The Aluminum Wheel Nightmare

[Shirl]

I've gotta say I totally messed up my newly purchased Aluminum wheels by spraying super clean on the tires and rinsing them. The wheels are all stained now. Anyone have suggestions on cleaning the stains up??? (I'm thinking a buffing wheel and some kind of compound). Anyone??

[gta8857]

Someone out here may have had the same problems. But i wouldnt take sugestions. Some cleaners will RUIN Aluminum wheels! I would call or go to the web site of the maker of the cleaner and ask them if this is permenant. You can always go to a pro shop that deals in aluminunm wheels and ask them. Take the bottle of cleaner with you. You can always go and pick up Aluminum wheel cleaner and see if it pulls out the stains. But theres a chance that those stains are there to stay. Lets HOPE not.

Hope this helps

Good luck on getting those stains out!
Kevin

[96_V6_Fbody]

Try some of that detailing clay. There's no chemicals to worry about. Stuff works good on everthing else. I'd give it a try.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

wadding polish.. and mothers aluminum polish...

it may take some work.. but it will get it off eventualy..

~Billy

[hockeyman]

I used Castrol Superclean Degreaser on my aluminum rims before and it stripped off most of the clearcoat, that's why I initially had to re-coat them. It's that ugly white haze that appears once the wheel is dry, right? An application of clearcoat brought back a showroom shine :D [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

-Marc

[nikon]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AllTheGoodNamesAreGone:
wadding polish.. and mothers aluminum polish...

it may take some work.. but it will get it off eventualy..

~Billy<hr></blockquote>


I love the wadding polish...use it on my bike, but also the best polish ive used is blue magic...kinda waxes it at the same time and will polish anything up

[fantomfreke]

go find a tube of wenol, that stuff is better than nev-r-dull. but use sparingly its potent enough that i used it to help clean up the blueing on my motorcycle pipes.

[Dominic]

I'm sorry Shirl.

I always use plain soap and water on my wheels, I also wax them since they're clear coated. I guess your wheels were polished or chromed? Try to stay away from wheel cleaners next time :(

[Tyler]

do you have to have the tire off the wheel to clear coat the wheel?

[Domestic Violence]

i've been sanding on mine for a while now. i've still got to buff them out and finish that wheel and the other 3. it's a mofo, but it's going to be well worth it. i'm also going to add something to make them unique.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

wow.. that looks pretty good what do you plan to do with the centercaps?

[Domestic Violence]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AllTheGoodNamesAreGone:
wow.. that looks pretty good what do you plan to do with the centercaps?<hr></blockquote>

paint them to match.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

hmm.. that shuld be pretty cool if you take your time and really work up the finish.. and get a good match on the paint..

lol.. i thought about doing the same thing.. but then i wussed out and got some 35th anniversary rims instead! lol.. ohh well

~Billy

[Shirl]

Thanks for all the help everyone [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] Yeah, they are aluminum and they have white drips/hazing on them. My man got me some kind of polishing cloth that actually worked, but it will take a lot of work to get the shine back, so I'm thinking of maybe using a buffing wheel also. He got the cloth from a motorcycle shop (I don't know the name of it) cuz I just wanted to try anything. But I'll look at the package again and post the name of it tomorrow..

[thabomb180]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Domestic Violence:
i've been sanding on mine for a while now. i've still got to buff them out and finish that wheel and the other 3. it's a mofo, but it's going to be well worth it. i'm also going to add something to make them unique.

<hr></blockquote>

Domestic, can you give some instructions on how to do that? It looks great so far.