I am trying to reuse the small wheel trim inserts on the SSII wheels I have. I have one of those power ***** for wheels and was thinking about using that and one or a few of the metal polishes I have. I was wondering what others have used to brighten up these pieces.


Thank you,
John

 

They are just stainless. Polish them the way you would any stainless. I'd remove them from the wheels and use a bench-mounted buffer.

 

Thanks. Will they bend on a bench buffer??

 

They will polish quite nicely by hand with a good metal polish like Autosol(sp). If you use a bench buffer be gentle and wear gloves, your bound to hook an edge and bent the piece while cutting yourself in the process. I also use an electric cut-off tool with a thin buffer wheel on it. These are easy to get so have spares and ditch the bad ones.

 

I remove them and polish by hand... I use a metal polish such as "XTREEM" or "TOP BRITE"

 

If you go the bench buffer route, the following is mandatory:

Full face shield

Heavy leather gloves

If the buffer catches a part, it could hurt you.

 

Eagle One sell a product called " Nevr-Dull"that works well to polish all metal. It's like the old "wadding", used by the Army for polishing metal. It's texture like cotton that contains cleaner. Just pull off a small piece,polish by hand,then follow with microfiber cloth to shine and and remove polish. Larry

 

x 3 on using caution and safety gear if you go the route of using a bench-mounted buffer. Cut 80% of the end of my finger off when I caught the edge of a Cadillac headlight trim ring I was polishing a few years ago. They were able to sew it back on thankfully, the trim ring was mangled.

Not to say it can't be done, I'm not the brightest guy in the world , but it certainly can be dangerous...

 

Most of these are old enough with enough road rash that they need buffed with a bench buffer to get them to look the best. Like others said, Be safe. You can get hurt with a bench buffer real fast. USE GLOVES!!!!!

 

I just finished doing all of mine on my 68. I went to Eastwood and searched for polisher. I then found the kit that you use on a plug in power drill...was about $35 with shipping. Clamped the drill into my bench vise and polished away. Came out looking like new stainless.

 

This is what I used;
http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-buffing-kit.html

 

I have used and still have 2 tubes of Autosol its very good stuff!

 

That's the scary part of using a bench buffer. Im going to try my drill buffer first and see where that gets them first before going with the heavy machinery

 

I have used never dull in the past and had mix results but do have a can in my garage incase I need to try it on these

 

Xtreem is the same principle, probably manufactured by the same company...

 

To avoid embedding the trim rings in the ceiling/walls, I figure when I do all of mine I'll try to fab up a jig something like this from Brian's beautiful '69 442 resto.



More...actually a ton of ... info here:
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post454542

 

If buffing is perceived to be the best method, that would definitely seem like a very safe way of accomplishing the task...

 

Started the buffing process on the insets last night. Kept them in the wheels to prevent bending. I used the Autosol polish and 2 different kinds of buffing/polishing pad ( 1 mother cone powerball and 1 small cotton buffing wheel. Also mocked up the new caps and trim rings. The wheels them selves will be going out for powder coat in a week or 2.

 

first picture shows how flat and dull looking they where. they are really polishing up nicely

 

Sent the wheels out for sand blasting, powder coat and also got clear coat. They look brand new. Cant wait to put on the new and polish wheel inset trims, trim rings and center caps.

 

Looks good, the clear coat gives the paint color some depth...