Wheel Brightener on UnCoated Aluminum Wheels :-(

LeMarque

LeMarque

New member
So I turned my back and my helper grabed Megs Wheel Brightener and sprayed down the wheels on the 95 Benz:


 





 


Tried buffing with 105; no luck. I've got Mothers PowerMetal Scratch Removing Polish coming in Tuesday. I sure could use some recommendatios on how to bring these wheels back :unsure:
 
There  is a TOGWT article on how to remove acidic staining from alum wheels - hate to say this but you'll have to do a search, all my hyperlinks to TOGWT articles were invalidated when the forum software was updated
 
MB alloys are certainly coated.  It kinda looks like the clear is shot on those wheels and perhaps the WB worsened the appearance.
 
Thanks everyone.


 


It's like this; it's the devils MB. At least for me. The fellow bought it off a Dealer lot and considers it a prize. Came from Fla. and has been repainted. Scratched, swirled, etc. Showed up with one of my best customers and got talked into paint correction by the customer. My fault. I was slammed with work and didn't evaluate the car carefully.


 


Had my helper wash and clay and when I saw the wheelss I freaked. Have pics of everything but them. I assumed the streaking and discoloration was from WB. I generally use either sonax or the like. I'm probably over-reacting but I'm now trying to buffout the plastic cladding on the lower body panels and it's gumming up like I've never seen before. By the time I'm done I'll be lucky not to lose money on the job. But that's another story.


 


So the question remains, anyway to correct the steaking?
 
First, are you even sure your guy did that?  Did you look at the run pattern on the wheels before you moved the car?   In the picture it's not straight down.


 


Meguiars wheel brightener is safe for coated wheels and those are definitely coated.  I bet you're not getting black off them when you hit them with metal polish.


 


So, here's what happened - before the car got to you someone sprayed some sort of greasy coating on the wheels which covered the damage.   Lots of tire treatments will do this.   Your guy cleaned off their product and revealed the real condition of the wheels.  


 


That coating is just paint so that's how you correct it.  If it were me, I'd pull the wheels, put them on a table and get out my polisher - the rotary not a random entertainer - and buff them out using whatever combination of pad and polish got the job done.  Then, I'd get out my Makita BO6040 and cut out the swirls and be done with it.  


 


You should have charged more to do this in the first place but since - as you said - you didn't evaluate as deeply as you could, here you are.


 


Robert


 


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Your initial response, to blame the helper, is what scares me

about scaling my business. Let's face it. There are very many easy

ways to screw up a detail. You are responsible for all of your helpers.


Whyte's accounting sounds most plausible


I still would worry about blaming very thing on the helper.

He would be an easy scapegoat.
 
Guess I had a bad day. The rear wheels looked great and I came upon the helper just as he was about to spray the rears. So I'm guilty of the old saying about 'assume'. Unless I see painted and clear coated wheels I avoid WB. And even then on certain make with center caps where I've seen product collect, I'm concerned about not getting them thouroughly rinsed of WB.


 


And low and behold, I did get pics of the wheels and the fronts looked trashed.


 


As for:


 
bunkeroo26 said:
Your initial response, to blame the helper, is what scares me

about scaling my business. Let's face it. There are very many easy

ways to screw up a detail. You are responsible for all of your helpers.


Whyte's accounting sounds most plausible


I still would worry about blaming very thing on the helper.

He would be an easy scapegoat.
Click to expand...


 


Don't see where I scapegoated my employee. Not my style.


 


I did jump to conclusions comparing the fronts to the rears tho. You learn something every day.


 


Thanks to everyone for the virtual Valium :mellow: Much appreciated.
 
 


You should have charged more to do this in the first place but since - as you said - you didn't evaluate as deeply as you could, here you are.


 


Robert


 


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About evaluation. I will never ever quote a repaint ever again without a test spot, or two, first.


 


From now on the same holds true for ANY correction.
 
I didn't really mean that you scapegoated the helper.

This is what I would be worried about though.

I personally would assume that it was the helper that made the mistake.

Probably easier for me to stay the solo employee as it is

cheaper without workman's comp insurance anyways.
 
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