detailing aluminum wheel cleanup questions

[Sycostang67]

red scotcht pad wd 40 then mothers mag polish works on my alcoa or get them acid cleaned powder coater should be able to do it

I just gave this a shot, hotshot recommended it to me a couple months ago and I got the stuff but never got around to testing it. It took the built up corrosion off really quickly and easily, just need to hit it with some mothers polish to make them shine now. I spent a whole day cleaning my wheels last time using polishing compound and polish with an electric buffer. I think things will go much quicker this time without quite so much sweating as well. On a side not, the mothers mag/aluminum polish works really well on clear plastic too.

 

[GENIUSLOERTS]

If you want to remove the clear coat on alcoas use aircraft stripper or if you had a 55 gallon drum of carb cleaner, soak them for a few hours(what we use at the chrome plating and polishing shop to remove the anodizing/clear coatings). Then you can get polishing compounds to achieve a mirror finish.

This was a coated valve cover on my motorcycle after soaking it in carb cleaner and doing a little polishing, the picture is horrible because it was taken on my razor back in 2008 haha.

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it looked like the rest of the engine before.

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[franklin2]

Just remember you really have to keep after the wheels if you take the clear coat off and they are raw polished aluminum. If you leave them dull with the acid, they will last a little longer since they are dull silver already.

 

[stuborn nut]

the acid works well but if you use it start at the bottom and work your way up in thin coats. If it runs it will streak. I just use sos pads. It gives it a satin finish almost shiny.

 

[subway]

I went the opposite way with my wheels that needed constant upkeep to look nice. I used steel wool and then some fine sandpaper and cleaned them up smooth. After that I painted them black, I think they looked better and stayed much nicer over time. No more polishing!

 

[franklin2]

I went the opposite way with my wheels that needed constant upkeep to look nice. I used steel wool and then some fine sandpaper and cleaned them up smooth. After that I painted them black, I think they looked better and stayed much nicer over time. No more polishing!

There are certain trends that come about that no matter how hard I try, I just do not like them. I don't like the fart can muffler sound on 4 and six cylinder cars, and I do not like solid black wheels with solid black tires. The closest thing that I think looks ok are a solid black wheel with white letter tires. Even then, some chrome lug nuts or a small silver cap in the center make it look better in my eyes.

Next is a solid black wheel with a silver trim ring or some sort of accent to separate the black wheel from the black tire. When you can't tell the wheel from the tire, I don't think it looks very good.

 

[Sycostang67]

Just remember you really have to keep after the wheels if you take the clear coat off and they are raw polished aluminum. If you leave them dull with the acid, they will last a little longer since they are dull silver already.

No kidding my wheels are the uncoated alcoas and it doesn't take long to build up a crust of corrosion that wont simply wash off. Thankfully the red scotch brite and WD40 seems to make short work of it.

 

[Brad S.]

Don't know if I'll be thrown off the OB for this & little off topic.
But what about a professional paint or powder coat job.
Is there something different that is done to aluminum to make paint stick????
Be gentle

 

[HS108]

You mean pay somebody to do it???

Psssshh thats not the OB way lol

 

[Sycostang67]

I was contemplating a clear powder coat, or even just some clear paint to stop the corrosion.

 

[Brad S.]

You mean pay somebody to do it???

Psssshh thats not the OB way lol

Part of the reason I bring up professional paint, my bro-in-law mentioned doing that with a set from his pickup,(newer chevy) I bought a set of rims over the winter, the brake crud on the back is incredibly thick and tough to remove.
So I thought if he was having a set done, maybe the paint guy would give us a group rate...????
Plus painting aluminum I think is tricky at best, if you want it to look "factory-ish"

 

[Sycostang67]

I finally went out and cleaned up my wheels today. I took a pic to show the difference. On the left is what the wheel looked like after washing it. On the right is how it looked after just the WD-40 and red scotchbrite pad, it looks similar to a clear coated wheel. In the middle is the final result after hitting it with a bit of mothers mag & aluminum polish. This was far easier and took much less time than removing the wheels and using an electric buffer. The scotchbrite made short work of the built up corrosion. It took me about 2 hours to do all four wheels today as opposed to all dang day last time.

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[HS108]

How scratched does the scotchbrite pad leave the wheel after its polished? Are they noticeable?

I am hoping to clean my wheels soon, I know they will never look as good as the day I put them on, but hoping for a miracle

Also thanks for posting the pic

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[franklin2]

How scratched does the scotchbrite pad leave the wheel after its polished? Are they noticeable?

I am hoping to clean my wheels soon, I know they will never look as good as the day I put them on, but hoping for a miracle

Also thanks for posting the pic

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You can see in the picture above the scotchbrite pad leaves a brushed silver look to the wheels(on the right side of the rim). You could not use something like that if your wheels are polished. You can see in the lower center that his mag polish makes it a little bit darker silver, but it's still has a somewhat "brushed" look. If you wanted the shiny "chrome" look you would have to use a buffing wheel and some rouge to get it to the chrome look stage.

 

[Sycostang67]

^^^Exactly, the scotchbrite isn't abrasive enough to scar the wheels, but it is best to scrub in one direction if you don't intend to use polish . I also have the fact that the original owner of my wheels never washed them and the guy I got them from tried cleaning them with steel wool before I traded wheels with him. If I wanted to spend another day, there are other methods I could use to get the mirror shine back, but I am quite pleased with how they turned out this time.