Polishing up some Duratrax wheels

[Coelacanth]

I bought 4 Duratrax wheels from DHood recently. I've always found the anodizing on Duratrax wheels to be dull and lifeless, because it was probably anodized on a matte, dull surface finish. Also, these wheels from DHood were in 2 different shades of gold and red, so the idea was to deanodize and polish them up and at least end up with a matching set.

Before:

After deanodizing with Easy-Off heavy duty oven cleaner; the one with the yellow cap:

I started using the little Dremel polishing disks that I'd used with very nice results on those Brimod shock caps & bodies, but they just weren't adequate for the task. I went to the local Canadian Tire store to look for a few polishing bits for my drill. Other than really big ones, I couldn't find much, until--lo and behold, what do I spot? Polishing kits, on clearance!

How often is it that you run out to buy something and it just happens to be on sale?? Pretty rare! And on clearance, no less...these kits were $55 each regular price, on sale for $14.99!! You probably can't even buy 3 separate polishing bits for $15 bucks. So, I bought two kits. They have all the funky-shaped bits & pads I'll need to reach the nooks & crannies of any aluminum part, 6 kinds of cleaning & polishing compounds...in the summer, I might even have a go at restoring the dull, oxidized aluminum wheels on my Charger.

Now to see how those Duratrax wheels shine up...

[Coelacanth]

Well, no matter what tools you use, polishing aluminum requires elbow-grease in order to get the best results. I found I got the best results first wet-sanding off the brownish-colored smut. That only takes a few minutes. Then, various polishing tools with rubbing compound to get a decent shine--but still a touch satiny. Next, the same tools with polishing compound. Lastly, I did some hand-polishing as the tools tend to leave circular "machine marks" behind. Not sure what else you call them but the result is a bit inconsistent, as no tool can really reach everywhere. The final hand-polishing with polishing compound got me a nice, consistent glossy finish.

[justinspeed79]

Usually a second cleaning with the easy off will take off most of that tarnish it leaves. Doesn't work as well if it dries on though. Good deal on the polishing kit.

[Coelacanth]

In my polishing experience, I've found that the smut comes off real easy with a bit of wet-sanding with 1000-grit, and it's probably cheaper than wasting Easy-Off, which isn't cheap. That's the quickest part of the process. I wish the rest were that easy.

[Coelacanth]

I polished up one of a pair of front JPS wheels I got from a forum member to show the before/after. The wheel on the left is brand new but has the original machined, semi-polished finish. The wheel on the right got a half-hour's elbow grease polishing it up. The difference is significant. Even with good power tools, polishing is a pain in the ass, but I commend & respect people who put in the extra effort to do it, it definitely sets the car apart.

And here are the finished Duratrax wheels...they sure look a lot nicer than how they started out!

[romulus22]

Very nice transformation. Silver looks better than that ugly gold anyway.

[marlo]

Rims came out mint!!!! I know those kits as well. When they used to go on sale, I would buy 5-6 kits, The compound alone is worth it.

[Bormac]

Great work Marc. I always liked these alloy wheels from back in the day. Not so much because I ever saw them in person but I would see them in the adds of RCCA for many years.

[Coelacanth]

Rims came out mint!!!! I know those kits as well. When they used to go on sale, I would buy 5-6 kits, The compound alone is worth it.

Thanks marlo & Jason. The high-gloss polishing compound is excellent! It's a lot harder, firmer consistency than I expected, you really have to press the polishing bit into it to get it on, but it really works great to get that final glossy finish down.

[DMAT]

I must be one of the few people who use mother's mag polish on these wheels. works really nice albiet your gonna need a few towels to ruin.

Id quite litterally put a little polish on the wheels. press a towel into the wheel. then holding the tire with one had and the towel with the other, just go back and forth. Mindless action that you could do while watching tv. Needless to say 5-10 mins later, its done. Ive not tried using it on anod surfaces though. I

[shodog]

the key with any polishing job is you have to get the surface as smooth and scratch free as possible which might need the judicious use of some fine sand papers and steel wools.

I'm a big fan of mothers also and have stopped using other way more expensive polishes

[DMAT]

haha, scratch free. I've got some shock towers that are bad but after enough polishing, they are slowly smoothing out. albiet some 1000 grit wet sand paper sounds like a good idea about now.

[Coelacanth]

I had to start with 400-grit sandpaper to get surface scuffs & scratches smoothed over from various parts from both my CYANide & Barney cars before having the parts re-anodized. 400, followed by 600, 800, 1000 & sometimes 1500 (if I really want the glossy look) wet-sanding, then rubbing compound, then finally polishing compound. If you want Popeye forearms, forget the spinach and polish some aluminum.

It would literally take you forever to remove anything but the very slightest scratches if you started with 1000-grit.

And you have to remove the anodizing before wet-sanding. Anodizing is a very hard coating and very difficult to remove with sanding alone.

[DMAT]

i did forget to mention I do all my polishing by hand lol. power tools pfft.

[Coelacanth]

I hear ya, DMAT. I did all the parts for those 2 cars by hand, too. Not my idea of a pleasant time.