I polished my rims (not going to waste the time getting them chromed until
the winter), now I just need to know how to absolutely bring out the shine in them, any tips are appreciated

 

do a google search, there are some good how to's out there for polishing aluminum. Its way easier if you remove the wheel from the bike. Alot of ppl just polish the lip, and paint the spokes b/c some spokes are 'textured' and a bitch to polish. Basically you remove the paint (heavy duty paint stripper works wonders here). Then you start sanding with a medium grit, work your way to a finer, and finer sandpaper, then use a buffing wheel and buffing compound, then a paste based polish. What your doing here is smoothing out all the tiny surface irregularities, and casting imperfections. Some alluminum is shitty and never polishes very well, you'll always have 'pits' in it. But most of the time your left with a nice shine. Keep it polished with that paste stuff. I havent found a clearcoat that doesnt dull the shine yet.

hope it helped

lol, edit: just reread the post, and realized you already polished them. There are some products out that are supposed to clear coat the aluminum and not dull it. I havent used them, nor have I spoke to anyone who has. If you did not take your time polishing with the finer grits in the first place, the shine will dull quicker after being buffed.

 

I recommend "White Diamond". My wife and I polished the frame and
swingarm on her F4, and it had a nice shine. To really make it sparkle, we
got some "White Diamond".

It does an amazing job!!

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/globalri...tdiammetp.html

 

I Build Bikes For A Living. Polishing A Pain In The ***. First Remove The Wheels[dismount Tires From Rims]. Aircraft Stripper The Lips Up To The Center Grove[lips Are Smooth/ Center Line Has A Textured Finish] Make Sure To Tape Off The Centers. Once You Got'em Stripped Take A D/a Or Even A 4'' Sander And Start With 400grit Dry Paper, Next Step Up To 600grit,800 Grit, 1000 Gritdry. After That You Take 1500grit Wet And Sand With Water By Hand. You Can Go To 2000 Grit But Most Of The Time It's Not Needed. Then You Need A High Speed Buffer Or Angle Grinder With A 4'' Or 6'' Cotton Polishing Wheel. Start With The Brown Rouge First Because It's The Work Horse And Finish Up With The White Rouge. Last Take A Non-abrasive Metal Polish And Apply By Hand With A Terrycloth Towel And Remove The Polish With Toilet Paper, That's Right Toilet Paper[because It Does Leave As Much Scratchs As Paper Towels/napkins, Etc... It Takes Time And The Sanding Sucks, But The Sanding Is What's Going To Make You Or Brake You. The Smoother You Can Get It, The More Shine You'll Get Out Of'em. Make Sure To Tape Off The Centers Because You Don't Want To Polish Them, Because There To Hard To Keep Up.everyone Has Their Own Way Of Doing It,but This Is My Way And I Found That If It's Done Right You Can Get Well Within The [almost Chrome Looking] Stage.hope All This Helps Good Luck And Take Your Time.

 

Thanks for the replies!
-Leadr