Whats your technique for polishing scuffed Wheels/Rims.

[DanaDetailingPros]

I want to do rims as a nice add-on to my detailing. I haven't done rims before and will practice on mine and family cars. I did buy a 3" disc 800-5000.
I am still looking to find 1/2X1/2 sanding bands that would come in 800-3000 for metal. I also saw diamond sanding bits that are 800. Nothing so far higher.
One important question I want to ask is Rotary or small orbit DA?
Thank you in advance!

[2black1s]

I'm not sure exactly what your objective is but as a general rule of thumb... Rotaries are only used for rough grinding and definitely not the right tool for any kind of finish sanding.

[DanaDetailingPros]

Scuffed rims from hitting curbs. I have had 2 people this week ask me if I do wheels? I would reply yes, assumed they meant dressing the tires.
But they would emphasize and show my there scuffed rims.

[Lance Mark]

when you say rims, they are made out of all kinds of stuff

I recently did spoked wheels on '99 Honda Shadow motorcycle that were coated in cadmium....a dully gray metal

i was very careful with those, so as not to etch or damage that cadmium at all

as I've worked with chems it's a tedious process, I don't try and muscle the surface clean, but rather keep plenty of chems on the surface and use uniform repetition, either by hand, or with a foam attachment on a cordless hand drill

the results are always outstanding.....lot's of great chems and polishes, but of all the ones I've tried, I can usually get great results if give it plenty of elbow grease and time....again...i like the chems to do the heavy lifting, so my elbow grease is lots of back and forth, but not a lot hard pushing and rubbing...chrome is hard and durable, but can be marred....brushed aluminum is really fun to clean, a brushed aluminum finish can downright sparkle if you have the patience to take it down to nothing but pure aluminum, but these surfaces can be damaged and dulled

before i even touch wheels with any kind of polish, they get a general cleaning....I wash them with a good wash, rinse them, and then dry them....then they get a second wash with something like Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus...i try to be really gentle and let the wash and chems do the work again here, there's a lot of dirt on wheels, and it's nasty stuff, so as much as I can, I try to avoid any hard rubbing so as not to gather and use the surface contaminants as abrasives on the surface by rubbing them into it in the cleaning process

[2black1s]

What I would tell them is that isn't much that a "detailer" could do to repair "curb shots". They need a new wheel.

Obviously, the severity of the curb shot comes into play, but most that I have seen are way beyond any "detailing" repair.

[chilly]

What I would tell them is that isn't much that a "detailer" could do to repair "curb shots". They need a new wheel.

Obviously, the severity of the curb shot comes into play, but most that I have seen are way beyond any "detailing" repair.

When I watch detailing videos from the UK like Jim White he is always sending rims out to be "refurbished" and they always come back looking great

I wonder if there are equivalent services in the US?

Just thinking out loud...

[2black1s]

When I watch detailing videos from the UK like Jim White he is always sending rims out to be "refurbished" and they always come back looking great

I wonder if there are equivalent services in the US?

Just thinking out loud...

Yes there are. If you ever need one, check with a local body shop. They use them all the time for collision repairs.