How shiny can you make Fuch's alloys? Any tips or tricks you care to share? How often do they need to be polished?

They were never polished or chromed from the factory. Personally, I like the stock look or on flared cars I like the RSR finish. Other than that, buff away.

Fuchs is a name and not plural, there is no such thing as a single "Fuch" wheel.

Fuchs is the name of the company, meaning there will always be a "s" at the end, even if it is just a single wheel.

Thanks. I knew that. Put the apostrophe in there out of habit. I do the same with "it's", even though I know the proper usage.

To polish them you have to remove the original protective surface finish.
After you've accomplished that you're in for a life o'polishin.

Same as anything bare aluminum. Mothers works well. Any decent youtube tutorial on the subject will show you, nothing special about the rim if you want it polished.

If real and unpolished you might have to remove the clear anodizing, Easy Off oven cleaner works or sanding.

Please don't sand without taking off the anodizing first

Use a weak solution of lye (sodium hydroxide, caustic soda...all the same thing) to strip the anodizing, then you can sand progressing to finer grits and polish.
Many, but not all, toilet bowl cleaners and I suspect easy-off use sodium hydroxide as the active ingredient.

You can get a nice finish I went down to 2000 grit sandpaper and close to 20 hours on one rim. Then I used the red and white clay and a buffing wheel for the final finish. So far it's holding up pretty good with the Mothers cleaner and polish.

That looks amazing! Please show your whole car. How long has it been since you completed the buffing? How much effort is it to maintain it? (like how often do you put on the Mothers cleaner and how long does that process take?) In your opinion, was it worth it to remove the protective coating?

Since I'm kind of a lazy guy, I can't help but wonder if you could have gotten comparable results in a shorter time by using different products/sanding grits? How many grits did you use on your way down? Did you do it by hand, or with a power tool? Anyone else get similar results in a shorter time?

From my experience, it seems like the forged wheels are harder to polish than a cast alloy. They also hold the polish a lot longer.

Yes.

There are no shortcuts. Be prepared once you commit.

Well... you could just send them to Frank... haha.

https://m.facebook.com/shorepolish/

....or you could buy a Corvette

polished and lots of dirty work
Pay someone else to do the job.
T

So how shiny can you get them if you don't burn through the anodized coating? What's a good polish for that?

Describe the color red.

The anodizing is harder than the polish is abrasive. Polish it all you want, the shine won't change much other than getting cleaner. If you want that mirror finish, you will need to strip the anodizing in some manner. Either chemically or with abrasives, take your pick.

Thanks, Arne. Kelty: I'll get back to you on that one.

Ok, trying to crack the nut another way, has anyone tried this?

http://www.fastlinecoatings.co.uk/pics/x5wheels.html

more info: http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/chr...n.554420/page-2

Fastest way is to DIY is strip them with the weak lye solution I discribed, then bead bast them and start sanding and polishing.
I had about 6 hours total into each rim this way.

Pro shops do the same lye solution, then they use an expensive tumbler filled with ceramic beads.

The powdercoat chrome called Ceramichrome (IIRC) isn't cheap last time I checked.

6 hours isn't so bad. Seems like the powder coat has as many minuses as pluses.

Thanks for the info.

Fuch that.