Ok, I bought some used pony rims for my car and want to strip/polish/clear coat them. What would be the best way to polish them up? I've heard easy off(oven cleaner) works really well when trying to take paint off. So I just need to know how to polish them? I would go chrome, but don't want to spend that much money on them. Any help

 

Are you looking to polish out to a mirror finish, or just polish them to a clean aluminum finish and re-clearcoat? Either way it will be alot of work on the Pony's as the surface is curved all around. Its much easier to work on flat surface. Polishing is a multistep process that begins with 3-4 steps of sanding away the finish and smoothing it down to a 400 grit surface (imagine doing that in all those crevices of the stars!!!) Then you have to have the right tools, buffs and compounds to do a 2 step polish on the entire surface. Its A LOT of work, but if you have the right tools and the patience then it can be rewarding. I have done 3 sets of wheels in the past and probably wouldn't do it again - its worth the money to let a pro do it.

See my post down the page a bit ALUMINUM FINISH QUESTION. All I did was the flat face and outer flat edge of my 10 holes and I had nearly 10 hours in just one wheel before I gave up and took them to a professional. If you can find a Wheel Re-finishing company locally that will do them for $100-150 per wheel consider that a good deal.

Oh yeah - if you are going to a mirrored (almost chrome looking) finish then you don't want to clearcoat them (not even sure clearcoat would stick) Just use some Mothers Aluminum polish to freshen them up from time to time when they get dirty. Normal cleanings could be handled with a micro-fiber and either a spray detailer or glass cleaner.

 

Thanks for the info...cleaning for me is no problem. I was kinda looking for mirror but also clearcoated for protection against small scratches. If I am going to get a pro to do them then I will go chrome. Again thanks for the info...I think I will try one and see what happens, then I can decide what I want to do.

 

Well then - go for it But I think Chroming would be more than polishing - not sure why but believe it is. You can't really mess them up too bad - nothing a pro can't fix if you give up. Clearcoating really won't help you much IMO - the mothers Aluminum Polish and some elbow grease will take care of the minor scratches should they occur.

Here is a before & after on some TRX's that I did about 10 years ago - just pure polished out finish with no clearcoat. Not a daily driver so I only had to hand polish with the mothers 3-4 times per year.



Same thing with the 10-holes on this Capri. Its a crappy "scanned" pic, but you can see the chrome-like shine of all the surfaces. Just like my current project, I did not touch the actual holes or outer recessed valley - left it as a factory "cast" finish.

 

That does look good!!! I know chroming would be more costly but if I am sending it off, I'll just get them chromed. I told myself if I can't do it, then they will get chromed. I have enough time before I put them on the car. The first thing I did when I bought the car was put new tires on the 14'sso I have plenty of time before I need new tires. I will probably start one of them my next day off.