Don M
06-30-2021, 11:04 AM
Well, I went out and picked up a Mother's Power Cone and after a lot of self debate, some 303 Graphene. We finally got a break in the heat/humidity department, so I went out and polished the rims on the wife's Escape. They were relatively clean, but they had a brown staining over most of the surfaces that wouldn't come off with the rim cleaners I have on hand. A test spot with Meg's Ultimate Compound and an old microfiber showed great promise, but it was very labor intensive on the fingers - hence the Power Cone.
The cone made quick and easy work of removing the staining using a variable speed drill. I kept the speed in the middle of the range and frequently checked the temperature to make sure I wasn't getting things too hot. The cone and the surface stayed cool! I did each wheel to completion before moving to the next ... polish, wipe off the residue, polish more if needed etc until they reached my satisfaction and then applied the 303 Graphene.
The 303 applied and removed with absolutely no drama. I didn't get as much 'sweating' as Mike did with the orange beast demo car, but I did notice a little ... I must not have used as much as he did.
I *did* make a bit of a mess in a few places on the tires, getting compound on the rubber, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow before cleaning the tires. 303 states that no cure time is needed after buffing to expose the product to water, but since I'm going to be using a tire cleaning chemical, I figured it best to wait 24 hours before exposing the 303 coated surface to a strong cleaner - I won't be spraying the rims directly, but there will be runoff so better safe than sorry.
I didn't see a point in taking pics of all 4 rims since they look the same, so here is a pic of the right front (the worst one). The staining was subtle, but there although my phone couldn't get a pic of it. Anyway, here is the finished product, Comments?
No, I didn't do the barrels... lol
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/tn_rims.jpg
The cone made quick and easy work of removing the staining using a variable speed drill. I kept the speed in the middle of the range and frequently checked the temperature to make sure I wasn't getting things too hot. The cone and the surface stayed cool! I did each wheel to completion before moving to the next ... polish, wipe off the residue, polish more if needed etc until they reached my satisfaction and then applied the 303 Graphene.
The 303 applied and removed with absolutely no drama. I didn't get as much 'sweating' as Mike did with the orange beast demo car, but I did notice a little ... I must not have used as much as he did.
I *did* make a bit of a mess in a few places on the tires, getting compound on the rubber, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow before cleaning the tires. 303 states that no cure time is needed after buffing to expose the product to water, but since I'm going to be using a tire cleaning chemical, I figured it best to wait 24 hours before exposing the 303 coated surface to a strong cleaner - I won't be spraying the rims directly, but there will be runoff so better safe than sorry.
I didn't see a point in taking pics of all 4 rims since they look the same, so here is a pic of the right front (the worst one). The staining was subtle, but there although my phone couldn't get a pic of it. Anyway, here is the finished product, Comments?
No, I didn't do the barrels... lol
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/tn_rims.jpg