I started hand polishing the Halibrands! One down, three to go! It's a lot of freakin' work, but I think it's worth it! The main thing is not to create more work than ya have to! Does anyone have any tips, trick, or ideas for hand polishing magnesium? Any pics would be cool!
Can't help you with any tips or tricks, but that looks great! I'm guessing a lot of elbow grease went into that.
I took my aluminum slots to a professional polishing shop. Came out looking like chrome and wasn't that expensive. Took a day for 4 rims. After that, it was easy to keep polished.
Might want to check out roadsters.com. Dave does some incredible polishing work. Think he uses Gibbs to protect them after polishing.
Here are some of mine, which I did using emery cloth, mostly in a cross-hatch pattern. I'm not typing out everything that's involved in doing this right, but if you call me at (602) 233-8400 I'll be happy to offer some suggestions. Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
Those wheels without any 'obstacles' ,build a 'spinner' for them so you can cut/polish them like in a lathe fashion.
Mother's brand mag polish and an old t-shirt worked for me. It does take a little elbow grease but good results.
Lots of info on here for people who know how to use the search function. A quick search under 'magnesium' found these. Took me about 3 minutes: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=244148&highlight=magnesium http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236900&highlight=magnesium http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=247870&highlight=magnesium http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191498&highlight=magnesium http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111724&highlight=magnesium http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6106&highlight=magnesium http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43000&highlight=magnesium http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35683&highlight=magnesium
We have been using rainx with very good results on our chrome and polished aluminum , and was told it will also work on polished magnesium .... two wet coats...let dry between coats and wipe off haze with a soft cotton cloth...
use wrights silver polish with really fine steel wool to start, you'll be amazed how fast you get a shine out of the wheel with this stuff. then depending on how shinny you want to go either leave them with that finnish (will look pretty close to the wheel in your picture) or get some finner polish, mothers, miguiars etc and a clean cloth and go to work
I started with 400 wet or dry sandpaper on these, then went to 600, then white polishing compound and finally Semi-Chrome. That gets them in pretty good shape, but they get a little better every time you repolish them (Semi-Chrome) -gets rid of a few more "micro scratches". Magnesium does start to tarnish pretty quickly, real high maintanance wheels to keep shiney. I think I'll let the spokes darken evenly and keep the rim polished on these. Larry T
I'm in the basement working on the second one right now while watching, Return to Macon County. I'll post a another pic with them done and the tires mounted. I'm kinda of following Daves process and considering some of yours! Thanks and stay tuned!
Does Speedy Metal polish work well on mag? http://www.speedymetalpolish.com/ I've settled on either that or Formax liquid green rouge for polish, tested an awful lot of polishes.
The rears are done. They were used with some pitting and light scratchs, so I had to sand them pretty heavily to get a new and even surface. I've been using some of Dave's (Roadsters.com) magnesium conditioning and polishing techniques. When I first recieved these rims they were already bead blasted. I soaked them down with Gibbs pentatrating oil and let them set for about a week. When I went to start polishing them, the Gibbs had soaked in well and leaving a light oily film that was wiped off with a rage. With the rears being a bit rough with time and use, I started off useing 80 grit sandpaper and then moving to; 100, 150, 180, 220, 400, 600, and then emery cloth. After I was done cleaning up the mess, I soaked them again with Gibbs, and they looked pretty good for my needs. It took me about 4 hours each to do them by hand. I couldn't imagine what it would take to do show quality or to do mag's with spokes. The front should be a lot easrier, they look to be new and never used. I almost hate to use them. I'm off to start the fronts.....
I used to use steel wool and brasso to bring them back and then just brasso on a rag to keep them shiney. Eventually I would just do the rings on the rear wheels. My hands are going numb from just looking at these pictures but there is no shine like polished magnesium!
WAY COOOL! That's a bad-ass ride! Ya, after getting the rears back up to par, they'll only need light polishing to keep them in good shape! The Gibbs penetrating oil seems to do a good job keeping them from oxidizing. Thanks for the input! Matt
polishing rims on a brake lathe is the easiest way I've found. I start with 600-1000 grit if the wheels are pretty rough. then 0000 steel wool and WD40. then some no.7, brasso, or mothers on a rag. then http://www.englishcustompolishing.com/usca/abrasives.html and a cotton thing on a drill. make sure you tape up the drill chuck to keep from scuffing the rim. you just have to hold in one spot, let the lathe do the work I only attempt to polish the outer part of the rim with 5 spokes. some other spots will need to be done by hand. slots and some others are easy to polish most of the rim on the lathe. use caution a brake lathe can turn into a break your fingers lathe.
I wasn't, everything is good! Cool decals ya have for sale! I collect Ed Roth and RF decals. I didn't see any in your list! Do ya have any hiddin' away someware? Keep it cool! Matt
I finally gott'em done after 12 hours of hand polishing. I could of spent a lot more time on them, but it doesn't matter to much because it's not going to be a show car, just a cruiser. After being soaked down with Gibbs, there still holding a shine. I just got the BFG mounted today.
Yes it does. My buddy swears speedy is the best hands down. I'm a recent convert and while I haven't really used it long enough to swear that I WIIL say the stuff IS IMPRESSIVE. I'd like to do a side by side with Mothers and see if one is really better than the other. I used to use mothers on my mag valve covers - man-o-live NOTHING looked sweeter - but it sure was alot of work trying to keep them looking that good. I gotta try and see how the others tricks Gibbs - RainX etc work at preserving your work.
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