polishing aluminum wheels

[toplessHO]

need to polish some wheels
these are a little more complicated.
Ive repaired the curb rash but clear coat is breached so
It all needs to come off. Once its off repolish then recoat clear.

Ive seen the vibratory polishers and wonder if anyone has used them
Heres a pic of wheel

 

[Packard V8]

Our local shop charges $100 each to sandblast, powdercoat, oven cure, remount and rebalance the tire.

jack vines

 

[Old Man Roger]

Aircraft paint stripper takes it off like butta.

 

[toplessHO]

yes sir Ive done that before with my Vette wheels.
These are a little more challenging.
The media polishing seems like the way to go for ones
that are frail or more challenging

 

[toplessHO]

has anyone seen or used the vibratory polishers for wheels?
This looks like the magic bullet for hard to reach areas.

 

[Mark_17]

My work uses them for copper parts, they work well but it doesn't leave a finish fine enough for a wheel IMO

Those wheels are pretty straight forward. I'd polish them myself.

 

[jjblbi]

Try aircraft stripper then a Mothers PowerCone 360 with polish if you are on a budget.

 

[toplessHO]

Ive got a call in to a company that markets the vibratory polishers for wheels.
IF they call back I may have some more insight

 

[toplessHO]

heres a video to show some results
one word that comes to mind is
Astounding

 

[Old Man Roger]

You’re going to buy a setup like that for 1 set of wheels?

 

[whitesco]

Our local shop charges $100 each to sandblast, powdercoat, oven cure, remount and rebalance the tire.

jack vines

That's a great price... before we traded our Jeep GC I priced having the wheels done and quotes were closer to $450 per wheel. The GC wheels were two-tone, basically a dark charcoal in the hollows and what must have been a tinted clear on the flats, but I think I asked about just a single color and it wasn't much less.

 

[danski0224]

heres a video to show some results

How do you know those are the results?

There's nothing that shows anything in progress or being pulled out of the media.

I'd bet that machine is every bit of 100k.

 

[toplessHO]

wow
you think this is all staged?
plenty more videos show the before and after and even in progress
not just from this manufacturer

I see Chinese copycats at around $4k

 

[cannuck]

wow
you think this is all staged?
plenty more videos show the before and after and even in progress
not just from this manufacturer

I see Chinese copycats at around $4k

What prices are seeing for US made one large enough to swallow a 24.5 semi wheel

 

[toplessHO]

Im not sure any are made in USA

 

[cannuck]

Im not sure any are made in USA

The only ones I am seeing up here appear to be from Yurp. Will be a lot more price than value.

 

[e015475]

A few years ago I had some Jaguar type R wheels polished by a guy I found in CL who said he did airplanes, Airstreams and wheels - he used a series of cotton buffs and cutting compounds.

I know of at least one other custom polisher here in town that will do wheels, stainless trim etc. There should be somebody in your area too

Curiously, when I picked up the Jaguar wheels he was final buffing them using corn starch and toilet paper. They looked great and I have used that method with good success on a few small projects I did myself.

 

[cannuck]

I am not interested in having my wheels polished, I am thinking of the machines as a business opportunity. Found a company that makes their equipment in Canada. Will give them a call maybe tomorrow. Might be worthwhile, might be waste of time. I have some space available in town where I am moving my large press brake.

 

[californiamilleghia]

One thing is if the polisher shop is rushing the work they can polish out a lot of the detail , making edges "soft"

That may be what you are looking for , but good to know.

 

[toplessHO]

one of the companies I linked is in Canada

 

[Firebrick43]

What prices are seeing for US made one large enough to swallow a 24.5 semi wheel

The semi wheel ones I have seen are felt wheels that are automated and pretty much only work with Alcoa style wheels.

I could not imagine the shaker motor size needed to do a vibratory tub big enough to do a semi wheel.

 

[toplessHO]

I would hand these off to someone that has a vibratory polisher
if for nothing other than curiosity.

but Im already contemplating making one myself.

About 30 yrs ago I made one that used a 5 gallon bucket and drywall screws to clean and polish
various parts.
Let it run overnight and the results were stellar.
The idea of ceramic granules polishing is not new.

 

[toplessHO]

heres another

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I can do a 22.5” Alcoa wheel in under an hour using random orbit sander to start and ending with 7" buffing wheel. I use flour rather than corn starch for final buff.

 

[toplessHO]

The semi wheel ones I have seen are felt wheels that are automated and pretty much only work with Alcoa style wheels.

I could not imagine the shaker motor size needed to do a vibratory tub big enough to do a semi wheel.

that 150 model says 26 inch wheels max
I think it has 3 or 4 motors

 

[cannuck]

I could not imagine the shaker motor size needed to do a vibratory tub big enough to do a semi wheel.

The average ghetto wheel on a half ton is pretty much that size. Most trailers are 22.5s but up here 24.5s are common (my tractor on that size).

 

[Firebrick43]

The average ghetto wheel on a half ton is pretty much that size. Most trailers are 22.5s but up here 24.5s are common (my tractor on that size).

Well I thought for sure that a 22.5 Alcoa semi rim would weigh a lot more than any car or truck rim.

NOPE.

Alcoas are 39 lbs a piece.

Looked at some ghetto 22” an 24” rims and found them to be 37 -45 lbs.

Mind boggling someone would think that as a good thing???

Never mind, carry on.

 

[toplessHO]

Cannuck
any luck finding a manufacturer?

 

[toplessHO]

I spoke to a shop that does wheel repair in SW Fl.
Owner told me hes gone thru a few types of polishers
and the one that they have now is doing about 6 or 7 wheels a day.
He said his business does about 70 wheels a day,with most needing repair and powdercoating.

 

[cannuck]

Cannuck
any luck finding a manufacturer?

Found one in Canada that makes their own equipment (JB MAF in Waterloo ON), but pretty much booked solid the rest of this week, so will try to call them next week.

 

[cannuck]

that 150 model says 26 inch wheels max
I think it has 3 or 4 motors

Had a good talk with Jason (owner) and learned an awful lot about the business side. I would have to take too much out of my R&D budget to go down that road, but if I did, this would be the only option I would pursue. This needs/deserves a full time, full force effort and I think my regional market is a bit too small and cheap to go there. Yes, could get into it on shoestring with Chinese equipment, but no way I would ever consider that.

 

[californiamilleghia]

Had a good talk with Jason (owner) and learned an awful lot about the business side.

Please tell us what you learned , I can see where it needs to be in a larger city , but what other costs would we not think of ?

Thanks

 

[cannuck]

Please tell us what you learned , I can see where it needs to be in a larger city , but what other costs would we not think of ?

The abrasives and waterborne chemicals are something that even the suppliers are not that sharp about. Takes someone who has a bunch of experience to get right - and that kind of support is NOT coming out of China. 3 steps for most applications, roughing, knocking down to satin finish and final high gloss finishing. Several sealing options in powder coat and wet sprayed/air dried. Most of all, very long cycle times (for a car or light truck, something like almost 2 days for a set of 4 x all 3 steps against a market value of maybe $1,000 for service. so you really need to be running 6 says a week to make any money. EASY in a big market, but might be a big stretch in my 300k city.

 

[californiamilleghia]

Thanks for that info , I guess "easy money" is not so easy

 

[toplessHO]

The guy I talked to has been in business at least 15 yrs.
Has more than one location and claims hes doing very well.

He claims the biggest hurdle is the chemicals used to strip the finish off
before repairs.
So to jump in you need a heated tank to strip,powder coating equipment and oven,
polishing equipment,straightening equipment ,and if you chose to do so(which I wont)
welding equipment to repair cracks

 

[Packard V8]

The abrasives and waterborne chemicals are something that even the suppliers are not that sharp about. Takes someone who has a bunch of experience to get right - and that kind of support is NOT coming out of China. 3 steps for most applications, roughing, knocking down to satin finish and final high gloss finishing. Several sealing options in powder coat and wet sprayed/air dried. Most of all, very long cycle times (for a car or light truck, something like almost 2 days for a set of 4 x all 3 steps against a market value of maybe $1,000 for service. so you really need to be running 6 says a week to make any money. EASY in a big market, but might be a big stretch in my 300k city.

FWIW, our local wheel shop, drive the car in at 0800, drive away at 1700 on four custom powder coated wheels, costs $400.

jack vines

 

[cannuck]

FWIW, our local wheel shop, drive the car in at 0800, drive away at 1700 on four custom powder coated wheels, costs $400.

Our local wheel shops no where near that cheap, and I would want to be a supplier to them, not a competitor. That's where I think the premium market would be at best 10% the size of the bargain market.

 

[toplessHO]

unable to get a reasonable quote for conventional polishing locally,
and the nearest vibratory polishing facility over 200 miles away, I dove in to
mechanical polishing.After some polishing,I found that the finish under the clear
in all but the flat faces,was not as polished as I would have expected.
I could only imagine how one thats ceramic polished would sparkle.
Keep in mind that vibratory ceramic polishing gets pretty much everything(backside)
whereas mechanical normally skips this.

 

[toplessHO]

Inside portion of spokes is the most challenging.
I ve got 3 almost done on the face but havent touched the backside.
Ive worn out a 3M double sided wool buff,got one new one left but replacement cost is now $45.
when I can find 2 rears I will tackle this

 

[MileHighRover]

FWIW, our local wheel shop, drive the car in at 0800, drive away at 1700 on four custom powder coated wheels, costs $400.

jack vines

That's the cost of 1.5 wheels where I'm at. $100 a wheel is insane.