Hot Rims polish question

[Garage Troll]

I picked some up tonight and noticed that the directions did not recommend using it on clear coated wheels. I have an 04 Vue with the factory 17" aluminum wheels. Does anyone know if they are clear coated or at least how to tell? They're kind of messed up already with a white-ish corrosion of some sort already, but, I'd rather not make them worse.

[Murr1525]

Re: Hot Rims polish question

Use something like SwirlX, ScratchX, etc.

The cloth will still stay cleanish if it is clear coat, and blacken for metal.

[Garage Troll]

Re: Hot Rims polish question

As always Murr, thank you.

[MrWaxer]

Re: Hot Rims polish question

Murr should you stop if it's black..or clear..??

[Murr1525]

Re: Hot Rims polish question

Well, you want to use a metal polish on bare metal. So turning jet black would be a good thing.

If you had a metal polish and the pad stayed clear/dirty gray, you should suspect clear coat and stop.

The jet black happens pretty fast.

Now, you can use a paint cleaner like #105 on metal, so that would be safe either way. I think the metal polish would be stronger, but #105 is ok just to re-shine things.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Hot Rims polish question

Murr is spot on with his descriptions and recommended product use.

One thing needs to be mentioned, however, and that is the possibility of a compromised clear coat on these wheels. Garage Troll, from your description it almost sounds as though the edge of the clear may have been compromised somewhere and some cleaner or other contaminant leeched under the edge and stained the aluminum underneath it. If that's the case then even Ultimate Compound won't fix it as the problem is stained metal below the clear.

But if they're factory wheels, odds are they're clear coated. Bare, high polished aluminum is a very high maintenance item and the OEMs couldn't live with all the warranty claims they'd have with that finish.