repairing road salt damaged alum. wheels???

78workhorse · #1 (**permalink**) 11-17-2006, 01:38 AM

I got 15" aluminum wheels on my 78 f150. They're only a couple yrs. old but the clear coat didn't really hold up to the Pa. road salt. Most of it is gone or flaking off. The wheels are staind with black and gray splotches but no pitting. I've scraped the surface junk off and hit them with steel wool and polishing compound with no effect. Any ideas I could use at home or should I just take them to a polishing shop?

gui88ford · #2 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 08:34 AM

NEVER use steel wool on alluminum....bad idea....the steel wool will come off in small peices then get inside the alluminum and rust and they will look like crap....first thing you have to do if the clear coat is comming off is just bite the bullet and strip it off....sanding is fine...won't have to hit it hard....then your going to have to buff the crap out of the wheels....maybe even use like 2000 grip sand paper or somethign to start....kinda like your wet sanding....then move to compounds....i'd suggest using a powerball mini...i use one on my wheels and it's a arm saver and does a better job than i can with my arms....move down through different grit polishes then i'd finish it with it NANO-polish...i think it's made by mothers....stuff works great and by that time your wheels should be looking good....now the bad thing is that you'll have to keep after them especially now since the clear coat is gone...but my wheels arn't clear coated at all and they hold up fine...just have to keep after them....thats all...

hope this helps

78workhorse · #3 (**permalink**) 12-07-2006, 12:43 AM

Thanks brother. I was starting to think nobody out there had aluminum wheels. I'll give this a shot, just have to get a bit of cooperative weather and some time. I love Pa winters, 50 degrees and sunny one day, 5 degrees and snow the next. Thanks again.

gui88ford · #4 (**permalink**) 12-07-2006, 06:12 AM

yea, where are you at in PA....i'm down in berks county....near Maple Grove Raceway...yea, i went through it with my V-rod....started cleaning the wheels up good and i used steel wool and oh boy what a mistake that was.....it took me a few hours and two powerball mini's to fix the wheels....they look good now but it took some time

78workhorse · #5 (**permalink**) 12-07-2006, 10:21 AM

On the edge of Westmoreland and Fayette counties, on the Westmoreland side. 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!!........... Yea, I know, it ain't lookin good. I couldn't believe how fast that road salt ripped into that clear coat. It was factory clear coat too, it's not like it was some crap I sprayed on. $300 looked good for a year.

gui88ford · #6 (**permalink**) 12-07-2006, 10:33 AM

i've been out that way a few times on the Yachageheney river for fishing, camping, white water rafting and stuff...pretty nice area...laurel caverns...Uniontown....nice area out there..

78workhorse · #7 (**permalink**) 12-08-2006, 12:39 AM

i've lived in this area my entire life and i just got to laurel caverns last year with the wife and kid. pretty cool place. i wanted to go back for that deep deep cave exploration but man i think i'd get a little clostrophobic down in there.

gui88ford · #8 (**permalink**) 12-08-2006, 05:55 AM

i did the deep cave exploration....it's pretty cool....no lights or anything down there....i had a blast doing it...i'm actually thinking about going out that way this comming sumer for a vacation....but i'd suggest doing it....it was pretty cool...

78workhorse · #9 (**permalink**) 12-15-2006, 12:37 AM

Gotta couple days off with some good weather before i go out midnite. Im gonna try to do something with these wheels but alot of Christmas stuff to do yet. And I replaced some front end parts so I gotta get it aligned and tires put on it. I'll let you know if I get anywhere with them. Thanks for the suggestions.

gui88ford · #10 (**permalink**) 12-15-2006, 06:00 AM

no problem....good luck