Wire wheel used - any way to salvage?

[Sci85]

I have a left clutch cover that someone used what looks like a wire wheel on to remove the old paint. Is there anyway to get the scratches out of this cover so I can put it on the buffing wheel or possibly paint it?

Thanks,

Sci85

[Tim Tom]

Only way to do that would be to sand it down with progressively finer sand paper, leading up to very fine wet sanding. Eventually it'll smooth out to a point where it could be buffered to a polished finish.

[Sci85]

Any idea what courseness to start with? Seems like I would need to start pretty rough. I have no idea what grit a wire wheel is. Regardless, looks like it's going to be a lot of work.

[FiremanBob]

If it's really bad, I'd start with 220 or 320 and don't use heavy pressure. If you start too fine, you multiply the time it takes to do the job. It also helps to sand each grit at a 90-degree angle to the one before. When all the cross-hatching is gone, you are ready to go to the next level. I usually sand up to 1000 grit before breaking out the buffing wheel.

[Sci85]

Yeah, i did a quick test with 220 but that hardly did anything to remove the scratches. I think I'm going to have to drop down to 150 or even 100! Ugh...

I thought I read somewhere that anything over 400 grit was a waste of time as emery on a sisal wheel was roughly 400 grit. Is that not accurate?

Sci85

[GateKeeper]

Don't go to coarse, otherwise you will end up putting in even more scratches, and then you will end up having to sand them out as well....

I'd like to know what kind of wire wheel the PO used to make scratches that deep....

I have wire wheeled all of my covers so far and they do not have any sort of deep scratches, I will lightly rub with some fine paper, and then take em to the buffing wheel.

I don't have any pics of my covers close up right now, but I will take some and post latter

[Tim Tom]

It's gonna take some time to be sure. Figure out about how deep the scratches are and that is how much you'd have to remove across the entire piece before they'd go away. HOWEVER if a polished Aluminum finish is not needed or desired, you could save some time and fill the scratches in with some bondo or other filler, and then sand them smooth, prime and paint it.

If you want to polish it you can't use any fillers. If a painted finish is acceptable then a skim coat or two of body filler should fill in the scratches and then you have to sand and wet sand that down smooth prior to painting the part.

All comes down to what you want the part to look like and how much time you want to invest in it.

I know you can get a paint color to match the Suzuki silver used on their engines. Tons of threads about it, do a search. Painting may be easier than trying to polish it all shiny.

[Sci85]

Hmm, hadn't thought of that. Good option to have. I will try and see if I can sand them out first. If that proves too difficult, then I will go with the filler and paint option.

Sci85

[Agemax]

Hmm, hadn't thought of that. Good option to have. I will try and see if I can sand them out first. If that proves too difficult, then I will go with the filler and paint option.

Sci85

if you go with the paint option then forget the sanding. the rough surface is a brilliant key for paint and a coat of filler primer will make it smooth as you like

[knowyourenemy66]

Save the time and trouble--Buy a used one in better shape.

[Sci85]

Nah, I'm too cheap and lazy to do that. I'll give sanding a go and we'll see what that does. If not, then i may just paint it. I'll post up some pics when I get it done.

[GateKeeper]

Sci85

how bad are they ?

Here is a few pics of one side cover I did last night with a wire wheel, yes there is some marks in it, but I know with some fine sanding and then onto the buffing wheel they will come right out to a beautiful polished state.

are they worse than this ?

[Sci85]

are they worse than this ?

Yes they were much worse. Yours don't seem so bad to me. Although I have never been able to buff even what you have out before. For some reason, I still haven't got the knack for buffing yet.

I had to start with 100grit, then 150, 220,320, and wet sanded with 400 then I used a sisal wheel with emory compound, brown on a denim sewn wheel then white on the buff wheel.

Here's what I have so far. Still gotta get into the little nooks with my dremmel. Not ttoo bad bust as you can see there are still some scratches left.

This was after sanding with 100 then 150. Trust me, it was a lot worse looking than this before.


And this is after white polishing.


BTW, what kind of wire wheel did you use on your covers?

Sci85

[Flyboy]

Sci, good effort and you are going in the right direction, but you are not going fine enough on the paper, you need to go right down to about 800 grit, to remove the scratches for an acceptable finish, and even finer if you want a mirror finish.
No need to start as coarse as 100 grit, unless the covers are really deeply marked.
Typically I go, 120, 320, 600, 800 then buff with red rouge on a white spiral sewn wheel.
The problem is the scratches, if you can see scratches, it will not shine as you want it to, what happens is that the scratches scatter the light and give it the dull appearence, that is why you need to go as fine as you can with the paper.
I am no polishing guru by any means, but here is a before and after of my forks after doing nothing more than I just explained above.
Hope this helps

[GateKeeper]

Sci, follow what Flyboy has suggested and you will be fine, it all comes down to how fine you go with the paper, before you hit the buffer....

this is what I use for the wire wheel

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/PowerToolAccessories/SandingPolishingAccessories/PRD~0541311P/Mastercraft+Flat+Wire+Wheel+Brush.jsp?locale=en

here is some other polishing I have done on other parts