Aluminum CC wheels Ruined?

[Mowerpan]

Alright guys here's what happened sometime when I was cleaning this occured after to the aluminum wheels. Only thing I used on them was some wheel cleaner by another brand(now have meguiars) and grease lightning degreaser in a bottle(Full strength I think) Anyways now the wheels have these marks on them. Tryed cleaning them with meguiars and this stuff wont come off, it's like ti did something to the wheel but nothing can be felt. Any ideas? These are clearcoated.

[Setec Astronomy]

Looks like you etched them. Try some ScratchX on a small area and see if it helps. Just make sure you look at some of the ScratchX tutorials, you need to work it in pretty good.

[miked2]

Yeah, sadly most degreasers are not very good with aluminum. Degreasers literally can eat aluminum right off. Even dedicated wheel cleaners can harm them. If you have aluminum wheels, I would stick with Meg's multi-part wheel cleaner (or something like that -- it's in the orange bottle), which is Meg's least aggressive wheel cleaner.

Anyway, to repair the damage, it's going to be tough. I would first try a metal polish, like Nxt, and see if it hides the etching enough that you don't notice it.

[Murr1525]

Eeck...

What Meguiars cleaner did you end up getting?

But I agree with Setec, if it is clearcoated, go at it like paint, and try some ScratchX.

[Mowerpan]

I got the hot wheels stuff.

[Mowerpan]

Well guys I used my scratch x and it made them better but even after many "work ins" it's still there. I guess I'll wait for my PC I bought to come and try some 80 with that.

[miked2]

Seriously, try the metal polish. I'm guessing that your wheels are not clear-coated, since the degreaser etched them. Therefore, products that are more relevant to paint, like #80, ScratchX, etc., will not be as useful as metal polish. The metal polish should do a nice job of hiding the etching very well, but making its optical characteristics (i.e., how it reflects light, color, etc.) similar or identical to the surrounding wheel surface.

[Mowerpan]

I hear ya on the metal polish and will resort to that if need be but I KNOW these are clearcoated as one wheel has a spot the clear coats chip off and it's easily seen. The plan is to wait till the PC I bought comes and I'll try some 80 or 83 on them and see if this helps at all, if not metal polish it will be.

[Mowerpan]

UPDATE

Well guys I got my PC and the pads. Our meguiars dealer didn't have 83 or 80 so I ordered it and will be here monday. In the mean time I used the 8006 pad and some 82. It somewhat worked but not well so I used some #2 Fine cut and this worked but very slowly. Will the 83 be more abrasive/work better? Anyone know?

[Mowerpan]

Nevermind guys finally found pictures of each bottle with charts on the front. Looks like 83 will work a little better. Guess I will just have to be patient.

[sneek]

i thought the NXT all metal polish was safe for clearcoated rims?

[Mowerpan]

It does not say whether or not it is safe for clearcoat wheels so I'm going to go on a whim and say no unless someone here knows otherwise.

[gb387]

Originally posted by sneek
i thought the NXT all metal polish was safe for clearcoated rims?

Yes it is.

Meguiars (Mike Phillips) has posted many times its safe for CC wheels.

That said its probably more economical to go with your 'normal' paint cleaners/polishes/waxes.

[Mowerpan]

Another update. Used Fine cut with the 8006 pad on the PC(I know it's recomended for rotary only) and then followed up with some gold glass wax and now the etching is gone and they shine nicely. I just took the wheels off so I could apply pressure easier and while off degreased the wheel wells and cleaned the inside of the wheels.