i just received my mothers powerball and started polishing things...the thing is they dont look any different just clean

like i washed them real good...i may be doing it wrong or something

i put the ball on my 12 volt drill(to weak maybe?) put the polish in the ball and went at it

i did some rims on my atc 70 and wheelie bar...just look clean!

does anyone have a tip or something...like how much polish?, how long to do it?

do you think a drill with more volts will produce a better affect?

 

Might be that the things you are trying to polish are anodized, wich will not polish, and some aluminum is coated with some kind of paint. Example- honda wheels are coated and a huge pain to remove it. Other than that any clean aluminum should polish??

 

ok...ds wheeie bar..its painted --right..thats why it didnt polish


so what is polishable...nerfbars, front bumper, rims

 

I don't know if your wheelie bar is painted or not. But yes if you are trying to polish aluminum and it does'nt start to look like chrome then it is coated. I don't know if the the stock standard ds wheels are coated, but I do know the stock ds baja wheels are coated. To remove those coatings is a bear, but it is possible with some work. I did this to some honda wheels and they turned out awsome. I wet sanded them with 1000 grit sand paper until the coating was gone and then rubbed them down with mothers and they looked like chrome. The only problem with polished aluminum is they have to be kept clean and an occasional rub down to keep them lookin good. So it is work but results are great looking. Do not use less than 500 grit or it will scratch too deep or it will leave scrat marks when you polish. So I guess you could start off with 500 then finish with 1000. Like I said it is alot of work and takes some time "app. 4hrs per wheel", so be ready for a job if doing this. It is almost worth spending the money on a good used set of aftermarket or new aftermarket. If you buy aftermarket then the job is already done. You can buy new off ebay from inlandatv pretty reasonable as a set, even when I bought my new douglas .190's with holeshots the cost to my door was only $430.00, so that is a pretty good deal, if you figure it like this, $55.00 per item, thats cheap. Well good luck on your polishing adventure, lots of work but worth it. I think this winter I am gonna pull off some engine parts and polish them. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

so there is nothing i can polish...i was under the impression i could polish things..this sucks

when you say 1000grit paper ...are you doing this buy hand

oh yea i have the baja rims so i need to remove the coating on these...what is wet sanding mean?

can i use 1000 grit and old fashoin elbow grease?

 

Chris, to wet sand you will need to get some sand paper like the body shops use. Take a container and put a couple drops of dish soap in it then fill with water. Then sand away. Keep you sandpaper wet. Start with a lower number grit then work up to the 1000 grit or some steal wool. You can get the assortment packs or the individual sheets of paper from an automotive store. After you take the clear coat off of something you will need to keep a coat of wax on it after you get it polished or it wil tarnish. It is a lot of work but to me the polished metal looks sweeter than the coated version. You can polish it to a mirror like finsh.

 

If you are going through the effort to strip the coating off the wheels, I don't think the power ball is your best bet. After you strip the coat you will need to do some serious polishing, probably with a few different compounds. The power ball was not meant for that type of polishing. It is simply a buffer that turn previously polished metal that is dull into shiny polished metal.

I applied the polish directly to the wheel, then started the powerball at a slow speed a gradually increased the speed. One the first wheel I did I found a I used a good amount of polish and the second wheel didn't need nearly as much. I believe the new powerball soaked up allot of the polish on the first wheel.

 

i am not going thru all that, i just want to polish some things...

without removing paint and coatings what can i polish ?

i have an 04X--i did the front bumper not sure if it worked to dark out

 

i bought one and it is the worst money i have ever spent. just my 2 cents. those things are garbage. get a good rag and go to town. thats the best way to polish in my opinion.