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Posted by: levonfarra Apr 25 2007, 06:46 PM

as topic states

Posted by: sendjonathanmail Apr 25 2007, 07:07 PM

hmm...also very curious....

Posted by: kwales Apr 25 2007, 07:58 PM

With polishing compound on the polishable areas (not covered by anodize).

Ken

Posted by: Dan (Almaden Valley) Apr 25 2007, 08:08 PM

depends on how deep the scratches are you need to remove before buffing...

I went 600, 800, 1000, 1200, and 1500 grit sand paper, then a green scuff pad and then lots of metal polishing compound...to get this.


Attached image(s)

Posted by: sendjonathanmail Apr 25 2007, 08:15 PM

looks good....what about the "mothers" powerball with the polish...would that work??? or would you need to remove the scratches???

Posted by: Pat Garvey Apr 25 2007, 08:37 PM

Well, I'll add this......
I have a 914 that's never had alloys on it. But I have had a couple of 911's with Fuchs alloys as well as Cookies. These were anodized, except for painted surfaces ( & maybe those were anodixe prior to painting - don't know.).

What I DO know is, if you polish the previously anodized surfaced - you polish off the anodizing, which is a very thin coating. Once you do that, unless you have them re-anodized, they oxidize. Which means you'll be polishing them regularly.

I, me, personally, don't recommend polishing without re-anodizing. Case in point - my 73 911T - cookie cuters. They were anodized a very pale green by the factory. I got the car somewhere around 1988. Polished them - stupid! Now they're grey & could be polished back to silver, but 2 weeks later they'd be grey again.

Posted by: Headrage Apr 25 2007, 08:52 PM

Send them to Al Reed In Anaheim, Ca.

You'll get exactly what you want, and have some recourse if things go sideways...

He does VERY good work...

Posted by: Rob Ways Apr 25 2007, 09:03 PM

Dan,

Nice work! How much do you charge ?

Posted by: Dan (Almaden Valley) Apr 25 2007, 09:12 PM

you couldn't afford my normal hourly

took my about 4 hours total....

If I were to do it again from scratch like these, I would spend a little more time with the mid grits....

Posted by: Eric_Shea Apr 25 2007, 09:30 PM

Factory alloy wheels are "anodized"

To polish them properly you need to de-anodize them. Any local anodizing shop can do that for you.

Otherwise you have to work hard to scrub or sand through the anodizing layer to get to the raw alloy to polish.

Once the anodizing is off you should polish them to a mirror shine and then have them re-anodized. This will bring back the original satin-ish sheen but will help protect your wheels against the elements.

After they have been anodized, the factory manual recommends petroleum jelly to help seal them.