Wheel Finish Faded - Restoring / Streaks?

[Bosko]

for sure the maintenance would drive you crazy....

[cray54]

A new development:

I was messing around again, and tried removing something I previously missed from the finish with my finger-nail. Not only did it remove the spot, it shined the area. I went a bit further and found it cleaned up nicely. I used the edge of a credit card and that worked almost as well.

I tested the SiO2 Ceramic wax on that area, and it did not fade afterward! [I have not yet tried the Ultimate Liquid Wax, but I will.]

All that said, it seems that this "fading" might be a residue on top of the paint rather than damage in the paint. Is that at all possible, or is it more likely that I'm just smoothing the surface?

Any ideas what to try if there is some coating or residue that my previous applications of Ultimate Compound didn't remove?

[Bosko]

I'm not sure how rubbing your finger on it did a better job then a wheel and polish?

[cray54]

I'm not sure how rubbing your finger on it did a better job then a wheel and polish?

It was scraping with a finger-nail fairly aggressively (Not just rubbing with a finger). I used the same Ultimate Compound / Ultimate Liquid Wax on a beat up lawnmower hood with the kids, and it came out looking great; so I don't think I'm doing something fundamentally wrong.

[Bosko]

Outside of wet sanding I think you just need more elbow grease or harder cut compound ...and more time.....lots!

[cray54]

Well, I wet-sanded a section with 2000 grit paper. Then, I tried Hybrid Ceramic, Ultimate Compound + Hybrid Ceramic, and Turtle wax (each in their own smaller piece). They all turned out looking very nice!

I don't want to wet-sand the whole thing... so I will try some different techniques with the Ultimate Compound to see if I am just not using it sufficiently.

[Bosko]

What is your drill and pad set up?

[cray54]

My "drill and pad" setup is homemade and apparently insufficient. I started doing all of the work by hand. I did not think that I needed to work Ultimate Compound very hard because the "results" from the hand rubbed compound looked so nice and I didn't want to overdo anything / rub through paint.

So, I made a roll on a stick. An old paintbrush handle with a slot cut in it. Put a section of wool sock in the slot, wrapped it, and put a rubber band at the top. This made it very easy to get what appeared to be good results without removing a lot of material.


In the last picture, you can see a red pad. This is something I made for repairing / polishing CDs. It is a 2" Rolloc pad with 2 layers of wool sock for padding and 2 layers of knit cotton. This works nicely for CD repair.

Tonight, I tried your original suggestion (I should probably have tried it right away) to work it harder. I used the red on the face of one of the spokes. I applied more pressure and used more compound. That worked! I now have one spoke that actually looks like I expected it to stay when I first started and would otherwise experience fading results.


[I have found that wiping the section with IPA after compound quickly reveals the long-term appearance. So, now I can work a section and then see if it is actually resolved or not. It remains frustrating to not know where to rub or how much during the process or after wiping without IPA.]

Now that I understand that I need more buffing time and pressure, I can't seem to get enough firm contact with the original wool cone between the spokes. I'm trying to figure that one out.

Separately, since I can "scrape" off the cloudiness with a finger nail, I figured I would try a chemical effort. I used Goof Off on another spoke by hand and experienced very favorable results:



So, I am now of the opinion that my finish is not actually damaged beyond repair, however I remain uncertain about what the best path forward is. I'm debating whether to try Goof Off on the wool cone, or if that is really asking for trouble.

I might just try the wool cone more aggressively. I'm debating about getting some Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound to try a more aggressive product as suggested. Any other suggestions?

[Bosko]

You need the right tools man...
one example
I really think for you to do it right you need a rotary/DA polisher and some firm foam pads

Mothers PowerCone Polishing Tool, drill polishing tool, foam polishing cone, power cone, polish wheels, polish metal, mother metal polish