my friend has eagle alloy wheels... the stock wheels on his trans am
its a 98 trans am too just in case you want to see what kind of wheels they are
but anyway... the wheels look terrible and have like a milky looking shine to them

he wants me to clean them up and i have tried using liquid metal polish, which helped a little but not a lot and soem kind of cheap eagle one wadding polish stuff but neither really looked that great

any help on the wheels would be appreciated

 

I had same problem, & a trucker friend told me about a blue polish. It worked great. took some elbow grease but look like new now. I will look to see what it was called. Off hand, I think it was blue coral metal polish but will check and let you know.

 

Sounds to me like the clearcoat has had something sprayed on it. As a result it clouded the clearcoat. The best thing I would say is to go and strip the clear off and then polish them. There a few wheel shops that will do this for a fee. The clearcoat is annodized so it's really tough to get off but it is easily damaged by some of these so called spray cleaners that are on the market. If you have any polishing experience you could tackle this by yourself. I did mine on a jeep that I had. It took me the entire weekend and a case of beer but the end result was worth it. You can get the stripper from Advance auto it is in an aresol. Then use Blue Coral metal polish and a buffing wheel in a drill and get busy. Take your time and you will be rewarded well. Mine turned out great.

 

The stuff I used is called Blue Magic Metal Polish Cream. Worked well for me & cost $5.00 I'd give it a try, can't hurt and maybe you'll get the same results. I got it at O'Reilly's Auto Parts.

 

I have used MR BUFFER on mine and it works great too. It might fix the problem on your friend wheels. It on th net just type in the name.

 

also another quick question
what about using that nevr dull wadding polish or ive heard of using a fine steel wool pad and coke.... anybody ever use either one of these or know any other tips for this?

and what kind of protectant should i go over with these to keep the shine longer because last time i helped him clean his car the wheels stayed clean for like a day and the next they looked really oxidized

 

Hi

If your wheels are clear coated you should use a plastic polish on them. You can actually damage the coating using a metal polish but the plastic polish will remoisturize and polish them safely.

If you wish to strip the coating there are a couple things to try. If it's an anodize then a caustic will remove it. You might try Easy Off original. Caustic (Sodium Hydroxide) is available from a chemical supply house, but if left on too long you might expect some metal hazing since it will etch the metal. You'll need to polish the metal when the coating is off.

If it's actually a plastic coating you can try a paint stripper.

In any case you will want to polish the metal to bring back the shine. A professional will sand out problems bigger than a 320 grit sandpaper mark finishing with nothing bigger than a 400 mark. A polishing wheel and Tripoli compound will take the 400 marks down to a smooth, glassy surface and a White rouge will bring up the final brilliance and protect the metal from atmospheric moisture which will attack and oxidize unprotected aluminum.

The final step is a coat of paste wax. It will protect the metal as well as it protects paint.

Visit my website for more info and products

Thanx for listening.

 

what kind of polish are you talking when you say a plastic polish?
like where would i find this?

 

Hi "squeals99"

Plasic polishes are formulated to polish out clear plastics like that used over your dash gauges, taill lights and most modern headlights. They are also great on soft convertable top windows.

Meguiars make a traditionally great pair in their Mirror Glaze line - M10 pure polish and M17 cleaner polish. The later will cut very gently to take our light marks.

Mothers makes a plastic polish like Meguiars M17. It's their part number 6208.

These products will treat your clear coating very well, conditioning and protecting them.

You'll find them on my website - www.drdetailforless.com. Look under "Rubber/Vinyl/Plastics" & "Cleaner/Conditioners"

 

I always use Daimond Brite Truck Box Polish, its ment for cleaning REAL DIRTY DIAMOND PLATE. you can get it at lowes, its kinda expensive, but it works like a charm, cost around 11 bucks a bottle.

 

Wenol.

It's about $40 for a 2 quart container but the stuff works, and works great. Takes some elbow grease and about an hour per rim but they'll look brand new when done.