solution is to get the wheel weights off and somehow get the wheel turning on something and just hold sandpaper to the lip.

A wheel weight tool takes it right off, and hammers it back on. It's a pair of pliers with a hammer on one jaw.

 

[bmoha2]

I'm very impressed! I dig how the tips of the exhaust more closely follow the contour of the rear clip when looking down from above. Very sneaky, stealthy looking exhaust and it sure doesn't look like it will cost you any performance! great car! Great attention to detail! is that a Primus license plate as in the band Primus?! I've been a bass player since 4th grade. Les Claypool is one of my huge inspirations!

 

[kenamond]

A wheel weight tool takes it right off, and hammers it back on. It's a pair of pliers with a hammer on one jaw.

Thanks! I'll see how much they cost. It's not exactly something I'd get a lot of use from, so I'm not sure if it'd be worth it.

I'm very impressed! I dig how the tips of the exhaust more closely follow the contour of the rear clip when looking down from above. Very sneaky, stealthy looking exhaust and it sure doesn't look like it will cost you any performance! great car! Great attention to detail! is that a Primus license plate as in the band Primus?! I've been a bass player since 4th grade. Les Claypool is one of my huge inspirations!

Thanks for the compliments! Yep, that Primus. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I obviously dig 'em. So I take it you don't play with a pic .

It was 70 degrees yesterday, and it's snowing today. I haven't clearcoated the lips yet, so I'll see if the moisture does much to them. If there's wax still on the one I polished, that should protect it. If not, it's not like I have to bust out the 100 grit again. No work tomorrow, so I'll probably finish the other rims tonight. I might tinker a bit with sanding the inner parts. There're a few "cancer" spots on them, but I'm afraid I'll damage the paint. I've been thinking a bit about painting them anyway, so if I screw up the paint, that'd just force me to. But then I'd have to pick a color .

 

[bmoha2]

Cool license plate!

 

[Defiant]

And here I thought it was for the hiking stove.

 

[wret]

Don't clearcoat. It will never look as good as polished and it will prevent you from polishing in the future. Just keep them polished and waxed and get rid of the lead weights.

 

[Dsm2nr89]

Wow great job

 

[kenamond]

And here I thought it was for the hiking stove.

Heh. My old neighbor from the UK first told me that PRIMUS was a camping stove company. I have a Coleman stove and a bunch of PRIMUS CDs. That seems to work out well for me.

I may still clear the lips even if it detracts from the polish. Although I'm waaay into the rims today, I guarantee that there will be a multi-month stretch in the future when I won't touch the lips and they'll corrode again. I think I'll switch to steel weights and hope that and the clear keeps the lips looking good over that sort of neglectful period. If they go south in a year, maybe I'll have money for new rims then.

 

[bmoha2]

Ya gotta keep em!

 

[kenamond]

Ya gotta keep em!

They keep the sleeper look goin', but two of the rims have dents in the lips, and the Dunlops I have are shot on the fronts. I'll rotate the tires again (I've been a bad boy with tire rotation), but when I start looking at another $500 for tires, I may look for 18" rims at the same time. Honestly, if I had cash oozing out of my ass, I'd have some 18" rims made to look close to the stock wheel design, but I don't currently have that sort of money "problem".

 

[kenamond]

Well, I picked up some Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish and used that instead of the polishing compound/wax on the last two wheels. Boy oh boy! Much faster and even shinier. The directions weren't too clear, and I'm not sure if I was doing it correctly, but I finally figured out a technique that really worked.

The directions say to stop rubbing in the compound when you see black residue. That's confusing, because the paper towel turns black with one stroke of fresh polish. I eventually discovered that if you rub in the compound until the *metal* gets darker (but doesn't dry out), that's the ticket. Then you wipe off the black nastiness, then take a clean paper towel and buff. I repeated a couple times and even went back to wet 600 grit when I noticed that there were a few bad spots that'd only show up when you polished it. Then I went back to the other two rims that were "done" and hit them with the aluminum polish and made them even better.

Now my fingertips can heal fully

 

[bmoha2]

I should have suggested aluminum polish. Material specific polish works best! My bad!

 

[kenamond]

I should have suggested aluminum polish. Material specific polish works best! My bad!

No problem. I didn't need the dremel at all with the new polish. And after you get it shining, you think, "Wonder what another round would do?" and hit it again, and it gets even better. I went back over a lot of the minor things with 600wet that started to show when I polished. It's so fast to repolish that it wasn't a big deal. I can't help but stare at my wheels now.

 

[kenamond]

Looks a bit shinier if you compare to the previous picture.

 

[bmoha2]

blingin!

 

[twoTSis]

Those rims look great. Good job.