Polishing Bolts

[ufo]

thank you serghey for the tip.. i will put some pictures when i finish the rims

[ZUBZ]

I did the 80 bolts of the LM'z, used a Dremel rotary tool, but never again,

Started with the RM's 2 weeks ago, gave the 120 studs to the local electroplate joint for them to strip properly, polish and re-chrome....cant wait...

[Miche]

took apart my wheels to the other day to realize genius before me didnt just clear the lips but cleared the bolts too. whats the best way to remove the clear?

Easiest way is to just buy some random paint remover (they are often like a gel type of fluid). Take a brush and paint the paint remover on whatever you want to take the paint off and wait an hour, then go to a do it yourself washing station and use the high pressure water (if you don't have that at home) and just see the old clear coat or paint get removed, usually you won't get all off immediately, so you have to redo it one or two times more, but it's so easy to do, that it's just fun doing it!

Getting the paint remover on takes a couple of minutes, and washing it off is just a couple of minutes. So when you've done it 3 times you've put like 30minutes of easy work on them, and they are as good as new almost!

i did this to one whole split wheel the other day and it came out awesome, though i had alot of corroded alumium, for that i used a sanding machine with a steel wool type of paper + some metal polishing, and that was some easy work too imho. I'm never gonna sand down another wheel after i discovered how easy this method is! Can fix a set of wheels in under 2 days i'd imagine.

Click for bigger image.

Before:

After:


I'm gonna remove all the bolts/nuts later on and do this to them too, they where not easy to get too when on the wheel. So have that in mind that the wheel is not fully restored in pic But check the lip on how it turned out with no hard work really put into them.

[ignacio]

Hi, do you think it would be possible to bring these back to life by DIY polishing?

[on_the_grind]

I think anything is possible with the right amount of motivation

[DaRk-AnGeL]

Thanks to the info in this thread...

Coke (COLA), Toothpaste, Toothbrush, and bleeding fingers acheived this outcome in a day:

"160" 16yr old rust covered bolts, now look like this!



Thanks Guys!

[matt7tees]

These bolts look awsome
I have mine in coke rite now, but mine are steel original bbs bolts once I have put them in coke and put them back to bare steel will they not rust really quick?
What do i do about this?

Thanks

[guanfangfang]

Also the bolts were completely submerged for over a day. It could be worth a try...

[soarer]

out of all the methods mentioned here, I have tried probably all of them.

What worked for me was vinegar. Cleaned all the crap off them (silicon, brake dust, locktite) etc off the bolts and did not damage the chrome plating.

[cjslapshot]

I'm buying my tumbler and media this week for J55A bolts. I'll post pics of the outcome soon.

[craigolfmk4]

These bolts look awsome
I have mine in coke rite now, but mine are steel original bbs bolts once I have put them in coke and put them back to bare steel will they not rust really quick?
What do i do about this?

Thanks

Yes they will. Did this with mine. Were fine for a couple of weeks keeping on top of them every few days polishing each one and they still turned. Best getting them plated or new i'm afraid.

[sahara61]

How many do you do at once?

[SwagenGTI]

So I bought some semi refinished rs's and all of the bolts were refinished. There is still left over loctite on the threads so just take that off with a wire wheel and dremel right? How do you guys go about keeping them clean while on the wheels? I currently have silver bolts but will be getting gold ones in the future, how would I keep those clean?

On a side note, I dont have the funds to get all of my gold bolts now but I would like to mount my wheels fairly soon. Would it be unsafe for me to run the wheels and eventually purchase the gold bolts and replace each one, one by one? Or would that screw up the seal?

[kabel88]

So I bought some semi refinished rs's and all of the bolts were refinished. There is still left over loctite on the threads so just take that off with a wire wheel and dremel right? How do you guys go about keeping them clean while on the wheels? I currently have silver bolts but will be getting gold ones in the future, how would I keep those clean?

On a side note, I dont have the funds to get all of my gold bolts now but I would like to mount my wheels fairly soon. Would it be unsafe for me to run the wheels and eventually purchase the gold bolts and replace each one, one by one? Or would that screw up the seal?

I woudn't do that, it will screw up the seal as you say yourself!

[SwagenGTI]

bummer any advice on keeping the bolts clean?