How Hard Could It Be???

[Madcarpenter]

I just picked up a niiiice clean set of painted 2002 GP alloys on Craigslist for $100. They're the 5 straight spoke type, in excellent shape, with zero curb rash and nary a scratch on their silver paint.

Though they'd already be an upgrade over the 15" steelies and factory hubcaps on my wife's car, I want to have them media blasted, and then polish them myself. Found a local blasting shop who quoted me $40 per and they say their crushed walnut shells won't scratch the aluminum, will leave it smooth, and I can polish them right after stripping.

How hard is it to do, if I use an electric drill with a 'powerball' attachment, and some progressively finer polishing compounds? Do you think I'll still have to hand sand between the media blasting and polishing steps? Is it safe to use 0000 steel wool to help smoothe them? And what grade of sandpaper is that ultra-fine steel wool comparable to?

[00Beast]

You want a legit buffing kit, not a powerball. My buddy got a buffing kit from Harbor Freight for $15 and buffed the whole tunnel of his new Arctic Cat M8 snowmobile with it and it looks amazing. That's the route I'd do.

You shouldn't need to do anything after blasting but clean them with soap and water and buff. Your last step will be the powerball and aluminum polish, like Mother's Mag wheel polish, etc. A good coat of wax will keep them looking nice as well.