Avalanche Wheels

[kithkark]

Hi Everyone!

The wheels on my Avalanche are just like the ones in this picture. Kudos to gb387 for the pic. Hope it is ok that I borrowed it? Do you all have any suggestions as to what I should use to clean, polish and protect these kinds of wheels?



Thanks,
Kithkark

[Murr1525]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

Hopefully he can tell you.

Otherwise, just let us know what they are made of? Are they bare metal, or painted/clearcoated?

[kithkark]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

Honestly I have no clue.

[Tuck91]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

gb387 hasnt been around for a little while,

But for some reason they dont look clearcoated to me.

[Raymond4646]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

More than likely they are clear coated. I couldnt see GM leaving a new car go with wheels that would tarnish in a short period of time..If they indeed are clear coated, then treat them like the paint on your car.

[Tuck91]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

More than likely they are clear coated. I couldnt see GM leaving a new car go with wheels that would tarnish in a short period of time..If they indeed are clear coated, then treat them like the paint on your car.

Now that I think about it I think your right, I remember reading a thread by him and he said that he treats his wheels like his paint.

I have an LT Silverado and mine are clearcoated, his is the top of the line LTZ and Im sure they are clearcoated now too. A lot of the SUVS and trucks from Chevy have the same type of wheels on all models anyways.

The Tahoes, Suburbans, Avalanches and Silverados have just about the same types of wheels.

[Nappers]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

To see if they are clear coated or not, get some NXT All Metal Polysh and dab some on there after they are cleaned. If you get lots of black residue, they are not clear coated, if nothing comes up after an application they are clear coated.

An example of non coated:


And another picture with Hot Rims Aluminum/Mag polish showing the black:



If you end up deciding if they are uncoated, you can treat them like paint. If needed, I use M105 by hand and use my wax of the day on them. Popular waxes are M21, NXT, I use M26 too.

Remember that if you use a wheel cleaner on your wheels, it usually strips the wax off. I usually try to clean the wheels with the car wash so I don't have to wax my wheels all the time.

[gmc1500]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

I am almost postive 99.9999999% positve those GM wheels are polished aluminum . If you still have your vehicles sticker price and it should tell you.

[Andrew C.]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

I am almost postive 99.9999999% positve those GM wheels are polished aluminum . If you still have your vehicles sticker price and it should tell you.

I'm pretty sure that they are polished aluminum too, but the question is whether or not they are clear coated or if they are raw bare aluminum. I think most factory wheels are clear coated.

[gmc1500]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

I had a 2005 Cadillac with Polished aluminum 17" wheels. I had the car with for four years and put 60,000 miles on it and even though I constantly used aluminum polsih on the wheels but as the years went by the wheels got less and less brilliant so I always assumed that they did not have a clear coat on them but after seeing Nappers post with the pictures he added I now know they did not have a clear coat finish on them.

[kithkark]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

I'm thinking they are clearcoated as well. I will try what Nappers suggested and go from there.

[Nappers]

Re: Avalanche Wheels

Keep us posted.

Also the NXT AMP won't hurt the clear coat either! It also has some protection properties in it as well