| Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145852] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 18:27  |
GMCNUSA
Messages: 283
Registered: August 2006
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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My Alcoa wheels have been neglected by me for 5 years. My very feeble attempts to polish one produced very little results. A professional wheel repair/polishing company needs to know if they are clear coated to give me a price. He said if coated the coating must come off, wheels polished then recoated. This costs alot more. I suspect they are coated.
Larry Dilk
Indianapolis, IN
76 Eleganza II
Patterson 455,Turbo City TBI,
Just LOVE It!
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| Re: Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145857 is a reply to message #145852] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 18:40  |
armandminnie
Messages: 864
Registered: May 2009
Location: Marana, AZ
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The polishing kit that they sell has a cleaner followed by an abrasive polish, followed by a sealer. I don't have the cleaner but I do have the polish and sealer. If their wheels were clear coated I doubt that they would have you use an abrasive polish. I got the stuff from Applied GMC who sells Alcoas - I have Eagles.
Armand Minnie
Marana, AZ
'76 Eleganza II TZE166V103202
visit my gmc blog
click here to visit gmcws.org
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| Re: Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145859 is a reply to message #145852] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 18:44 |
Dennis S
Messages: 3046
Registered: November 2005
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Larry
No Alcoa's I know of were factory clear coated.
Nylic coating was sometimes used by GMC owners.
Dennis
| GMCNUSA wrote on Fri, 07 October 2011 18:27 |
My Alcoa wheels have been neglected by me for 5 years. My very feeble attempts to polish one produced very little results. A professional wheel repair/polishing company needs to know if they are clear coated to give me a price. He said if coated the coating must come off, wheels polished then recoated. This costs alot more. I suspect they are coated.
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Dennis S
73 Painted Desert 230
Memphis TN Metro
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| Re: [GMCnet] Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145863 is a reply to message #145852] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 19:19 |
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No. They are not coated. Tha's why they look like they do after a few years.
bdub
On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Larry and Cheryl Dilk <lwd222@msn.com> wrote:
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> My Alcoa wheels have been neglected by me for 5 years. My very feeble attempts to polish one produced very little results. A professional wheel repair/polishing company needs to know if they are clear coated to give me a price. He said if coated the coating must come off, wheels polished then recoated. This costs alot more. I suspect they are coated.
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| Re: [GMCnet] Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145866 is a reply to message #145863] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 20:11 |
GMCNUSA
Messages: 283
Registered: August 2006
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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| Billy Massey wrote on Fri, 07 October 2011 20:19 |
No. They are not coated. Tha's why they look like they do after a few years.
bdub
On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Larry and Cheryl Dilk <lwd222@msn.com> wrote:
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Thanks to everyone for the answers. Since they are probably not coated the polishing company will not charge as much. He said the top price for noncoated wheels is around $100 per wheel. Does it take that much time for a professional to polish them? I am not a chrome and shine guy so I never bought "mags" when I was young all my $$$ went to speed equipment. My wheels are not pitted just dull and neglected and the rallys make me ashamed of my neglect of the nice wheels. What amount of time should I anticipate it requires for me to polish one wheel?
Larry Dilk
Indianapolis, IN
76 Eleganza II
Patterson 455,Turbo City TBI,
Just LOVE It!
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| Re: [GMCnet] Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145875 is a reply to message #145866] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 21:02 |
Dennis S
Messages: 3046
Registered: November 2005
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Larry,
The Mothers polishing ball works pretty well with their wheel polish. It does not eliminate all hand work.
http://www.amazon.com/MOTHERS-5140-Mothers-05140-PowerBall/dp/B0007RDVD4
If the wheels are really bad you can easily spend up to an hour each. Mine were almost etched with some cement dust but cleaned up nicely --
Good luck.
Dennis
[/quote]
Thanks to everyone for the answers. Since they are probably not coated the polishing company will not charge as much. He said the top price for noncoated wheels is around $100 per wheel. Does it take that much time for a professional to polish them? I am not a chrome and shine guy so I never bought "mags" when I was young all my $$$ went to speed equipment. My wheels are not pitted just dull and neglected and the rallys make me ashamed of my neglect of the nice wheels. What amount of time should I anticipate it requires for me to polish one wheel? [/quote]
Dennis S
73 Painted Desert 230
Memphis TN Metro
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| Re: Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145876 is a reply to message #145852] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 21:11 |
g.winger
Messages: 792
Registered: February 2008
Location: Warrenton,Missouri
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When I was a teen I purchased an arbor and some felt wheels and have been polishing ever since. MC cases,wheels,brass bells,,,lots of stuff. To do the alcoas i dismount the buffer from the vice and hold the motor in my hands. You must use the corect polishing compound. My wheels were poor but not bad. Polishing was taking to long so I used 2000 or 1500 wet/dry sand paper and then polished it with the buffer. Do a small area first,,,,to see whats needed. Took about 2 hours of hard work per wheel. I use a 1/3 horse 1750 rpm mtr. Heavy but it works. Wheels from anywhere. Hardware store,,,internet. Polish comes in diffrent grades in stick form. Sometimes I use paste. Whenn the mtr gets too hot to hold with gloves I set it in front of a fan and sand a diffrent wheel. I also whould remove the wheel/tire and set on a bench instead of bending over. Its real handy having a polisher,,,,,,PL
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| Re: Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145888 is a reply to message #145876] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 22:57 |
GMCNUSA
Messages: 283
Registered: August 2006
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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WOW! I am surprised at the time and apparent power it takes to get these wheels back to shiny condition now I know why the 2-3 minutes on one spot produced very little shine. I guess the $100 per wheel was not that outrageous.
Thanks for the input.
Larry Dilk
Indianapolis, IN
76 Eleganza II
Patterson 455,Turbo City TBI,
Just LOVE It!
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| Re: Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145897 is a reply to message #145852] |
Sat, 08 October 2011 05:43 |
g.winger
Messages: 792
Registered: February 2008
Location: Warrenton,Missouri
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Oh,,,,it won't take them that long because they'll have a 2 or 3 hp buffer. Did they tell you you'll need to dismount the tires/wheels????? You know the only thing between Indiana and Mo is Ill. Bring them on over with or without the GMC. I've got a place to park!!!!,,,,,PL'''''''(1 hr. west of st. L.)
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| Re: Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145927 is a reply to message #145897] |
Sat, 08 October 2011 14:31 |
Jiffyjet2
Messages: 86
Registered: November 2008
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My Alcoa's are less than two years old, but already starting to get dull and even a few pits. The Alcoa dealer in Tacoma recommended Mother's polish which I tried with the "ball" polisher but I didn't really like using it much. I bought some Griot's Garage metal polish and tried it, using their 3 inch orbital buffer. It works really well. It would be better to take the wheels off, since between the lug nuts is by hand and doesn't come up quite as bright. Griot's polish doesn't have a wax in it so they recommend using their "Paint Sealant" after polishing. Some sort of wax is needed or they just go back to what you started out with. One down...6 to go.
Jess
'74 Canyonlands
"the Great Pumpkin"
Tacoma, Washington
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| Re: Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145977 is a reply to message #145852] |
Sun, 09 October 2011 13:42 |
nchapekis
Messages: 165
Registered: February 2004
Location: Ypsilanti, MI
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Larry -
I use SimiChrome on mine. Best stuff I ever used and doesn't require as much elbow grease as Mothers. You can buy it on ebay for $8/tube. I can polish all six wheels about three times on one tube, but I saw your wheels at GMCES, and you'll probably go through a whole tube the first time. Just do one wheel/day and take your time, and before you know it, you'll have shiny wheels and be $592 richer.
Nick Chapekis
Ypsilanti, MI
former owner - 78 Kingsley
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| Re: [GMCnet] Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #145994 is a reply to message #145977] |
Sun, 09 October 2011 17:55 |
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USAussie
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
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Nick,
SimiChrome! If I remember correctly it was made by Happich in Chermany.
Boy you brought back some fond memories! I had a Go Kart 800 when I was a teenager. The engine was a Tecumseh 100cc chain saw
engine. It was modified to the hilt internally and put out 12 HP at 12,000 (or was it 14,000) rpm.
I polished that engine to within an inch of it's life but I never did very well racing despite the power output. At 14 I was 6' 1
1/2" and 220 lbs racing against 90 pounders!
That was my first experience with weight to power ratios!
I hooked up with a buddy that weighed half of what I did and he blew everybody else away when he raced!
Oh yeah, the SimiChrome was the last compound I used on the buffing wheel. Plus I used it in between races on a rag to keep the
engine looking good.
Regards,
Rob M.
-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Chapekis
Larry -
I use SimiChrome on mine. Best stuff I ever used and doesn't require as much elbow grease as Mothers. You can buy it on ebay for
$8/tube. I can polish all six wheels about three times on one tube, but I saw your wheels at GMCES, and you'll probably go through
a whole tube the first time. Just do one wheel/day and take your time, and before you know it, you'll have shiny wheels and be $592
richer.
--
Nick
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Regards,
Rob M. (USAussie)
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
'75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
'75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
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| Re: [GMCnet] Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #146030 is a reply to message #145875] |
Sun, 09 October 2011 22:45 |
Larry C
Messages: 1168
Registered: July 2004
Location: NE Illinois by the Illino...
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Hello
I polished one Alcoa wheel last year, it took me all day to get it looking fair. I gave up.
Last Fall I bought some metal polish from POR15, they claimed it was easy to use and get results.
I tried it on one wheel with a dab of polish and a paper cloth.
I did it by hand, I wanted to guage how difficult it would be to clean the metal.
I dabbed the polish with the paper towel and used a small circular motion to cover the area and kept rubbing until the polish turned dark black. Then it was simply a rub and a dub with a clean paper towel and that spot looked like it came from the factory. A vast difference from what I had used the previous year. the polish was not that expensive as I recall either.. Save some money and try it yourself. Do a wheel a day or week. They will be looking at you like you had bought new ones.
My experience
Gatsbys' CRUISER  08-18-04
74 GLACIER X, 260/455-APC-4 Bagg'r
Remflex Manifold gaskets
CampGrounds needed, Add yours to "PLACES" />
http://www.gmceast.com/travel
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| Re: [GMCnet] Are Alcoa wheels clear coated? [message #146256 is a reply to message #146251] |
Wed, 12 October 2011 03:35 |
Jiffyjet2
Messages: 86
Registered: November 2008
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I went to the Alcoa dealer in Tacoma to buy the Alcoa 3 step stuff, they didn't have any and didn't carry it. He's the one that told me most people use Mother's. No matter what product you use, when you get to the "polish" step it takes a bunch of elbow grease!
Jess
'74 Canyonlands
"the Great Pumpkin"
Tacoma, Washington
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