aluminum rims

[JAMES DENTON]

I have a set of aluminum rims that are about 10 years old they are looking bad----WHAT is the best way to make them look new again-Some of the clear coat is coming off --I was thinking about stripping the clear off -and starting from there----need your help

[Murr1525]

Re: aluminum rims

If the clear coat s flaking, no product from a bottle will help that, and would need painted to get it back to perfect.

If you want to do your best in the meantime, you would want to use the Aluminum wheel cleaner, and then treat it like paint, and you can clay with old clay, and used a paint cleaner/polish/wax if wanted.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: aluminum rims

With the clearcoat cracking/ peeling off. Your options are limited. Short of getting them resprayed, about the best you can hope for is to slow down the cc peeling, and cracking.

[JAMES DENTON]

Re: aluminum rims

I still think I'm going to strip the clear coat off-and buff it with Tripoli bar-and then with White Rouge----I do intakes that way comes out great-i just hadden done any rims so don't know how they will come out--got to try it and see I GUESS---Thank's for the replys

[Ben_P1]

Re: aluminum rims

I'm in the same situation, the wheels on my truck are polished with clear on top but the clear has failed in places and flaked off completely in others.

With all of the snow, bad weather and salt on the roads the exposed metal has badly oxidised turning grey and rough (it almost looked like axle grease had leaked on the rim) so last night I tried some fine wire wool on a part of the exposed metal and it cleaned up quite well. There are still some small spots of grey which might be removed with a little more persistance but for two minutes of work in the dark and cold I was suprised to find bright metal underneith.

Now I'm thinking about stripping all of the clear from the wheels and polishing them myself but I do wonder how much maintenance they will need afterwards. The truck is deep in mud almost every week.

[Bigmerc2003]

Re: aluminum rims

I have the same problem with my rims. The face is polished and clear coated so they look ok, no clear coat failure. But the insides are dull, oxidised and look like ****. What would be the process and what products should I use to clean the aluminum and then polish? Also once polished can they be clear-coated?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: aluminum rims

I still think I'm going to strip the clear coat off-and buff it with Tripoli bar-and then with White Rouge----I do intakes that way comes out great-i just hadden done any rims so don't know how they will come out--got to try it and see I GUESS---Thank's for the replys

If you have experience with this process on other aluminum parts, then doing the wheels will be exactly the same - maybe a bit more intricate, but essentially the same. Once that clear is gone you should be able to polish them to a very high shine.

Now I'm thinking about stripping all of the clear from the wheels and polishing them myself but I do wonder how much maintenance they will need afterwards. The truck is deep in mud almost every week.

In that case, they will require a LOT of maintenance. You should look into having them resprayed with a clear coat, or doing it yourself if you have the knowledge and skill.

We've seen lots of cases of clear coated aluminum wheels being stripped and polished, to great effect, on a variety of car forums. Personally, I don't recall a case where someone shot new clear themselves over the polished wheel, but there's no reason it couldn't be done.

[JAMES DENTON]

Re: aluminum rims

You can get a kit from EASTWOOD to make your road-worn alloy wheels look new again------13107 wheel smoothing/Buffing kit---$69.99

[Daniel Kinder]

Re: aluminum rims

I still think I'm going to strip the clear coat off-and buff it with Tripoli bar-and then with White Rouge----I do intakes that way comes out great-i just hadden done any rims so don't know how they will come out--got to try it and see I GUESS---Thank's for the replys

I've did this also with a set of mustang rims, used 2 cans of aircraft stripper per rim to remove all clear coat and then I just lightly sanded smooth and used wenol polish came out great.

Also have buffed out parts and wheels with the tripoli & different rouges, and yes they turn out just as good as or better then new, I would recommend the wheel thing when you buff out your wheels makes it so much easyer to keep your rim at a angle and able to turn when needed without moving and rolling around.