20” LTZ Wheel Refurbish

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

kennythewelder

Officially Retired, B31-3 (6-G) certified welder.
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
6,500
Reaction score
9,100
Location
Louisiana
I have a lot of polish work on my truck. It can become an obsession.
 

Attachments

  • 20200815_184120.jpg
    20200815_184120.jpg
    296.8 KB · Views: 10
  • 20200815_184112_HDR.jpg
    20200815_184112_HDR.jpg
    264.3 KB · Views: 11
  • 20190925_190955.jpg
    20190925_190955.jpg
    209.5 KB · Views: 10
  • 20190922_185652.jpg
    20190922_185652.jpg
    196.9 KB · Views: 9
  • Screenshot_20220109-131302_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20220109-131302_Chrome.jpg
    389 KB · Views: 11

kennythewelder

Officially Retired, B31-3 (6-G) certified welder.
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
6,500
Reaction score
9,100
Location
Louisiana
A few more pics. I have even won a few trophys with my truck.
 

Attachments

  • 20190908_181311.jpg
    20190908_181311.jpg
    103.7 KB · Views: 15
  • 20190914_174820_HDR.jpg
    20190914_174820_HDR.jpg
    207.5 KB · Views: 11
  • 20190908_181344_HDR.jpg
    20190908_181344_HDR.jpg
    284.8 KB · Views: 12
  • 20220212_141427.jpg
    20220212_141427.jpg
    308.9 KB · Views: 14
  • Screenshot_20211015-083136_LinkedIn.jpg
    Screenshot_20211015-083136_LinkedIn.jpg
    157.6 KB · Views: 15

kennythewelder

Officially Retired, B31-3 (6-G) certified welder.
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
6,500
Reaction score
9,100
Location
Louisiana
I did buy the valve covers, but everything else under the hood, is my polish work. The AC lines, all I used was white diamond metal polish. Everything is fairly easy to keep up with, except the tail gate aluminum banner. It takes a lot of work to keep it looking good. Oh, and the sst radiator bracket, I built, when I did my electric fan swap. I have dual fans I got at the junk yard off of a Cadillac, DTS, or Develle, I think.
 

HotWheelsBurban

Gotta have 4 doors..... Rawhide, TOTY 2023!
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Messages
9,686
Reaction score
17,583
Location
Houston, Texas
***UPDATE***
Few lessons are as good as self-taught experimentation. The way I figured it was, if it doesn’t turn out, I can just powder coat these puppy’s a cool charcoal color.

Well I gathered as much courage as I could, and a sheet of 220 sandpaper!

Below are some random gleanings from my experience:

Turns out, you have to get worse before you can get better. That oblong dark spot in the center is polished more than the surrounding material. What you have to do is LIGHTLY scuff the whole area to a similar finish. REMEMBER, What you do at this point, you will have to buff back to a consistent sheen, so if you go nuts with too heavy of a grit paper, you will cuss yourself later! The key is to scratch, but not gouge! You own what you do at this point! Another thing I found is that your sanding direction is also important. Although I haven’t totally figured out the answer to it, I will tell you that I am having considerable trouble blending the finish right where the spoke meets the edge of the wheel.
You must be registered for see images attach

Anyway, as you lightly sand, I I had to make a conscious effort to NOT swirl with the 220. Once i got a uniform sanded texture, I switched to 500grit, then 1200grit. Finally, my Harley buddy gave me some stuff called “polishing paper”. It’s probably 1500/2000grit. Another thing I did that may or may not have helped, was to sand with polishing compound. My friend, @Carolina_’99Hoe,
recommended White Diamond. It’s like $15/bottle, but it seems to be effective. After the polishing paper, I buffed with one of those cotton buffing attachments that goes on your drill. They were like $11 on Amazon. I had tried one of those Mothers polishing balls. Not only is it expensive, $29, but I don’t think it was abrasive enough for this step. I’m not saying it doesn’t work, I just think I needed more cutting power than the foam could deliver. Then buff with a microfiber cloth. The White Diamond instructions say that it turns black as you polish, this it very true, you need to have plenty of microfiber cloths. I used old rags and stuff but some shop cloths aren’t meant to shine aluminum. Get microfiber. The last thing I would recommend is DONT GET IN A HURRY! If you feel like you’re going agonizingly slow, you’re probably still going too fast! At any step in the process! There are still some lingering heavy scratches that are going to take more elbow grease. Like this one.
You must be registered for see images attach

It was cloudy today, but I could probably get by with them as is.
You must be registered for see images attach
Yes that "polishing paper" is also called color sanding paper. Meant to be the last paper abrasive you use, while wet sanding the lacquer color coat before shooting clearcoat.
There's also some small square pads with very fine abrasives on them, for color sanding and polishing models. They're available at hobby lobby and many hobby shops, I think they're around $10 for a set of 6 pads. You use them with warm water, and they work great on model car paint jobs. The size might be good for your wheels too, getting in the tight spaces.
 

RedneckWithPaychecks

454/350 x (4x4)²
Joined
Dec 22, 2021
Messages
844
Reaction score
1,752
Location
Yooperland
I have won, 1 trophy with my truck. First time I ever did polish work on it and won a award at a show in Sault Ste Marie ON for "best out of town truck", polishing payed off for me. Just haven't done it since, and seeing how those rims turned out, I might do it again. Just a lot of work, but I'm lazy.
 

OBS Oregon

I'm Awesome
Joined
Jan 13, 2022
Messages
113
Reaction score
173
Location
Eugene OR
***UPDATE***
Few lessons are as good as self-taught experimentation. The way I figured it was, if it doesn’t turn out, I can just powder coat these puppy’s a cool charcoal color.

Well I gathered as much courage as I could, and a sheet of 220 sandpaper!

Below are some random gleanings from my experience:

Turns out, you have to get worse before you can get better. That oblong dark spot in the center is polished more than the surrounding material. What you have to do is LIGHTLY scuff the whole area to a similar finish. REMEMBER, What you do at this point, you will have to buff back to a consistent sheen, so if you go nuts with too heavy of a grit paper, you will cuss yourself later! The key is to scratch, but not gouge! You own what you do at this point! Another thing I found is that your sanding direction is also important. Although I haven’t totally figured out the answer to it, I will tell you that I am having considerable trouble blending the finish right where the spoke meets the edge of the wheel.
You must be registered for see images attach

Anyway, as you lightly sand, I I had to make a conscious effort to NOT swirl with the 220. Once i got a uniform sanded texture, I switched to 500grit, then 1200grit. Finally, my Harley buddy gave me some stuff called “polishing paper”. It’s probably 1500/2000grit. Another thing I did that may or may not have helped, was to sand with polishing compound. My friend, @Carolina_’99Hoe,
recommended White Diamond. It’s like $15/bottle, but it seems to be effective. After the polishing paper, I buffed with one of those cotton buffing attachments that goes on your drill. They were like $11 on Amazon. I had tried one of those Mothers polishing balls. Not only is it expensive, $29, but I don’t think it was abrasive enough for this step. I’m not saying it doesn’t work, I just think I needed more cutting power than the foam could deliver. Then buff with a microfiber cloth. The White Diamond instructions say that it turns black as you polish, this it very true, you need to have plenty of microfiber cloths. I used old rags and stuff but some shop cloths aren’t meant to shine aluminum. Get microfiber. The last thing I would recommend is DONT GET IN A HURRY! If you feel like you’re going agonizingly slow, you’re probably still going too fast! At any step in the process! There are still some lingering heavy scratches that are going to take more elbow grease. Like this one.
You must be registered for see images attach

It was cloudy today, but I could probably get by with them as is.
You must be registered for see images attach
Darn.. that's more work than I would have given it. My hats off to you. Good work! Also good to know this can be done. Thanks for the pictures
 

NorthState

I'm Awesome
Joined
Jul 2, 2021
Messages
117
Reaction score
161
Location
Eastern North Carolina
Ok @kennythewelder, do you do anything so far as a clear coat for longevity? I want the wheels to shine, but I don’t want to spend every waking minute obsessing over polishing them. I have been weighing the options of clear coat spray, or clear powder coat. While the PC would be leaps and bounds stronger, it would be impossible to repair a knick or chip. While the CC may be less durable, I could always strip and recluse if needed for maintenance…
 

kennythewelder

Officially Retired, B31-3 (6-G) certified welder.
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
6,500
Reaction score
9,100
Location
Louisiana
Ok @kennythewelder, do you do anything so far as a clear coat for longevity? I want the wheels to shine, but I don’t want to spend every waking minute obsessing over polishing them. I have been weighing the options of clear coat spray, or clear powder coat. While the PC would be leaps and bounds stronger, it would be impossible to repair a knick or chip. While the CC may be less durable, I could always strip and recluse if needed for maintenance…
I haven't clear coated anything. The only thing that gives me issues, is the aluminum banner on the tail gate. I have to use white diamond on it often, depending on the weather. It rains here a lot, so the dirty rain water being splashed up on it, as I drive down the road, leaves water spots, and dulls the shine. I have seen it last as little as about 1 week, and as long as 3 weeks. Under the hood, it last for months. The rims are the same way. They last for months. I do clean my truck several times a week. I don't wash it a lot, but what I do, is take a wet hand towel and a dry micro fiber towel. I wipe down the truck in sections. First a small section, say 1/2 of the hood, with the wet towel, then dry with the micro fiber. Then mover over to the other half of the hood, and so on. I do the rims as I go. I do under the hood last. I may repeat the white diamond polish under the hood, and on the rims 3 or 4 times a year. If I am going to a big car show, I will do a lot of pero, but if it's just a crews in show, I will just clean my truck with the wet and dry towels. The last big car show I went to, and won 3ed place in my category, was in February. For that show, I cleaned every inch of my truck. I polished everything. Treated the tires, and even cleaned everything once I arrived at the show. There were about 200 vehicles at that show. I knew one of the judges. He said the highest that anyone could score was 50 points. Out of 200 vehicles, no one there scored a 50. The highest anyone scored was 45. I scored a 38. He said 38 is very high. There were a lot of vehicles there that didn't even score 25. I also know that they scored from 1 to 10 in 5 different catagories. So under the hood, interior, paint, wheels and tires, and overall condition. So I got 3 - 8s and 2 - 7s. Out of a possible 10. Oh, and I haven't polished anything except the tailgate banner since then.
 
Last edited:

NorthState

I'm Awesome
Joined
Jul 2, 2021
Messages
117
Reaction score
161
Location
Eastern North Carolina
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach

Got the tires ordered and delivered today! Headed to Raleigh, NC after work on Friday to have them mounted. Pics to come when I have them installed! Oh boy!

By the way @kennythewelder, I took your advice and didn’t clear the wheels. I figure if I keep them clean, I may have to polish and wax periodically, but it’s ok.
 
Last edited:
Top