Let's talk about heavy, homemade grinder stands! Mine is of welded pipe and steel with concrete poured into a metal ring. You don't have to bolt it to the floor. It's a challenge just to move the thing! Right now, it has a Craftsman 6", 3/4 hp, 3450 rpm grinder mounted on it. Small but powerful enough. I also have shaft extensions and larger wheels for buffing that aren't on it right now. If anyone remembers those polished Iron Cross rims I sold to Proxlamus, I did them predominantly on this grinder. But polishing does require a lot of other tools. I sometimes use an air powered die grinder with various buffing wheels to get into the nooks and crannies as well as a cordless, lithium ion Dremel which is virtually as powerful as the corded one. I too purchase equipment from Eastwood as well as Northern Tool and others. I agree with you, Vic, about the addiction except that I would extend it beyond buffing and polishing equipment. My addiction is tools.

After polishing a set of ZX rims for my wagon... I found out that polishing is very labor intensive. I had to polish them out to get some translucent powder shot on the lips of the wheels.. About 5 hrs or so on each wheel...

Use aircraft paint stripper for the coatings, it will even take off urethane. Buff and grind only the metal!

Will

Or, if you're brave enough, diluted muriatic acid will remove the coatings. That's what I use but don't let it sit on the metal too long.

Some Japanese alloy wheels are hard anodized in silver. You can polish through the anodizing, but only with an aggresive buff, lots of heat and way too much work. It was this very anodizing that made me send my last set out to a pro. the anodized layer was too beat up to be acceptable, and way too hard for me to get off. So I sent them out.

I got my polisher free from the father in law, an old washing mashine motor. It has done well for my needs and I also use the old die grinder for smaller areas. But like it's been said before , it's all in the prep work