# Polished Alloy Mini superlites detail



## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Hi folks! First post in here so hope I do what im supposed to!

Back story: Car went off the road for the snow as I hit a kerb on the first day of it and that put the tracking waaay out. Decided not to fix it till the snow was gone and now that I have my god I wish I had cleaned it before putting it away! Heres what I found my wheels like this morning....

Doesnt look to bad here, maybe just needs a shampoo?










After a closer look I found this



















Thats the front which wasnt too bad but look at the back....the face of the wheels are polished so not too hard to keep clean but the back is rough, bare alloy so a nightmare!

Corroded rear of the alloy



















Gave it a quick rub with my finger and some of it shifted but hardly any.










So given it was bare dull finish alloy there wasnt an expensive finish to worry about so I took some shampoo and wire wool to the backs. It worked a treat!



















The rear of the wheel cleaned up

I PW and shampooed the fronts to get rid of the worst crap then too it in the garage to finish off

Took my Autosol and got to work with a MF pad I picked up cheap.



















Loking much better I think you will agree!










Reflection shot










Then I applied 3 coats of PB Wheel Sealant to try and prevent the corrosion again...










Left to haze










I made sure I got the right pad for putting it on and off :lol:










then got some Meguairs Tyre shine on the tyre walls to tidy them up










Ive picked out the YOKOHAMA and Yoko logo on the tyres in white tyre paint so redid it as the tyreshine makes it crack up.



















I designed some custom wheel centres so fitted them at the same time










and there we have it! One dam clean wheel!










Time taken 6 hrs for all 4!!!! :doublesho

As I say first detail of anything and first write up so be kind. 

Andrew

(Oh and teh chamois' you see arent used on my car. My dad just wont listen even if it is his company car he uses them on :lol


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## chappo (Jan 7, 2010)

they looked clean before you started tbh, 

but wow done a great job on them mate, look stunning, :thumb:

come and do mine if you want, lol


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

fantastic work and worth it in evey hour you spent doing them. great work


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## cleslie (Feb 19, 2006)

Great job and nice attention to detail.


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

cleslie said:


> Great job and nice attention to detail.


Cheers guys! Im looking for some more aggressive metal polish though as theres still some pitting in some areas Im wanting rid of.

Im a graphic design student so attention to detail is inbuilt in me. Cant leave anything not done right!


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

They look very good indeed :thumb: - just out of curiosity, how long will the wheels last before they need doing again with Autosol?


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

yetizone said:


> They look very good indeed :thumb: - just out of curiosity, how long will the wheels last before they need doing again with Autosol?


Well the last time I didnt have time to seal them.....so a couple weeks max. But with the sealant on them best part of a couple months in my experience. Just blast off the worst of the muck with my PW and then shampoo them usually but I was naughty and neglected them.


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Blimey - that's not long. Will be interesting to see to see how long they last with a sealant in place. Its just that mate has a set of VW BBS alloys with a polished rim (not lacquered) that he's tempting me with


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

yetizone said:


> Blimey - that's not long. Will be interesting to see to see how long they last with a sealant in place. Its just that mate has a set of VW BBS alloys with a polished rim (not lacquered) that he's tempting me with


Well that was when the good ol' scottish roads were pretty salty/grimey so probably last another week or two in your neck of the woods but will report back on how the sealant works. :thumb:


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## No_Fear (Oct 15, 2009)

excelent result!


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## Jookeli (Dec 29, 2009)

-----


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## chunky (Jan 6, 2010)

love the mini lites


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Jookeli said:


> Nice job!:thumb: To what motor these coming on?
> Btw, is these real superlite wheels or fakes?


Real deal. :thumb:

They are on this and have been since about August (iirc) Sorry for the little pic but its the only really decent pic I have atm with the wheels on.


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## Mad Stuntman (Oct 25, 2009)

:doublesho
WOW! Looking sexy dude. Well done. :thumb:


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## Jookeli (Dec 29, 2009)

Mini 360 said:


> Real deal. :thumb:
> 
> They are on this and have been since about August (iirc) Sorry for the little pic but its the only really decent pic I have atm with the wheels on.


Okay, havn't seen fully polished ones before.
That's a one clean mini, hope getting one like ur's in the future..


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Jookeli said:


> Okay, havn't seen fully polished ones before.
> That's a one clean mini, hope getting one like ur's in the future..


Yeh got them polished up as too many have just plain silver superlites. Gets repetitive and I like to be a bit different. Cant recommend Mini ownership more! Its great! :thumb:


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## andyb (Jun 4, 2006)

Still a class wheel design after all these years.......very nice Sir


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## nmj (Jan 3, 2010)

*MB RACING 10ins WHEELS*

This is my 1330 mini on MB Wheels 10ins for me, not cheap thou.


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## Leodhasach (Sep 15, 2008)

Wow, well done, looking brilliant :thumb:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

God I would have loved some MB Splits but student so couldnt afford them haha! Got plans for another Mini in a few years time and MBs will be going on them for sure!


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## ChrisJD (Apr 15, 2009)

That inside looked pretty bad.

They came rather splendid in the end though, nice.

Chris.


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

:lol: Im getting some flack from some mates with minis for taking so long to clean wheels. They barely touch their cars with water let alone polish/wax them. They will never learn......


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## Iron Tam (May 12, 2007)

Mini 360 said:


> I designed some custom wheel centres so fitted them at the same time


Well funky wheel centres - how did you put them together?


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## Hugo (Aug 14, 2008)

Love the polished minilites :thumb:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Iron Tam said:


> Well funky wheel centres - how did you put them together?


Designed them in Adobe Illustrator and sent the design to a guy I know that makes them. They are just like OE swpec but with my design on them.

I do offer a design service for £15 with design, producting and postage all factored into that. :thumb:


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## dubb (Aug 27, 2009)

what a fantastic bit of work you did there matey, looking to do this sometime with my zetec alloys, havnt been off in a 'while' :tumbleweed:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

düb said:


> what a fantastic bit of work you did there matey, looking to do this sometime with my zetec alloys, havnt been off in a 'while' :tumbleweed:


Its really worth it. Ive had mine on for best part of 5-6 months without taking them off. Going to be monthly now!


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## dubb (Aug 27, 2009)

got the poorboys in my drawer here begging to be used lol


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## Rasher (Mar 6, 2006)

top job


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

düb said:


> got the poorboys in my drawer here begging to be used lol


Highly recommend putting on about 3-4 coats to really repel the brake dust. :thumb:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Bit of an update regards durability. The wheels went on once the snow went but are off again at the mo as we had another bout of snow over a week ago now so didnt risk them. got some 12" steels on it atm.......its looking 'different' :lol:

The sealant worked well and i gave them a quick clean before storing them away again until the salt/grit leaves the roads.

Heres the motor as it stands atm...... 










Its a sympathetic photo as the arches are now about 5 inches farther out than the wheels :lol: 4.5" compared to 7" wide tyres look horrible!


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## MoggyTech (Feb 28, 2009)

Tidy looking Mini is that :wave:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

MoggyTech said:


> Tidy looking Mini is that :wave:


Cheers. Getting new same colour paint over 2010/2011 winter so going to look even tidier! :thumb:


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## Michael172 (Jun 9, 2007)

Very nice, you should try sealing it with Renaissance Wax


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## Bratwurst (Jan 23, 2009)

Your wheels are looking terrific 360 - Love them !!! :argie:

Car's looking damn fine too :thumb:

You mentioned wanting to try another metal polish... The Britemax pair would work well with your wheels.


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## JCW85 (Oct 29, 2009)

Just spotted this post and had to say fantastic work, Andrew! 

I wouldn't like to spend 6 hours every couple of weeks doing that tho - how long has the finish lasted with the sealant on?

Chris


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## tazzy-lee (Dec 25, 2008)

Great job mate looks nice


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## evenflow (Apr 2, 2008)

Wow those wheels came up brilliantly. Always had a hankering for a mini, might have to go there one day...


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