***How to Polish***

[The Prime Ministah]

OK every now and again everyone wants to know how to polish. So I figured I would do a little Write up.

where you can buy Rouge (click Me)

Things you will need:
-Time
-Energy
-DA sander (dual action)
-Multi grits of sand paper.
-Water
-Polishing wheel
-Rouges (SP?)
-Hand polish
-Dremel (depends on what your working on)

Time/Energy:
Polishing takes a lot of time and effort. So if you are not willing to use that stop here. On the other hand polishing is really redundant and not hard to do.

DA Sander:
For those big flat open surfaces this will speed the process up a thousand fold. Like with a Intake manifold.

Multi grits of sand paper:
Here is the section where every one has a Different opinion on what grits to start with. Polishing in a technical way is using smaller scratches to take out Bigger scratches, until they get small enough to where it shines.
Grits I Use:
-80 for DA
-180 DA
-240 DA
-400 DA
-800 DA
-1200 DA
-1500 Wet Sand

Through your whole process of sanding make sure you clean it thoroughly between grits!

You don’t have to go through as many levels of Grits, but you will have to spend more time on the next grit up if you space them out more.
Make sure you get everything thing out in the beginning!!!
If you get done with 80 grit and there are still some pits or minor scratches, DO NOT THINK YOU WILL GET THEM OUT LATER. Get them out NOW. The more polished it gets the more they will stand out.

From there Work up the levels of grits, doing what you can with the DA and the rest by hand.
Note: ALWAYS sand in the longest direction of the “Item”
Note 2: I recoment rearing gloves other wise you might have some bloody finger tips. I just rear normal latex gloves

Wet Sanding:
Then it is time to wet sand. I usually will DA up to 1200-1500 then wet sand with 1500 after that. You can take your wet sanding up to 2000 if you would like, there would be no harm done.
I like to wet sand with WD-40. You can use water if you would like, though WD-40 makes things go smoother.

You put the sand paper and WD-40 into a Cup and let the paper soak in it. and dip it in the cup when your *Item* gets dry.

You do not have to FILL a cup or fully submerge the paper, just a smaller end of it. Enough to have it damp for use.
Note: ALWAYS sand in the longest direction of the “Item”

Polishing wheel:
There are a couple ways to go about this. Tools can be nice to have.
There are 3 possible ways to handle this that come to mind to me at the moment.
-Get an attachment for a Drill
-Get an Air Tool specific to Polishing (what I use) [Air compressor needed]
-If you have a Table Grinder, you can get a wheel for it that is for Polishing (most efficient but harder to use for those tight spots.

For your Polishing wheel you will need some Rouges, There are 2 main ones that I use, Red and Black. With rouges you can tell grit by color, the lighter the color the lighter the grit. So here you will apply the rouge to your polishing wheel ( spin polisher and press rouge into pad) then proceed to polish you “item”. Then when it all looks polished and your going WOW. Then take it up to the next rouge. Then you will get another WOW.

There is a 3rd rouge that you could use, and that is GREEN. This is a Fine Metals Polish. A little harder to find, but will bring out that extra luster. Repeat as stated above.

Note: do not use same pad for different Rouges. Each rouge needs its own pad, and use the cloth pads, not the foam.

Hand Polish:
This is for upkeep and cleaning. Get something like Mothers polish. Use a clean, dry, nonabrasive rag. One to apply and scrub. Another to clean off.
Note: ALWAYS polish in the longest direction of the “Item”

Dremel:
For those hard to get places. You can uses the stone wheels for sanding, and the cloth bits you can add some rouge to polish.

I hope this helps, and any Questions ask in the thread and I will add it up here.

Before

Some Finished Product



Alt (used Dremel for almost the whole thing!!)

Hmmmm Polish

Modified by The Prime Ministah at 10:44 AM 7-28-2006

[bLeW-DuB]

thank u , they should put this up in the faqs

[VW193]

insert to the DIY section

what no pics of new items that are now polished


Modified by VW193 at 1:25 AM 1-1-2006

[Mad Chef]

nice

[vwtuner4ever]

Yup add to FAQ / DIY

[CapeGLS]

Nice little writeup!

[ForVWLife]

nice....wow that looks awesome

anyone know how thick the intake mani is, i have to redo some spots and want to know if i am in any danger of doing damage to the part?

[jayvee203]

Quote, originally posted by bLeW-DuB »

thank u , they should put this up in the faqs

[The Prime Ministah]

Added Some pics

[VW193]

thanx now this can be added the DIY faqs...j/k

[rpmjunky]

click & save 4 da future past time killing

[3URODUB2.0]

nice thumbs up to you!

[vwsgt_0311]

you stole my idea, lol great job, i will soon start mine as well. waiting for the intake and valve cover to get here in the mail

[mujjuman]

awesome

[Rabbit 16v]

You forgot to add the part about find some really cool guy that will loan you parts so you can polish them while driving your car around

BTW, did you ever bring me back the unpolished goodies?

[SlavaKM]

I liked it better before.

Just kidding, happy new year.

[RavinJetta]

Wow those pieces look amazing

[Adam253]

Nice write up

[bliznack]

Great job!

[NeW_DubbeR]

Nice.

I wanna get around too polishing the ol' 2.slow intake mani one of these days.

[felkadelic]

Holy hell that's slick!

[Eric@SETuning.com]

sick. I think i might have a winter project to do......

E

[The Prime Ministah]

any one have any other questions?

[boosted1800cc]

Quote, originally posted by The Prime Ministah »

any one have any other questions?

hows your MAF run with out the screens? any noticable problems? where'd you get the flange?

oh, and can i have your engine?>


Modified by boosted1800cc at 11:22 PM 1-1-2006

[BrokeDown.]

nice DIY.

[bmxp]

Nice write up Drew.....And yes having the right tools help a whole lot....

[acbaseball186]

nice work

[dymer]

Nice work... I'm contemplating re-polishing my wheel lips if it will save me from spending any more money...

[Black20th]

nice write up Prime Ministah

[EPWolfy18T]

Cool write up, definitely good for FAQ...

I'm thinking of doing this with my RX-IIs if the dealer won't replace them under my CPO warranty. Anything I should be aware of trying to follow this procedure on wheels?

[bootymac]

Good stuff.

I wonder how long it will take to polish the upperhalf of my intake manifold... I don't think I have any sanding/polishing tools

[16vROCCO20vGLI]

great job !

[sundog kid]

wow, im inpsired to polish my intake now...I cant believe how well that turned out.

[The Prime Ministah]

Quote, originally posted by boosted1800cc »

hows your MAF run with out the screens? any noticable problems? where'd you get the flange? oh, and can i have your engine?>

First off I run without a MAF. what you are probably refering too is the MAP sensor in the IC piping.

and second NO!

[2002_Turbo]

omg wow