How To Polish your Mustang’s Rims
One of the best ways to keep your Mustang rims
looking their best is to routinely polish them. Chrome rims will begin
to fade and lose their luster over time. They may even develop scratches
and other signs of wear and tear that contribute to an overall loss of
attractiveness in the system. This means that it’s time for you to
consider polishing the rims. There’s no set prescription of how often to
polish the rims on your Mustang, but it’s a good idea to check on how
they look every 3 months or so, depending upon how often you drive the
car.
The first thing that you’ll need to do is to make the decision as to
whether or not you will polish the rims. Polishing rims thoroughly and
properly takes a decent amount of time, and it may be better to save the
job for later on if the rims are in decent or good condition when you
look at them. However, it’s also best to fix any scratches or other
problems with the rims early on so that they can’t have the opportunity
to become worse than they are before you have a chance to fix them.
Step 1 — Gather Your Materials
You’ll need to collect the following materials in order to properly polish your Mustang’s rims:
- Rim polishing kit (available online or through auto body repair shops)
- Powerful drill with high RPM setting
- Extra fine quality sandpaper (around 1000 grit)
It’s crucial that you invest in a good quality polishing kit. This
will include a set of different waxes and polishes as well as several
different types of brushes and other tools to apply the polish itself to
the rims. The difference between a quality kit and a poor kit can be
the difference between a good looking set of rims and one that appears
to be shoddy or sloppily done.
Step 2 — Strip the Paint
You’ll need to begin by stripping the paint off the rims themselves.
This can be done with a paint stripper product or with the sandpaper, if
you prefer. Take your time and ensure that you remove all traces of
paint from the rims and the area around the rims of your car as well.
Step 3 — Sand Down the Curb Rash
Curb rash is the buildup of debris and other wear and tear that tends
to accumulate on the rims as they are used. This can be severe in some
cases or more mild for others; it all depends upon how you drive the car
and how and where you’ve parked it previously. Use a high quality
sandpaper to sand down any of this debris and the wear and tear signs,
including scratches and other damage to the rims. This will allow you to
proceed with a fresh start on the chrome polish of the rims. Use water
with the sandpaper to remove finer debris or ornery parts of the curb
rash that will not come out.
Step 4 — Polish the Rims
After the rims have dried completely, open up your rim polishing kit
and take stock of the different polishes that you have. Most kits will
contain a black compound for the tires and the area around the rims, as
well as at least a white or chrome colored compound for the rims
themselves. It’s always a good idea to start with the darker compounds
and work your way down to the lighter ones. Set up your drill with the
brush that comes with the kit attached to it.
Buff down the outer portion of the rim with the dark compound first
until it’s to your satisfaction. Next, clean off the brush and the buff
down the rim itself with the white or chrome polish. Continue to buff
the rim with the drill set at a high speed until you get a nice, glossy
finish to the color the rim. Most of the damages should be buffed out as
you do this, but keep a close eye on them to be sure that they don’t
require more detailed inspection by hand with one of the smaller rim
tools.
Use coats to protect your clothing, and a sponge and towel can help to clean up.
And that’s it. You should now have shiny rims that make your Mustang look even better.