Polished Aluminum Rims

B

Below Reality

Polisher of Shiny Things
Hey all,

I just purchased a nice set of Boyd's Polished Aluminum Rims for my car.

Problem is, the Polished Aluminum has not been taken care of that well; so it has several fine blemishes in the finish.

I would almost call it a type of oxidation, however, I think that it may be a bit more.

Tonight, I did the following to try and restore the rims to their original "Boyds" Brilliance.

I did the following:

Megs All Wheel Cleaner & Rinse

DuraGloss Aluminum Cleaner Wadding

Mothers Mag Cleaner

Mothers Mag Polish


Gained some ground, however, the blemishes are still present.

They are very subtle, but very annoying at the same time.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this type of problem with polished aluminum rims and what you may have done to correct it.

Any decent cleaners that will take care of this problem better than what I have allready tried?

Thanks for the help!
 
polished aluminum wheels suck. Did you put TONS of elbow grease into it? The residue should be turning black when you polish.
You may need something stronger, maybe someone else can recomend something.
 
Elbows worn out for the night after a solid 45 minutes on one wheel.

Tons of black residue.


Even toyed with wet sanding them with 2000 grit and then buffing back out. - Kinda holding off on that first in favor of some more experienced opinions relating to my rims situation.

Thanks!
 
Describe the blemishes - are they dark spots or scratches in the surface?

Dark spots are the result of using too caustic a cleaner on the wheel - wet sanding (2000 grit) followed by a good aluminum polish/towel combination to finish it off.

Another alternative is a 4" cotton buffing wheel on a drill. you can find them at Home Depot for about $5. smear some metal polish on the rim, run the drill up to speed and have at it. Keep the drill moving and don't apply pressure.
 
When I had my plosihed aluminum wheels I use to use PoorBoys Pro Polish on them to bring them back.

I would reccomend working it with your fingers and let the product do the work. I seen Steve use some of this on some wheels at a show last summer that I didnt think could ever be brought back to look good and in a short while they looked show room good. Concinced me and I havent put anything on my wheels to clean them since.
 
Well, the blemishes are just light colored spots in the aluminum.

Kind of looks like water spots. But they won't come out as easy.

How agressive (elbow grease wise) would I have to be to remove these "spots" with either the Pro-40 or the PB Polish?

I don't mind spending the time on them, however, that's just the kick. I don't have much excess time now to spend long hours on each rim. So if one of these products would speed things up a little, that would be a plus.

If I can get the digi-cam to clearly snap a shot of the blemishes, I'll post a pic to further clarify what I am working with.

Thanks again for all the great advice!
 
Your going to have to work pretty hear by hand but you can get teh spots out or really lighten them up. I have the pro-polish as well but I've never used it on those type of rims. Knowing Steve and his product I would say its a great fit!
 
Here's some pics of the rims to better illustrate this problem:

http://soundwavescs.net/wickedkool/rim1.jpg

http://soundwavescs.net/wickedkool/rim2.jpg


Any other suggestions now that things may be a little clearer?


Also, where in the heck can I find smaller buffing pads that I can use on the rims to make this job a little easier?

I have a dewalt 849, a standard polisher, dremel, drills, and all that to use them on but have not been able to locate small enough buffing pads anywhere.

Thoughts?

Thanks Again!
 
Home Depot has a 4" cotton buffing wheel that fits a 1/4" drill.

Buy 4-5 of them - it may help.

Are you SURE those rims are bare aluminum and not clear coated? Did the metal polish turn black when you started using it?
 
Yup, they are bare aluminum. I had a friend at the local machine shop take a look at them, and he thought that they were acid stained. Allready polished a section of one out a little better with some 3M rubbing compound, Kit Scratch Remover, and then 3M finish restore. - They actually shine like chrome after I did that. Still not up to par IMHO, but a lot better.

Tons of black residue while working on them.

Just needed something to speed up the process slightly, and a smaller buffing pad that can get into all the little grooves of the rim.

Thanks!
 
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