Wheel lip polishing

[TGPRobNY]

Decided to hi-speed balance the front wheels and remove the weights to the inside for aesthetic reasons and also to eliminate corrosion between the weights and wheel itself.  Then proceded to rub out the corrosion, wet sand the lip with 400,600, and then 1200 paper. The final step was 2 applications of Mother's alum mag polish.....and WOW  The wheels look amazing !!.  Any recommendations for new tires? Anyone try the Kumho's? Thanks!

[mfewtrail]

no recommendation for tires..but I do recommend that you tape the wheels off and clearcoat the lips unless you plan on sanding/polishing them A TON 8) Also, use "high-heat" clear or another good automotive clear or it will get foggy/turn yellow after a while.

[Invasion1]

Tires i would reccomend

Toyo Proxes F4's

I have them and they are awesome

im buying another set this spring

cheers
Dave

[ShuGTXTurbo]

Also use some Wizards metal polish on your lips not only will it make them shine good but it has a wax in it to keep it clean from the elements.

[Formula305]

I have Kumho Ecsta 711's on the front of my Firebird and they are great tires. I plan on putting them on the rear as well once my Yoko's wear out.

[god910]

I'm running Toyo Proxes FZ4's as well (245/45/ZR17)  I had Kelly Charger HP+'s on there and I like them almost as much as the FZ4's.  I have heard bad things about the Exsta's.  I heard they don't take a beating very well.  If you don't have perfect suspesion/alignment, and keep a constant eye on your tire pressure (or you plan on running it low for traction) stay away from them.

[ugotturbo?]

Dunlop Sport 5000, 245/50/ZR16  8)

[Jeff M]

You will like having your rims cleaned of oxidation.  All the TGPs I have seen from my new/back in 1990 to all the ones I have seen over the years all have an amount of gray oxidation UNDER the clear coat, meaning that is the way they came.  Now before people get too excited, I ran unfinished/no clear coat for a number of years including salty winters in Michigan, and all it took was some aluminum polish/even some fine grit stuff works fine, to get things back to clean and shiny, AND of course a few coats of wax to help keep it that way.  OR!!!....Check out ZOOP on the internet and at Summit Racing now, it's a long life aluminum protectant good for our rim's aluminum, and our aluminum engine parts (once polished!).

As for tires, so many good choices out there, I run Nitto Drag Radials, owners have gotten up to 20k miles on theirs so good enough for me and the needed contribution to traction :twisted:

Enjoy!

Jeff M

BEFORE AND AFTER/LEFT AND RIGHT

[maximage]

I can vouch for the Kuhmo Ecsta Supra 712's. Awesome tires! Also, the Toyo Proxes are a good buy as well. I use them on my DSM.

[Tooky]

For daily driving I have been extremely happy with my Cooper Cobra GTH tires, cost $90 on sale at Sears Auto.  This is the WIDEST tread width tire you can get in a 245/50/16 size (except a Drag Radial), spec'ing out at 9.35".  For reference, a Goodyear Eagle GS-C is 9.1" Tread Width and a Firestone SZ-50 is 7.4" tread width.  

The tires are great and after a year of beating they have tread like new.  My only caveat is that they are unidirectional so the tread pattern is not optimized for traction.  On the bright side you can rotate the tires to all 4 corners this way.  But you may also want to consider the GTZ model which is softer, higher traction, and Directional, meaning the tread points a specific way.  Makes it impossible to rotate tires (can only switch front to back on same side, unless you remount the tires on different rims) but this is how real sports cars do it.