New Car Wheels

[Blueline]

My new car has very bright, shinny wheels, which from afar could almost be mistaken for chrome. They actually seem to be an aluminum alloy, and may have a clear coat on them. Is it sufficient to give them a good cleaning with #6 Cleaning Wax and then apply Ultimate Wax? I have Meguiars Wheel cleaner which worked wonders on my chrome wheels on the other car, but would it be too harsh on alloys, possibly clear coated. Any way to tell for sure what I have? Thanks.

[Nick Winn]

Re: New Car Wheels

If you are referring to our Hot Rims Chrome Wheel Cleaner, we would not recommend using this cleaner on any other type of wheel other than true chrome plating.

The best way to tell for sure what the wheels are made of & coated with would be to contact the dealership, or see if you can find more specifics in the documents which came with the vehicle, or look on a on-line forum specific for the vehicle you purchased.

Wheels are constantly bombarded with contaminants, heat, grease, grime, etc. You are certainly welcome to wax your wheels, but do not expect the wax to last nearly as long as it would on the paint. For this reason, many users will simply apply a spray wax like our Ultimate Quik Wax to their wheels. Also, most any wheel cleaner will easily strip off wax which has been applied to the wheel.

Nick

[Lydia]

Re: New Car Wheels

My new car has very bright, shinny wheels, which from afar could almost be mistaken for chrome. They actually seem to be an aluminum alloy, and may have a clear coat on them. Is it sufficient to give them a good cleaning with #6 Cleaning Wax and then apply Ultimate Wax? I have Meguiars Wheel cleaner which worked wonders on my chrome wheels on the other car, but would it be too harsh on alloys, possibly clear coated. Any way to tell for sure what I have? Thanks.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, because I admit to being confused somewhat by aluminum alloy vs aluminum (if I understand correctly, alloy is a "mixture" of aluminum and some other metal, and most of what's called aluminum is actually aluminum alloy as aluminum is too soft to use alone). If you don't have any luck finding out how Nick suggested, the next easiest way to me to tell if wheels are bare aluminum or coated is to put a little metal polish on a microfiber and rub it onto the clean wheel. Just polish it a little, then flip your microfiber over. If you've got black or dark grey on your microfiber chances are good they're bare aluminum (assuming of course the wheel was clean first). If not, they are likely clear-coated.

For bare aluminum wheels I use Hot Rims Aluminum Wheel Cleaner (in the turquoise bottle) and polish as needed. After that I usually apply a wax of some sort, to get at least short-term protection. Like Nick said it won't last long, but I always figure any little bit will help. Once they're cleaned and waxed, I keep them clean with Hyper Wash or whatever car wash soap I'm using for the body of the vehicle. So I think your plan of #6 and Ultimate Wax will work, or UQW like Nick suggested. I usually just use whatever wax I'm using on the rest of the vehicle.

Even if they are clear-coated, I still usually put wax on them. It does seem to help.

[Blueline]

Re: New Car Wheels

Thanks Nick and Lydia. I have confirmed by my wheels are polished aluminum possibly with a clear coating. No one seems to know for sure, so I will take Lydia's suggestion and do a test.

Lydia, I too often wondered what the difference was between aluminum and alloy wheels. I found this site that seems to explain the difference or lack thereof.

http://www.differencebetween.net/object/auto-object/difference-between-aluminum-and-alloy-wheels/

[Blueline]

Re: New Car Wheels

Based on my test results (nothing black or gray on the microfiber) they are coated polished aluminum. So, with that knowledge, I will #6 them and top with UW, when the time comes to take them off for the winter. Thanks for the assistance.