Friday, December 16, 2016

Mirror, mirror......

8:31 am - Mountain Time - Friday - 55 F degrees, 98% humidity, wind 6 mph from northeast......began raining about 9:15 pm last night, and rained on and off most of the night....very heavy cloud cover as I write.  More rain forecast for later today....forecast high 70 F degrees.

As I composed yesterday's blog post I could see a cloud bank off to the east approaching us.....it made sense as rain was forecast for Friday.  My main goal for Thursday was to get at least two of my ALCOA wheels polished using the Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish I bought the other day. A lot of people, including me, dread this job as it usually requires a lot of 'elbow grease', especially the way I used to do it.  The way I used to do it was to put some Mother's on a rag and begin to rub the aluminum to polish it.....this is a very inefficient way to do it and required way too much energy to be expended.  My good friend Tom showed me a better way a few years ago.  What he does is (with latex gloves on) cover the entire wheel with Mother's then use a (in my case) foam ball attached to a drill to polish the wheel, then wipe it off with a clean cloth......sooooo much faster, and so much easier!  As evidence I present before and after pictures below for your viewing pleasure........

 Rear dualie before.....

Rear dualie - after

........in the picture above you can see my corded electric drill with the now dirty foam ball attached.  It used to take me about one hour per wheel in the olden days, but using Tom's method it takes me less than 20 minutes now.  Micro fiber towels are perfect for wiping off the Mother's residue and shinning up the wheel......

Front - before

Front - after

Just like a mirror!

........it is not imperative that you use Mother's......everyone seems to have their preferred aluminum polish for these ALCOA wheels.....the key is how you apply it, and how you polish the wheels.  I don't care what you use as long as you use this foam ball (can be purchased at most automotive parts stores such as Autozone, O'Reilly's, Napa, Pep Boys, etc.) to do the polishing.....it just takes all the pain and exertion out of the process.  On top of that I get a much better, more even result.

As I worked I noticed the air temperature dropping, and the skies becoming more threatening, but I was sure it would not be raining until Friday afternoon.....after all the 'weather guessers' told me so on every weather app I consulted.  At any rate we had to close the windows and screen door early afternoon on THURSDAY as it got colder an colder.

I decided to quit after getting two wheels done, and get the wheel covers on those wheels in advance of the forecast rain.  After putting everything away I spent the bulk of the afternoon finishing a book I've been reading (Jubal Sackett - Louis L'Amour)......I read this one a few years ago, and wanted to revisit it again.

Thursday, was there was another Thursday Night Football game pitting the hapless L.A. Rams at the Seattle Seahawks.  The 'Hawks were coming off a dismal performance against the Green Bay Packers and needed a win to clinch their division, and that is exactly what they did in winning 24-3.  They (the 'Hawks) wore these god awful 'throwback' electric lime green uniforms......


.......you be the judge!  As the game entered the last few minutes of the fourth quarter it began to rain......about 20 hours ahead of the forecast.

Thanks for stopping by!

5 comments:

  1. Nice job, Clarke! I use a buffer. I've experimented with different shaped cotton buffing balls chucked in my drill to do around the lug nuts - with limited success. That foam ball looks like it might be just the ticket! Gotta get me one. Is it durable?

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    1. It is very durable....gross one is about 5 years old.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Sorry don't know why it deleted original comment? Just wanted to say there are two types of wheel polish, one realize braces and the other is chemical. Best "low elbow grease" wheel polish I've used is Wizards 11011 Metal Polish Treated Cotton - 3 oz

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