Duners tunnel polishing "how to"

[jpxp154]

those sleds look great:beer; i think ill give it shot.

 

[Spaarky]

How are they for scratching? I have a guy that does semi's, polish mine. It looks incredible when he is done, but you cant hardly touch it. Even just touching it, looks like it is scratched. That is the only thing I dont like.

You would hate to see what he charges me..... I bet you pay more for your kit.

 

[PhantomCat]

Very good post Duner....great info

Thanks for sharing...you do great work :beer;

Bling-Bling

 

[Thunderguy BOOSTED]

WOW!! NICE!!
I have got to do my tunnel again!!

 

[ModZZilla]

You can't argue Duners results. But let me save you guys some time. At your local truck supply store you can buy a yellow cloth wheel that is canvas and much stiffer. Use that with brown rogue for your first step. It cuts very fast and will take out small scratchs. For large scratchs you'll have to sand. Remember, heat is your allie, the friction of the pad is doing the work. Indoors or hot sunny days are good. You will look like the looter when your done I did my new sled today in two hours of polishing and a couple to clean me and the shop up. Yes, I'd pay Duner 4 bills to do it.

 

[Dunatic]

Thanks!! I tried one these

It worked pretty good, I had a yellow canvas 8" wheel that I got from a local shop about 8 years ago, it worked really well, I haven't been able to find one again, and the one I have is now about 3" in diameter now...

lets see some pics of yours.

 

[tranquillicer]

polish

Any wet sanding?

http://www.swmetal.com/cart/item?itemID=12067

Where can a guy get a kit in Canada?

Any Peterbilt dealer near you would have all this stuff except maybe the power tool.

 

[andy_09]

hey dunatic that the same type of pad i used it seem to not scratch the tunnel as easy. my tunnel is kind old but still turned out pretty good--sled is for sale btw

 

[camarrow]

Pretty good the kit is $39.95 & shipping to Canada is $37.75 . She also told me the box is not very big,when I questioned the shipping price. How bad can a tunnel before you turn it into a work of art?

Awesome job Dunatic,almost looks too good to ride.

 

[Freak]

dunner is a master at polishing his "tunnel" thats why he is so good at this I wont do it to mine cause then ill never want to ride it again.

nice thread dunner, cool of you to share your secrets :beer;

 

[RedDragon]

I get alot of pms asking how I polish tunnels, so I thought I would put together this "how to" Some guys like to sand them smooth, this is just the way I polish them.

This is the kit I use The kit comes with a cutting pad (the sewn one), you use it with the tripoli (the brown bar). This is the first step, after I remove everything that gets in the way of running the polisher. This is the most important part and takes probably 80% of the time to do, It takes me 8-10 hours to polish a tunnel ( the polaris tunnels are the hardest ) This makes a mess, and you will covered in black, I always wear a 3m mask so I don't breathe it in.

hold the bar to the pad with the buffer running @ around 2000 rpm for a few seconds to get some polish on the pad

I work small sections at a time moving the pad around to keep it as smooth as possible, if you leave it in one spot to long it will make ripples.

here is a shot with half of the tunnel done.

this is after the first step is completely done, the aluminum has a haze to it from the cutting compound.

next I go over it with the loose pad and the jewelers rouge, it takes the haze and and polish marks out of the tunnel from the cutting compound, The last step is to hand polish it with Mothers Billet polish and microfibers.

The final product..... I charge $400 to polish a tunnel, sometimes I think it is not enough

Definately some fine work! And from experience, I know you have a ton of time into each of them. How black are you by the end of day? I do my own polishing on my sled. I see you say you have 8-10 hours in which I don't doubt, but just some food for thought, to cut down on your time per sled you can start out with a different wheel(s). What I do is go down to the Peterbilt or Kenworth dealership and pick up an Orange, Yellow, and White wheels. The orange wheel is your cutting wheel. Cutting a tunnel will take 20 mins with the brown rouge, then I go to the Yellow with brown rouge, then white wheel with either white or blue rouge. Dunno if you know this way and I'm not saying you need to do it this way, this way works for me and I don't have near the time into it.

I also sanded and polished my spindles this way, they came out great, my sled is a Dragon. Good Luck

 

[cody7thomas]

How much to get the equipment and where. How long does it take?? And most importantly how do you gain horsepower from it???

:beer;please let me know

 

[Dunatic]

Thanks! I am gonna stop by the Peterbilt dealer and check on those pads, I love the results, but I hate the time that it takes....

YEP I usually covered by the time I am done

 

[papafinger1]

will a 5/8 arbor polisher work on those pads? I realize they are 1/2 but wasn't sure if they would stretch enough to the 5/8. Thanks a lot. Polished last year by hand. Wow what a workout with not nearly as nice results. I am looking forward to givin this a shot.
thanks

 

[RedDragon]

Thanks!! I tried one these

It worked pretty good, I had a yellow canvas 8" wheel that I got from a local shop about 8 years ago, it worked really well, I haven't been able to find one again, and the one I have is now about 3" in diameter now...

lets see some pics of yours.

If you have a Peterbilt or Kenworth dealership close to you, go to their parts department and get your wheels and Rouge there. This goes for about anyone. Big trucks use the same equipment to polish the tanks and wheels on thier trucks. So I know its there, I do it to my truck every summer. Good Luck

 

[flatfoot]

Another tip to cut down time and really helps to eliminate the "ripples". Get a bottle of Aluminum wheel cleaner (acid) for non coated wheels. BEFORE doing any polishing wipe down all areas to be polished be careful to not let the cleaner run. This removes all oxidation and opens the pores of the aluminum which allows the polish to do its job. I used to do my truck all the time, now I just get it done in Cali. I get the whole truck (tanks, wheels, grill, deckplate, steps and boxes) done for 400.00. A touch up job on my truck (prior to a show) takes 2 days. It used to take me 4 days to do a complete job, in Cali they do it in 3 hours.

 

[RX1MountainMan]

Another tip to cut down time and really helps to eliminate the "ripples". Get a bottle of Aluminum wheel cleaner (acid) for non coated wheels. BEFORE doing any polishing wipe down all areas to be polished be careful to not let the cleaner run. This removes all oxidation and opens the pores of the aluminum which allows the polish to do its job. I used to do my truck all the time, now I just get it done in Cali. I get the whole truck (tanks, wheels, grill, deckplate, steps and boxes) done for 400.00. A touch up job on my truck (prior to a show) takes 2 days. It used to take me 4 days to do a complete job, in Cali they do it in 3 hours.

Sweet lookin' bull rack!

 

[RedDragon]

Another tip to cut down time and really helps to eliminate the "ripples". Get a bottle of Aluminum wheel cleaner (acid) for non coated wheels. BEFORE doing any polishing wipe down all areas to be polished be careful to not let the cleaner run. This removes all oxidation and opens the pores of the aluminum which allows the polish to do its job. I used to do my truck all the time, now I just get it done in Cali. I get the whole truck (tanks, wheels, grill, deckplate, steps and boxes) done for 400.00. A touch up job on my truck (prior to a show) takes 2 days. It used to take me 4 days to do a complete job, in Cali they do it in 3 hours.

Thats a SWEET looking Large Car!!!!

 

[flatfoot]

Thanks fellas!

 

[9500blizzard]

KMS Tools has all the different polishing wheels and compounds in Canada