Polishing inside & outside of Pretoria wheels.

[DaveRRR]

A great aspect to these wheels is the well finished interior barrel of the rim.  After 85K mi, I decided to clean and polish the inside when polishing the outside.  While regular cleaning with a soft, long brush removes the brake dust and lets them shine - this time I also wanted to remove the past wheel weight sticky pads and give the paint a good cleaning with Griots correcting crème and then a double coat of their ceramic polish.  The sticky pads FINALLY came off with Mineral Spirits along with some road tar, etc.  Very happy with the final result after about 45 min / wheel.  I was unable to load a pic, but they are awesome.  Other suggestions to make the polishing easier (I used a 3” G8 mini-polisher) are also appreciated.

[gregozedobe]

2 hours ago, DaveRRR said:

A great aspect to these wheels is the well finished interior barrel of the rim.  After 85K mi, I decided to clean and polish the inside when polishing the outside.  While regular cleaning with a soft, long brush removes the brake dust and lets them shine - this time I also wanted to remove the past wheel weight sticky pads and give the paint a good cleaning with Griots correcting crème and then a double coat of their ceramic polish.  The sticky pads FINALLY came off with Mineral Spirits along with some road tar, etc.  Very happy with the final result after about 45 min / wheel.  I was unable to load a pic, but they are awesome.  Other suggestions to make the polishing easier (I used a 3” G8 mini-polisher) are also appreciated.

The only thing I could think of would be to use very thick, somewhat soft pads on your polisher to compensate for the curvature of the inside of the barrel.

 

This post has reminded me that I also need to take my Prets off and give them a good cleanup and pampering.

[Booth11]

11 hours ago, DaveRRR said:

A great aspect to these wheels is the well finished interior barrel of the rim.  After 85K mi, I decided to clean and polish the inside when polishing the outside.  While regular cleaning with a soft, long brush removes the brake dust and lets them shine - this time I also wanted to remove the past wheel weight sticky pads and give the paint a good cleaning with Griots correcting crème and then a double coat of their ceramic polish.  The sticky pads FINALLY came off with Mineral Spirits along with some road tar, etc.  Very happy with the final result after about 45 min / wheel.  I was unable to load a pic, but they are awesome.  Other suggestions to make the polishing easier (I used a 3” G8 mini-polisher) are also appreciated.

 

I agree, the barrel of the Pretoria is a thing of beauty and the gloss can be amazing.  I really miss silver Pretorias.  
 

Sounds a great job David!   And very satisfying. @gregozedobe makes a good point with the thicker pad to bend with the wheel curvature.   Other things to mention though you likely had them covered, is to use a good LED light so you can inspect your work as you go along.  And to IPA/Panel Wipe down once polishing is finished to ensure no residue remains that can interfere with the bond of the ceramic sealant/coating.  Wheel weight glue can be very stubborn, horrid stuff!  Some tar/glue removers are more effective at removal of glue (wheel weight) residue and removing tar spots as they are thicker and cling better, but white spirit works well.  With either it can take a few goes sometimes.  Also as well as removing tar and glue, a decontamination with iron/fallout remover to rid that embedded brake dust and maybe claying if needed. 
 

As you’re under 25 posts, you can’t yet directly upload photos, but you can use a third party hosting site like this one https://postimages.org upload your photos there then copy and paste the ‘hotlink for forums’ url into your forum post.  

 

My Estorils could do with a light polish, I have a Rupes iBrid nano that should be a good match for the curvature of the barrel as it takes both 70mm and 40mm pads and can be used cordless so quite a flexible little machine. 

 

[DaveRRR]

Thanks Rebecca.  The foam pads were on their edge if I did not do small sections.  I’ll try tar remover next time - also appreciate the link for the images!  The link is - .   

[Booth11]

9 minutes ago, DaveRRR said:

Thanks Rebecca.  The foam pads were on their edge if I did not do small sections.  I’ll try tar remover next time - also appreciate the link for the images!  The link is - .   

Lovely work Dave!  
 

VW’s most beautiful wheel imo.