First I sand blasted them without the tires on of course to take off the paint. Then sanded down the machine lines with 200 grit sand paper then worked my way up with wet sanding. 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 then applied mothers powermetal aluminum polish with the mothers ball mini.
WAAAAAY too much work!
I am going to reveal a little secret weapon I use to make short work of polishing aluminum to an absolute mirror shine. Using my process you should be able to take a fully original sawblade and make it shine like chrome in about an hour.
First thing you need is an angle grinder. Harbor Freight sells one for less than $30, but my local favorite store Bi-Mart sells one for $25 and Ive had two last quite a while and come with a spare set of brushes.
Next thing you need is a backing pad that will fit on the angle grinder and has a hook and loop surface. On that you are going to use 3M Scotch-Brite™ Surface Conditioning Discs. They come in 4 grades, from coarse to very fine. Get yourself 2 of each grade, Brown, maroon, blue, gray. That will be enough to do all 4 wheels. They look like this:
picture link
Lastly you need a cotton polishing pad that will fit on the same backer. They look something like
THIS. And a polishing compound to apply to it. The Polshing compound is kind of wax like and comes on a stick. You can find them at HD and Lowes as well and you want the #6 compound and looks like the #6 stick in
This kit but is about twice as long. (dont buy this kit, just get the compound seen in it)
The process is simple. Start with the coarse pad and stip all the paint and machine marks off the wheel. Use a light hand or you WILL create divits as this stuff cuts fast when spinning at around 13k RPMs. A good once over with a light hand should have the wheel loooking like you just spend hours and hours sanding with 400grit. Work your way through each compound. All you need to do is removed the previous pads scratches. Since you are working on a fairly flat surface its pretty easy and nice smooth strokes across the face works best.
Dont overwork any particualr spot and dont use too much presssure or you will wear out the pad prematurely. ALSO, be mindful of sharp edges (like the center cap area) and the direction of pad roatation. ALWAYS make sure the pad rotation is going towards the hole and not against it or the pad will grab, and tear it up and possibly yank the grinder out of your hand.
After you have used the gray pad the wheel will be very shiny and should have a fairly even looking surface. If you REALLLY want a mirror flat and shiny surface you will want to insert one extra step at this point. However this can skipped and you can move on to polishing now, and your wheel will shine like chrome still, but it wont be PERFECTLY flat. If you want a glass smooth wheel just wet sand with 600grit wet or dry sandpaper on a sanding block. It really doesnt take much work and what you are looking for is to just reduce any high spots you might have left after using the 3m pads.
Either way, the next part is where the majority of the time savings takes place. Forget the whole 800grit, 1000grit, 1500grit, rubbing compound, polishing compound, final buff Bullshit. Its completely un-neccessary.
Mount up the felt polishing pad on your grinder, while its spinning, apply the wax like #6 compound to it. It will make the pad green. Being careful to always work away from any sharp edges and not towards them, begin to apply the compound to the wheel. You will be amazed at just how fast the wheel will turn from a dull gray to a mirror. Use a heavy hand at first and then lighten your touch as it begins to shine. Apply more compound as needed and you can also wash the felt pads if they get choked or glazed, or just spray a little mist of water on the area you are working on.
Once you get the technique down it should go a little faster. From pulling the wheel, through grinding and polishing and final clean up to remove any mess on the tires, etc., and remoounting the wheels on the car, shouldnt take more than 6 hours with beer breaks.
This same process can be used on intake manifolds, valve covers, and even steel parts. I have made steel look like chrome, just be sure to clear coat steel afterwards to make it stay shiny. The 3M pads can also be found in a 2" version to put on a die grinder for smaller tighter spots.
So thats it. Using this technique I have cut down hand labor on polishing DRAMATICALLY and it allowed me to even sell my service and make decent money doing it. Is there an investment involved? yes, but if you want some shiny parts for you car (beyond just your wheels), or want to even make a few bucks doing some polishing for buddies, it all pays for itself in a very short time.
But still... yeah, I'd have very hard time finding those pads and stuff here I guess. 