What's the best way to polish my aluminum rims? There doesn't seem to be a clear coat on them at all, They don't seem to be pitted either. These rims are supposed to look like chrome when polished I was told. Is it just going to take massive amounts of rubbing & patience? You can see the rims' current condition here: [link:www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displayimage.php?&photoid=7604&width=3|Nice rims?]

 

Well they don't look like they were polished from the factory. Are they cheap rims or good rims? Look at my gallery to see what polished aluminum rims look like.


Primary rig is Green Thunder:
95' F-150 XLT 4x4, 302, 5 spd, MSD 6A, Flowmaster American Thunder Exhaust, Sunroof, Clear corners w/ Diamond headlights, CD player with 2 10" subs and some 32" BFG Muds .

Check out my Gallery for a look-see.

Then theres:
99' Mustang GT 4.6L
88' F-250 Heavyduty 4x4 351/c6
95' Mercury Cougar 4.6L V-8
80' E-350 300/6 with a
3 spd column shifter. Weighs around 7,000lbs w. 65mph top speed, who wants to race me!

 

Those wheels had a brushed or machined finish from the factory. You can try going to a local welding supply store and buying an aluminum polishing kit. The weels fit on your grinder. It will still take forever to polish those. You may want to look at purchasing a set of polished MT Challenger wheels. I think they look the same as the ones you have.

 

>grinder. It will still take forever to polish those. You may
>want to look at purchasing a set of polished MT Challenger
>wheels. I think they look the same as the ones you have.

Hmmm, tough call here. Spend big $$$ on new wheels or polish free wheels I have already.....

The aged appearance is because that truck was last driven 10 years ago.

Here's some new pics of one that I started polishing.

[link:www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displayimage.php?&photoid=8164&width=3|Whole wheel]

[link:www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displayimage.php?&photoid=8165&width=3|Close up] These are the spots I'm trying to get rid of. It almost feels like slight pitting.

The person I got the truck from said they were Ansen mags. I see from pictures on the net they are Ansen style but I don't know if they're genuine or not. I read that all Ansen's had the name cast into them but there's nothing on the backside of the rim that I can see. Is the "A" on the center cap for Ansen or is it a cheap knock-off? It's a good thick aluminum casting 15 x 8.5 and if I can get these wheels nice and shiny it will really improve the look of my truck.

Any fresh advice?

 

Have you ever tried steel wool? Use a #000 or #0000 grade steel wool. I use it on everything fron aluminum wheels to chrome bumpers and trim. If you use a fine wool (#000 or #0000) it won't scratch what you are using it on.

 

What grade is 3M Scotchbrite? I guess that's what it comes down to, whether I can use abrasives without leaving scratch marks in the surface.

 

I tried a fine grade sanding sponge last night. That's taking care of most of the spots and looking MUCH better. I guess it's just going to take a lot of patience and scrubbing and polishing. Dang. I was hoping for a quick easy solution. ;-)

 

Yep, it's a lot of work cleaning up older aluminum wheels. The pitting and oxidization can be very hard to remove at times. I use the steel wool on my aluminum wheels once a year and then a good aluminum polish after. They stay nice all year and only require washing after that. I usually spend 1 to 1 1/2 hours per wheel. To get a polished look, I think you will have to get a polishing kit (like previously mentioned)

 

>I tried a fine grade sanding sponge last night. That's
>taking care of most of the spots and looking MUCH better.
>I guess it's just going to take a lot of patience and
>scrubbing and polishing. Dang. I was hoping for a quick easy
>solution. ;-)


My friend had a set of aluminum wheels similar to yours and close to those in condition ( actualy worse ). He went and had them sandblasted, with what type of media I do not know.They came out very nice,but it was not the polished look I think you are looking for. Just an idea.

 

I had some Eagle type 589s that I had to re-polish every three months or so. I would use some of that Eagle aluminum wheel cleaner and then use an awesome product called NeverDull. You can find it in a round tin at most auto parts stores. That would get my wheels looking like brand new again. Once you get them polished, wax them with automotive wax and they will stay polished much longer.

 

What i have used whren i drove semi and on my Harley was some stuff called magic mix it is effortless and makes the aluminum look almost like chrome but what i did first was use a piece of the brown 3m scoth brite you can get from any auto body store and removed all the oxidation and any clear coat and then just used the magic mix and an old cotton diaper and it worked excellent and a friend of mine owned a harley shop and wondered where i bought the chrome from and I told him it was all the aluminum just polished and I gave him some of the magic mix and it worked out great for him and he startted selling it in his shop the bottles have a picture of a rabbit coming out of a hat on the bottles and it comes in 2 bottles it works better than mothers and is alot easier to apply and remove plus lasts a long time
I will look to see if they have a website and post it for you

 

go to www.topoftheline.com they handle the polish called magic mix
magic mix contains jewelers rouge in it and is the best thing you can use to polish aluminum

 

Well, nothing worthwhile is cheap or easy. And no matter how fine you polish aluminum it will not give off the same high luster that chrome does. But you can come very close. I have an old set of brushed aluminum solid wheels on my 50 F1 that came out almost as shiney as chrome. I bought a set of polishing compounds from Sears. The set comes with a bar of each of red, brown and white polishing compounds. I also bought some 6" compound applicator wheels (these are tightly packed cotton layers) and some 6" polishing wheels (these are loosely packed cotton applicators) and an arbor type adaptor to use the wheels with my electric drill. I got one compound applicator wheel and one polishing wheel per compound. So that was a total of six polishing wheels. I got my polishing wheels at a swap meet, but you can find them anywhere nowadays. I worked on one wheel at a time leaving the others on my truck. After thouroughly washing the wheel, I started with the roughest compound and used my 6" compound applicator wheel to burn the crusted laquer coating and major surface imperfections. Then I used a polishing wheel to buff the compound off the wheel surface. Then I went to the not so coarse compound and used an applicator wheel to get deeper into the surface and to give me a smooth clean surface. Then I used another polishing wheel to buff off the not so coarse compound. Then I finished with the white compound and the third compound applicator to give me a very very smooth surface. Then I buffed the white compound off the wheel with the third polishing wheel. The last step was to go over the whole wheel with a cotton terry cloth to reach any creavices that may be hiding some buffing compound and voila'. I had buffed three of my aluminum wheels to a mirror sheen in about 3 hours.