Show Car Garage Video: How to clean and polish aluminum wheels by machine with Flitz Metal Polish

[Mike Phillips]

Show Car Garage Video: How to clean and polish aluminum wheels by machine with Flitz Metal Polish


Oley the President of Flitz Polishing Products stopped by Autogeek's Show Car Garage to showcase some of their products here at our new Webcast Studio. Everything we worked on shined up like the day it was new!

Oley shared tips and techniques for maximizing the results from their complete line of product and in this article we're going to share the video that shows how to use the Flitz Mag Wheel Restoration Kit on a set of uncoated, aluminum Mag Wheels with years, maybe decades of oxidation and corrosion. The Flitz Mag Wheel Restoration Kit along with proper technique reversed years of neglect and restored a bright, mirror-like finish to our demo wheel.

Learn the secrets to removing oxidation and restoring a brilliant shine to aluminum wheels

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Here's some behind the scenes shots...

Before shooting a video everything needs to be set up and placed into position, this is where Yancy our Director takes over...



I was the lucky one to get to drive the Colossus Kodiak into the Studio...





All the props to be used in the video need to be positioned for the camera view, which Yancy can see simply by looking at the 55" big screen on the wall.



Hmm... over to the left just a little... no no no... back to the right a little... wait... back to the left a little... that's it... wait, back to the right a little... :d



Oley knows knows his product line inside and out and makes shooting a video a breeze...

Also, if you look just below the camera mounted on our 19' Jib Boom you'll see a "Smilie Face", that's so you know where the camera's at so anytime you need to look at the audience you know where to look.




When making a video there usually isn't time to fully polish out whatever the project is live, so in-between takes I used the Flitz Mag Wheel Restoration system to polish out the wheel enough to show the before and after difference.





Here's the results after doing a "quickie" on the wheel as time is limited for things like this... the wheel on the right is the mate to the wheel on the left and both wheels looked like the wheel on the left previously this morning.





Oley Jentzsch and myself at the end of the video taping. It was genuinely a lot of fun working with Oley and there's nothing like learning about a companies product line first hand from the President himself.




Later, after the video shoot was wrapped up, I was able to spend a little more time on the wheel without any pressure to hurry...



The Flitz Mag Wheel Restoration Kit really does take all the Elbow Grease out of cleaning and polishing aluminum wheels. The Pre Clean product was simply amazing to watch chemically undo years of damage without staining or dulling the wheel.


Flitz Mag Wheel Restoration Kit




Flitz Metal Polish Company Van




Besides Aluminum Mag Wheels there's a metal polishing kit for just about anything you need to polish clear or to a high shine and each product works just as good as the Mag Wheel Restoration Kit showcased in the above video. You can check out the complete line here... Flitz Polishing Products



Whatever your needs... Flitz has the products for you!



We had a great time and we look forward to working with Oley and Flitz Polishing Products again in the future!



Products Showcased
Flitz Aluminum Preclean
Flitz Paste Metal Polish
Flitz Buff Ball

[jayhkr]

I can attest to this great stuff. I've had a can of it for about . . . 8 years now. I bought it at a car show here in KC way back then and still use it for various projects. I am going to have to get it back out and try this out on my wheels. Great video Mike! Lucky dog getting to drive that beast! How about detailing that thing!!! LOL

[2003 GMC Denali]

Mike... how do you know, when the Buff Ball is spinning around at a 1000 RPM, that there isn't a particle of Dirt on there too, scratching away ?

This would be my biggest fear, using something like this, on a Chrome Rim.

Would you ever use this on a neglected Chrome Rim ?

[Mike Phillips]

Mike... how do you know, when the Buff Ball is spinning around at a 1000 RPM, that there isn't a particle of Dirt on there too, scratching away ?

Sometimes,

All you can do is all you can do...


By this I mean that before machine polishing ANYTHING, paint plastic, aluminum, chrome, etc., you should wash it thoroughly.

If you read enough of my posts I always type,

Work clean.

I say it in my videos, I teach the idea in my classes and I practices when I detail cars. If you do a great job of washing your wheels before machine polishing and then rinsing to get any dirt particles out of any crevices that make up the design of the wheel you will have done all you can do practically speaking to prevent any dirt particle from entering into the machine polishing process.

If possible you could do things like blow the cracks and crevices on the wheel with a blast of compressed air if you have an air compressor, so washing isn't your only option but it's the one "most" people can do.

Besides reducing the potential for the scenario you present, the next thing you can do is to STOP and inspect your work periodically and look to see if an abrasive particle has entered into the process and is scratching the surface, if discovered, remove the abrasive particle.

Another option if a person is concerned about scratching a surface when machine polishing is not machine polish but instead hand polish and avoid the machine altogether. You'll still want to inspect by hand as you could possibly still have the same scenario you propose play out by hand.

You could also take your wheels to someone that does as a business and let them assume the risk. Take pictures of your wheels beforehand to show there were no scratches to begin with and make sure the company you use offers some kind of warranty for their work.

How's that?

This would be my biggest fear, using something like this, on a Chrome Rim.

Would you ever use this on a neglected Chrome Rim ?

Yes.

First, if I was polishing a neglected chrome rim because it's neglected I would first fault the person that neglected it for it's current state of appearance.

Next, if the chrome surface is neglected, it will usually start to rust and the chrome will begin to flake off, at this point if my goal is to make the chrome shiny, then "IF" it were to get a scratch in it from machine or hand polishing, that would be the least of my worries as the wheel already started out from neglect.

I've owned neglected chrome wheels not because I've neglected them but because the came that way on a car, here's an example, chrome Cragars on a very rare 1973 2-wheel drive Blazer. They make approximately 3200 2-wheel drive Blazers in 1973, so they are indeed very rare in now this year of 2010






When I get a set of neglected chrome wheels the first thing I do is clean and polish them and then after that ALWAYS keep them washed very, very well. The reason why is chrome is almost impervious to any kind of chemical attack but if you let dirt build up and then trap moisture onto the chrome surface, it will deteriorate the chrome and cause rust to form onto the underlying steel and once that happens you pass the point of no return and it will only get worse and worse, it will never get better and better.

So the key to keeping chrome from deteriorating is to keep it very clean, dry and coated with a wheel wax.

[2003 GMC Denali]

Thanks for your reply...

[Mike Phillips]

***Update***

YouTube Video Interface added