Wheel Bore Polish Problem

[Rat Pack Racing]

Has anyone had any trouble polishing #10 BASX Pro wheels? I tried to polish a new set for July's race and they look terrible. One wheel shined fairly well and one was terrible (will be my ND frt.). The other two were so-so. Since this is my first shot at league racing and I really don't want to spend another $25, I am going use these for learning purposes.
Before I attempted these wheels, I practiced on 6 stock wheels. They all shined up like mirrors. I was confident with the process before I started on the good set. The bores in the stock wheels did seem to look much nicer to begin with than the #10's. I figured this would polish out.
By the way, I bought the video and watched it 5 or 6 times. I had it running as I did the #10's so I'd get the steps correct. I am using the wheel polishing kit from John also. Thanks for listening to my rant!

 

[Vitamin K]

In terms of "terrible", do you mean in appearance, or in performance? I've heard from some that glossiness is not always an indicator of polishing effectiveness.

 

[Kinser Racing]

How fast did you go with the cotton swab stalk? It's necessary to go very slow and I mean very slow. The faster you go the worse they get.

 

[Rat Pack Racing]

The appearance is all I have to go by, no practice track. The 10's are no where near as shiny as my practice wheels and they appear to have small pits in them, especially on the outside 1/4 of the wheel. The pits were there before I started, I'd hoped they would polish out. As I stated the practice wheels were in much better shape right out of the box. They had a slight gloss and some small imperfections and all 6 of them shine like glass.
Kinser, oddly enough I couldn't seem to screw up my practice wheels. Since this was my first attempt I tried different drill speeds, different stroke speed and number of strokes. Nothing hurt those bores. All of my stalks mic'd .097-.099". It seemed to work best with 2-3 strokes slowly. I thought I had it, so now I'm truly bummed.

 

[Kinser Racing]

I'm sorry to here that man. When I get pits like you're describing, it's because I polished for to long (overworked them). If you were using the Chinese (Revell) wheels to practice the plastic seems to be a bit different.

 

[BulldogRacing]

I have noticed that many of the wheels polish different. No matter the mold number. I've learned from posts here that others have had tis issue as well and many have ran the wheels that weren't polishing up real good with success and fast times none the less.

 

[Rat Pack Racing]

The wheels I practiced on were regular scout wheels, out of kits. The pits were in the bores before I started, I had hoped they would polish out. The practice wheels had several different numbers, 1-2-4-7 but no 10's. If I'd had a 10 I could have compared them. I am looking at these through a 30 power loupe so I'm getting a pretty good inspection before and after polishing. I'll run them and see how it goes.

 

[TRE]

All you can do is polish them the best you can and run them. if they are fast they are fast.. If not throw them in the gutter and go get another

 

[Rat Pack Racing]

I am going to wax them up tomorrow and finish getting ready for the race. Since this is my first league build and race diagnosing a slow car will be a chore. I was hoping a good wheel prep would eliminate one variable. We'll play it by ear.

 

[TRE]

I think you are gonna find that the prep is the hardest step to master of all the steps to building a fast car

 

[TRE]

you will ruin many sets of wheeels before you get it right trust me

 

[CivilWarTalk]

Wow, this sounds like dejavu! I had a very similar experience, I polished a set of Basx wheels two months ago and they looked like glass, used them with graphite in the MA scout race. Then I tried to polish 2 sets of basx pros for last league race and was dismayed to find dark pitting. With 8 wheels I tried several variations on the polish with swab stalk, trying to tease out a good glossy bore, it was hit and miss....

 

[ngyoung]

From what I have been reading it seems that the BSA wheel plastic has been inconsistent between production runs. Some are more cloudy then others.

 

[Rat Pack Racing]

This seems to be the general consensus of opinion. I will wax them up and see how the car runs on the 18th. I am sure there will be plenty to diagnose after the race.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

They all do not look the same that is for sure. Some don't mirror up but they are still just as fast.

 

[Rat Pack Racing]

Good to know John, takes a load off. Thanks all you guys for your responses, Rick

 

[Bullet]

This tip is obvious, but I will put it out there again. You need to clean the bores out well before starting the polishing process. I have ruined a few sets of new wheels forgetting to do this when i get in a hurry. Sometimes there is a little debris in there that will cause scarring and pitting if you go straight to polishing.

 

[Rat Pack Racing]

Thanks Bullet, that is a very good tip and it applies to many of the operations that are used to build these cars. Fortunately it is a habit I have pick up over my years of involvement in various motorsports. Having a forum like this certainly makes getting stared in this hobby much more enjoyable.

 

[twistediron]

This tip is obvious, but I will put it out there again. You need to clean the bores out well before starting the polishing process. I have ruined a few sets of new wheels forgetting to do this when i get in a hurry. Sometimes there is a little debris in there that will cause scarring and pitting if you go straight to polishing.

+1 wash the bores soap and water blow dry and clean with a no scratch then polish.