Hey all,
I have aluminum wheels and they will not come clean. I have used the turtle wax cleaner and the muguires (SP?) cleaner with no luck. Is there any thing else you can suggest?
Here's a suggestion I found posted somewhere else: Use Mag & Aluminum Wheel Polish, there are numerous brands out there 3M, Meguiars, Mothers etc.
1. Wash the wheel (and the tire) and rinse well. (High pressure wash is recommended, but not absolutely necessary) You can use fancy wheel cleaner but since you'll be polishing the wheels afterwards why waste the expensive stuff - use car wash soap (or dish soap) instead. It's alot easier to do if you take the wheel right off the vehicle (you'll want to remove the center cap if they're still on).
2. Open the can of Mag/Aluminum polish, grab a rag, and dip a clean corner of the rag into the polish.
3. Rub the polish onto one of the flat faces of the wheel. This is more tedious than it sounds as the polish will quickly turn the rag black with oxidation that's being polished off the wheel. You'll need to keep turning the rag to a clean section and re-dipping to complete this job. Keep rubbing with clean sections of cloth & polish until you're satisfied with the finish.
4. After you've done all of the wheel, wash the wheel again to remove any polish that you might have missed. Let the wheel dry.
5. After the wheel dries, apply a coat of wax to the newly polished faces. This will protect your newly polished faces and also make clean-up a little easier next time you wash the truck.
6. Keep going until all wheels are done.
I forgot who makes it but there is a product called bule magic. It comes in a small containter and its a light blue cream. You use it the same was a described in the post above. This stuff works great. I like it better than mothers. Its creamer and easier to use.
I tell ya you know what else works GREAT is good ol simple green! I had some brake dust and greese on there and sprayed that on and WOW they sparkle like new... The best part is, When you go to clean them next time everything washes off with water..
stylin concepts had a aluminum wheel brightening kit. mothers makes mag and aluminum wheel polish, never dull also works. i use it on my billit grills. works wonders
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What do your rims look like, do they look faded in parts? The reason I ask is that on my old Bronco the aluminum rims had a clearcoat on them, and no matter how much you attempt to polish them, they will NEVER look good unless you get rid of the clearcoat first.
What I did was, get a spray can of Aircraft Stripper at Walmart, spray in on the rims a few times per the directions, let it sit, and then rinse it off. The Aircraft Stripper made all that clearcoat peel right off, leaving me with bare aluminum which is then EASY ( although time consuming to do it properly ) to polish to a mirror like shine. I used some varying grades of steel wool to make them look uniform ( remember to run the steel wool WITH the grain of the aluminum ), and then "smoothed" out the finish with a piece of Scotch Brite, then after that the polish of your choice ( I like good ol Mother's ) and they look better than new!
I do metal work for a living, so Ive learned a few tricks along the years, hopefully they can help someone out here...
I have Autodrag lite centerlines which are suppose to be chrome, but with all the oxidizing from having to leave it outside, they look severely tarnished.
I've tried polish applied by hand, but none of them work. I need to restore the chrome back.
I did find a 6" polishing wheel that attaches to a drill but I'm worried I might catch ab edge with the hard rubber disc and scuff it. the surface is so sensitive, you can see rings around the lug nuts from the socket.
I've used probably everything that has been mentioned about but none of them worked well.
I recently found a metal polish from www.mooreshine.com that is amazing. It took off all the tarish from my wheels, billet fuel door, billet 3rd brake light and billet rear view mirror. That stuff is great.
