I said this is a budget job, and I didn't lie. Wheel refinishing costs a boatload, and being honest I haven't been very nice to these aluminum wheels. I know better - I own a set already on the Bull and know what needs to be done to keep them up. So, gonna try this before we end up going drastic:



Wenol polish is allegedly pretty good stuff. Eric (High Intentions) introduced me to the blue version (which I also bought) for the Bull's rims which are much better kept up. The blue is softer and less abrasive, as I understand it. The red, on the other hand, is pretty aggressive. So, I gave this a shot and I think I found a winner...



This is after one pass through. You can see how bad the wheel is, and where I cleaned it.



A little more elbow grease and this is what I have at the moment:



The stuff works well. I was just using a microfiber cloth with the polish - though I do have a power-buffer for wheels that I bought with my Meguiars wheel polish a while back and I may give that a go to see if it helps bring up any more shine.

What I would LOVE to do is take these wheels off, put the tires on my stock aluminum rims for the truck (which, oddly came from the Expy if I remember right) and throw the stock aluminum rims on the Expy for now while I finish cleaning these up. We shall see.

But I might have saved myself a trip to the wheel refinisher, or so it would seem.

 

Green is the harshest Bill. You cook the bars with mineral spirits and rainex.
Put 2 1/4" nuts in the bottle to shake it up good before you use it.
I use that for the dump truck wheels that are really bad. Next step is red, then blue, and white is the finest. White will give you a mirror surface.

 

I have the various bars of stuff for other metal polishing work, like the tripoli, jewler's rouge, etc., is that the "bar" you're talking about? I'll have to remember that mix if I need it.

This stuff is a cream in a toothpaste tube. Stinks to high heaven (gotta work outdoors, and I could smell it even with my stuffy head at the moment) but it works awesome. What I polished up there didn't take all that long - maybe 15 minutes?

 

Yeah, the bars. I cook it outside. Add some cinimon to it, it's not too bad. Mine is in a squirt bottle, liquid settles to the top, you shake it, is a little more liquid than a paste.
I use a soft scrub sponge. Takes me an hour to do an aluminum big truck wheel from grey to shine.

Sometimes if a wheel is real bad, you use acid on it to etch it back to a clean start

 

Looking good there Bill. It is amazing what a little elbow grease can accomplish.

 

I was thinking I was nearing "acid etch" phase with these, or even sending them out to a wheel refinisher. They had been through a winter here with no true care other than semi-regular washings at the local car wash...totally my fault for not being more diligent with them.

 

Thanks Neil.

 

Minor update:

Looks like it's time for that custom exhaust. Hanger broke off at the back end of the tailpipe and left this in its wake:



Some painting progress:







Wheel polishing - meh, not where I want them to be, yet.

 

Looking good Bill.

Shame your not closer, I have a set of duel tail pipes for that. I ordered them for my 95 pickup, and they were for a 99 exc.
The company told me to keep them, and sent me the set I needed.

They're in the shed waiting on a new home

 

Thanks.

I am contemplating a single 3" setup for the exhaust right now. I like the deep tone the 3" pipe gave on the pickup, even with dual 2 1/2" exits.

 

Looking good, Bill! Was that Eastwood's encapsulator?

 

Thanks Pat . Yup, Eastwood is all I use.

 

If you & Bill work out a deal, I can be the go between runner to deliver the pipes... just sayin

 

I am sure we could figure something out. We always do.

 

More frame painting fun! Progress pix, cuz it happened!

Stripping down skid plates..



Frame stripping progress...





Glossing some of the stuff that had already been primed/encapsulated...



Fun with color. Not everything will be black under here - and I can get away with this easier on this project:





This embarrasses me. This is how the Expy looks right now, with just prep, encapsulator, and primer:



...and this is the same shot under the Bull, which has been shown a number of times this year:



Sigh. Guess we're gonna be doing some work this winter on the Bull too. That's okay. That's that whole "details" thing that's on the agenda once snow starts flying.