I know this isnt the latest..or the greatest tech ever, but I've never posted a tech thing here before, so what the hell. I bought these old poncho wheels with white wall tires at a show for a price I couldnt pass up. They were dirty, but the key was there was no dry rot at all, and for $100 with beuty rings, dog dish caps, rims, and good tires, I couldnt resist! Here they were before we start cleaning, pretty dirty I guess. compared to one I cleaned seeing as the tires were made long long ago, and been sitting. So first thing we do is take some Westleys Bleche White and try to scrub most of the dirt and grit off. (I know its sidwards but I dont really care!!) Now using a stiff bristled brush scrub scrub scrub until it looks good, then rinse with a hose. Now that its clean you can begin sanding them. Use a fine grit sand paper, and keep it wet. 300 is probably about as low as you wanna go, I used 320 and it turned out perfectly. Now dont be afraid of sanding, the yellow stuff on the whitewalls is oxidation, and no amount of bleche white or anything else will get it off. Just makes sure to keep the paper well lubed, and check to make sure your not leaving gouges or anything else. Try not to use your fingers too much, but use your whole hand, fingers only makes gouges occur more easily. Here we are sanding. You can see here that all that white comes off, and that the sand paper is kinda white. That doesnt necessarily mean its bad, but rinse it of and keep going. Also rinse the tire occasionaly to keep the gunk from building up. Here the tire is halfway there, you may not be able to tell in the pic but theres still some yellowish crud there. Keep sanding until you think you are either going through the white, or its gone...remember go easy on it, dont kill the tires. After this we are ready to reclean the tires, again using a stiff bristled brush, and Westleys Bleche White. After this you're pretty much done with the hard stuff, rinse it off good and well with the hose. Then set em out and let them dry for an hour or two. After that soak em up in armor all or any other good protectant, you sanded the top coat off the white, and now they will only oxidize again if you leave them unprotected. and heres the finished product: Hope it was decent, thought I'd try to share some of my limited talent with everyone. Now I just need to get the rest of my 55 lookin like that Harry.
I just used water from the hose...I started out using a spray bottle with water mixed with a lil' car wash, but I decided that using hte hose was more convenient. Harry.
[ QUOTE ] Great post.!!! Any pix of your 55? Thanks for the how to..... [/ QUOTE ] Eh, not to speak of. Only pics I have of it are sitting in the sideyard of where I got it. Still sitting over at grandmas, doesnt run and havent had time or space to put it anywhere at home. Plus grandma's a lot more patient with it than mom is! It's nothing to look at, beat up 55 4 door. Should all be changed before my summer break ends though!
Just think.... if the guy selling them had done that, he'd have been asking ALOT more for them...!!!! what a difference...!!
Awesome... I can confirm this method as I have done this in the past.... One thing that I might add, I have noticed that the Westley's sometimes causes bad spotting on my beauty rings if it is allowed to stay on them for longer than a minute or so... I would recommend that you take the beauty rings/hubcaps off before spraying your WWW with Westley's... Intrstlr- did you notice any odd spots left on your stainless from the Westley's? HC
[ QUOTE ] Awesome... I can confirm this method as I have done this in the past.... One thing that I might add, I have noticed that the Westley's sometimes causes bad spotting on my beauty rings if it is allowed to stay on them for longer than a minute or so... I would recommend that you take the beauty rings/hubcaps off before spraying your WWW with Westley's... Intrstlr- did you notice any odd spots left on your stainless from the Westley's? HC [/ QUOTE ] I did not notice any odd spots, but then again I didnt look. After I cleaned the whites I went ahead and polished my chrome, and that took off whatever was left on there. I do know that the Bleche White will tear up wheels on newere cars though, I sure tore em up on my VW
Kool tip, they turned out real nice. I never thought of using fine sandpaper. I've always used Westley's on my white lettered tires, that is the best stuff made. later plmczy
Good post. Maybe I could clean up the old ww's on my pu. What year Pontiac caps are those? Do they fit on outside bumps like 55 and later GM wheels? I have been looking for caps like that, but need something to fit the new style wheel. Thanks, Neal
I'm not so sure to tell you the truth...the seller said he thinks thy were off a 48' but wasnt sure. So I'll go by that I suppose..
Those caps are 47 and 48 poncho but they won't fit on 55 and later G.M. wheels. They fit inside the clips in the wheel centers.
Thanks Rocky. Do you know if there is a Poncho dogdish cap that has the Injun Chief and fits the later wheels? Neal
my neighbor had a 55 chieftan and it didnt have those caps...but then again I think they might have been aftermarket. They had nothing on them..so I dunno..
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