Powerball mini for A/R Baja Wheels
 

Thinking of picking up a powerball mini tomorrow and giving it a shot on my baja's.

How well do these things hold up, or do they fall apart on ya? Just dont have any experience with them. Thanks!

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...DSCF0006-5.jpg

I have one, haven't used it in a while though. I find if the wheels are really bad its better to do it by hand, but thats just me. Its great if they just need a quick polish though.

i hate power balls i like doing it by hand

Looks like they need some good hand lovin'. A powerball would be quick but if you spend plenty of time with a hand polish, you won't be disappointed.

i used a powerball before once it worked pretty good and twice it didn't so id rather not waste my money

I had the same wheels on my ranger. the power ball worked pretty good on them especially on the holes and flat parts of the wheel but I had to polish all the corners by hand. The power ball would only hold up for a few times polishing the wheels then started to crap out but they make replacements for it so you dont have to buy the whole set up again. I would recomend it..... if I still had polished wheels I would use one.

I use the mini with the mothers aluminum polish that's made for it.I like it, it works great.

i have one too and i dont use it cuz i dont like it

Works great for me :shrug:

revise. i just used my large one with my 15x10 it actually works. i wouldnt use it to get rid of pitting but after 2000 wet sanding and using it, it works good. for my 15x8 the large one is pointless because it can not get in the groves, so i would get the mini like you where saying you where.

I use the Meguiars wheel polish

i love mine. i polished all of my wheels and the ball is still in good shape and the wheels turned out great

I just it on my Weld Rodlites I have on the Mustang, I also heard of a trick to use a little bit of corn startch on the ball after polishing to really shine them.I'll have to try this.

Depends on how bad the finish is and what you're hoping to end up with. Sorry, not familiar with those wheels. I'm assuming they are polished aluminum without clearcoat. If so, the PB mini might be enough. Use it with the PowerMetal liquid. Try doing a small area first. If it does the job and you don't see any of the old defects, then you're good to go.

If it's not aggressive enough, you can try the mini MD with the PowerMetal scratch removing paste polish on the same area. If that's good enough, use that first, then go back to the regular ball and either the regular PowerMetal or mag & aluminum polish. Finish with the regular ball and billet polish. Add a little detailing spray to lube the work area if you're using pastes.

I did my Mustangs Eagle wheels like this, but had to start with 600 grit wet sand! They originally were so oxidized that they looked more like brushed aluminum with bad water spots. After "I can't remember how many" hours of sanding and polishing, they came out looking pretty good (sorry, I've deleted the "before" pics)...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...stangGT080.jpg

follow this link, this should make them look like brand new again!

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...um-wheels.html

Good thread

Great link Scott. Thanks.

Here's some advice on sanding that I got from an old sanding machine expert (I work in wood panel [MDF] manufacturing). Grit numbers have a relationship. Going up, skip a grit and it will remove the previous numbers scratches. So 120 is designed to remove the scratches left behind from sanding with 80 (skipping 100) and so on. Leave too large a gap between grits and you end up doing more work than needed. Imagine trying to sand out the scratches from 600 grit with 2000 grit. You'll eventually do it but why do so much work? Choose the roughest grit to do the job. It'll save you time and effort even if it adds steps. When sanding you want to sand only enough to remove the previous grit's sanding marks, so sand in opposing directions. For example if you sand left to right with the 600 grit, you should sand up and down with 1000 until you don't see anymore left to right scratches. Sanding any more is a waste of time. Then go to the next grit. Once you're done with the final grit, that is, removed the previous scratches, you can finish with a circular motion to even it out and get ready for polish.