started with mothers metal polish,and 4000 grit drill sanding pad,finished with mothers billet polish,and micro fiber bonnet on buffer....happy!

 

 

Looking good! How about some more pics?

 

 

lots of work,but worth it

 

old faithfull

 

That is one hot looking machine! Nice work on the wheels. Red calipers peeking out is a very nice touch.

 

Looks great, always like the polished or chromed versions of these wheels on the dark colored cars.

BTW, I can't recall the product.... but I bought some special aluminum polish and "sealer" years ago for my motorcycle wheels that kept the polished aluminum from oxidizing and getting dull. It's lasted for 10 years and the polished edges are still shiny with no re-polishing.

You should do a search for a similar product as that saves a lot of repeat elbow grease

.

 

GORGEOUS!

I still love these rims... If only I could find two more... two of mine are "dead"...

 

Wondering, were your wheels clear coated before you did this? The clearcoat on my winter wheels is flaking off. Would I be able to do the same thing you did?

 

yes they were clear coated,but now it is raw aluminium and i am still looking for a good sealer,i have read that"sharkhide",is very good.I will give it a try,otherwise,i have to touch up the polish every few months,even so,i like the polished look better than before

 

Ok, thanks, I may try one this winter and see how it goes. I have a bare aluminum bicycle and I use aluminum polish or Never Dull to clean it off, but I've never sealed it, obviously I have more choice with a bike because its not subject to the same extremes as a wheel. Let us know if try the sharkhide

 

one more pic,touch up with blue magic polish...

 

those wheels look great.
Yoy have inspired me to tackle my set of 17" XJR Sport wheels which are languishing under the house, in a tired state. I have 18" X308 Asteroids on my car which I prefer to standard 17" XJR wheels.
However all polished up they look fantastic. But I am part-inspired, part dread-filled - as a kid my job was to polish my dad's aluminium-bodied Vauxhall 30-98, a 5 hour job with Brasso that I would split over 2 nights because my young hands would get so sore..
I want to tackle one wheel, but then I'll need to do all 4
How much time did you spend?

 

good luck,lots of elbow grease,i started with,"mothers"polish,but now i have switched over to,"blue magic",polish.for the inner and the slots,i used a mothers cone shaped buffer,then hand polished for the finish

 

[QUOTE=michaelmedina2005;1573664]
started with mothers metal polish,and 4000 grit drill sanding pad,finished with mothers billet polish,and micro fiber bonnet on buffer....happy![/QUHI I have a set of these diamond cut but have laquar with some minor blistering I would like to polish like you have done can you tell me the procedure and materials used step by step thanks steve

 

Great job Michael! I have a set of these on my XJS & love the look & the extra bit of handling they provide, I recently worked mine over but they didn't come out quite as well as yours. Looks like you've set a new standard for wheel polishing!

Thanks for the look see & the materials list!

Earl Kiker

 

I think we all have the challenge to restore the metal surface of the rims. The XJR6 signature 17' wheel is a case in point. Once the protective layer wears off, the bare metal would be exposed to oxidation and corrosion due to weather elements, stone chips, etc. Moreover, after each cleaning, the more difficult part would be how to maintain the shine for a long long time so we don't need to redo the tough job again too soon.

I have been reading widely about wheel cleaning and recently have an interesting find from the UK MB Club:
Wheel wax - MBClub UK - Bringing together Mercedes Enthusiasts
The UK pals seem to be very happy with a few products, among which I personally would be tempted to try GTechniq C5, CarPro CQuartz DLUX and Finish Kare 1000P to seal the rims after cleaning and waxing. The first two come in very small quantity and are hence relatively expensive, the 1000P was said to be very long-lasting and can be applied to both body and rims. They all have very good reviews. Not sure about users' experience here. Pity none of these are available in the place I live.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I am very interested in doing the same.

Michael....so I presume you first stripped the lacquer from the wheels? How did you do this? Paint stripper?

Then you gradually went through 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 grit wet'n'dry? Did you use pads on an angle grinder?

I've seen others use compounds and soft wheels as opposed to wet'n'dry. Is there any advantage either way?

Thanks

 

I have polished rims on both of my jaguars, not to high gloss.