Some Things I Made Shiny

[EVBuilder]

Here are pictures of things I have polished. I mostly work on wheels but I have done lots of other things too.

[EVBuilder]

Here is a before shot of one of the Harley V-Rod wheels. This bike was under water in New Orleans after Katrina for an unknown length of time.

[EVBuilder]

This is a Can-Am Spider rear wheel. This one took me 14 hours as much of it rough cast under the paint.

[EVBuilder]

Monte Carlo SS wheels. These had been sand blasted. I removed the wheel weight lip from the front, polished the high spots then painted the background with single stage urethane.

[EVBuilder]

These are the rear wheel I currently have on my truck. They where new when I started. They were clear coated which I stripped then sanded the machine grooves out and polished them up. It's a good side by side comparison.

[Indian113]

You do this for a Living?-Looks great

[EVBuilder]

Yes I do. Thanks for the compliment. It's hard work but well worth it in the end.

[Indian113]

I wish you were closer,I need my Weld Pro Stars polished. The guy I bought them from loked the sanded finish.

[chevy_mike]

Those have got to be the best looking Monte Carlo SS wheels I have ever seen. If I had one, I would so have you do that to them.

[Narxoleptic Customs]

That's awesome!! U have way more patience than I do!!
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[EVBuilder]

Thanks guys. Yes it does take patients but it doesn't seem that bad when you get in the groove so to speak. I have refined a fairly decent system that works well for me.

[Jeff La]

You've done a great job on those wheels. Wish I could send some to you, but I'd just mess them up again. LOL

[EVBuilder]

Heres a before and after of some Grand Prix GTP wheels I did.

[EVBuilder]

Jeff How is the post Hurricane condition of things down there?

[ChiefRocka]

Nice work !!

I really Like the Monte SS wheels ... Good Job

[Snowbound]

Do you treat the wheels after to protect them and keep them shining?
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[westcoast5]

awesome work! now question for you how to I get my fuel cell shiny again?

[EVBuilder]

Thanks Chief.
Snow, I only wax them at this point. I read that Eastwood has a new protectant that lasts several months but I have not tried it yet.
West, It depends on the condition of the metal. If its light oxidation Mothers wheel paste or Auto-sol will both work well to shine it up again. If it needs more than that you're into doing it the hard way. Start with a rough enough sand paper to remove the scratches, then work progressively finer in different directions to remove the scratches from each previous grit. once you are down to 2000 its time to start polishing. First with a Spiral sewn buff and Tripoli rouge then to a loose wheel and White rouge (cleaning the surface in between to remove the previous residue so as to not contaminate the finer wheel). Then hand rub it with Mothers Wheel paste or Auto-sol to remove buffing haze. I just taught you almost all my tricks.

[Jeff La]

Originally Posted by EVBuilder

Jeff How is the post Hurricane condition of things down there?

We are pretty much back to normal. Where I live we didn't lose electricity, which was a blessing. The major problem was flooding. The areas around New Orleans flooded, looks like the corps saved New Orleans but probably made it worse for the areas around Lake Pontchatrain and Maurepas. Overall everybody is pretty much back to normal except those who have to repair their homes from the floods.

[theastronaut]

Great work! Sanding and then polishing definitely seems to be the best way to got the smoothest finish. Just using heavy compound with a buffer can leave drag marks and distortion. Keep posting pics!
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[corvettejim1968]

Originally Posted by EVBuilder

Monte Carlo SS wheels. These had been sand blasted. I removed the wheel weight lip from the front, polished the high spots then painted the background with single stage urethane.

the Monte wheels look amazing with great contrast. I'm impressed!

[EVBuilder]

Thanks Jim. I have another set of these right now for the same car that are going to be done in the silver and the burgundy body color in the spoke area.

Astronaut, I would prefer they weren't sand blasted as it makes for a lot more work sanding the pits out prior to buffing. I will post more pictures soon of other things I have done.

[EVBuilder]

Jeff, glad to hear it wasn't as big of a disaster as before.

[EVBuilder]

Here are some pictures of the truck after the wheels were put on.

[EVBuilder]

These are some shots of some stainless exhaust tips I made using the flanges from the old steel ones. The old ones were chromed then rusted then were painted black then rusted again. The pipe is stainless is standard 409 exhaust pipe which was not very nice and needed lots of sanding. Also being its 409 it has very little chromium and nickel in it so the jury is still out on how it weathers.