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Best way to clean up Aluminum wheels?

swettysblazer

swettysblazer

Swetty The Yeti
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My roommate and I each have a set of aluminum wheels that we are trying to clean up. They have the usual corrosion/pitting around the lug area and a little bit around the outside. We were just wondering whats the best way to take care of this? We were thinking hitting it with some 150 grit sandpaper and then some finer stuff after.
 
use aircraft paint stripper, I think it's permatex brand or something like that. Once you get that off wash it good and then hit it with a scotch bright pad. that will take most of the corrosion off, if there is still more than fine sand paper. Don't go too course, then you will be sanding out deep scratches forever...
 
Any idea where i can get that? I don't think it would be on the shelf at home depot...
 
150 grit?!?! :eek1::eek1::eek1: Thats rough even for wheels.

I would go finer, like 400 grit and use water to sand it down. Wet sanding in other words.

But only if you can't get them polished with a wheel or ball like from Mothers or whoever.
 
thatK30guy said:
150 grit?!?! :eek1::eek1::eek1: Thats rough even for wheels.

I would go finer, like 400 grit and use water to sand it down. Wet sanding in other words.

But only if you can't get them polished with a wheel or ball like from Mothers or whoever.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why i posted up. I'll see what i can come up with
 
yea, deff start at 400, then maybe 800 for awhile, then do 000 steel wool, then a mothers ball and some polish
 
OK, but there are a few more questions:

-What should be used to re-coat them when done?
-How hard is it to maintain the wheels if they are not re-cleared?
-How effective/lasting can spot repairs be?

I've seen a few products claim to last on polished wheels, but it's kind of a terrible surface for adhesion. Anybody have experience with something that holds up for years to come?
 
If its a one piece wheel, powdercoating them clear after polishing will last long time, its a tad expensive but its a no maintenance way to do it. 2 piece wheels will crack and bubble faster but it does still work with them too
 
Blue85 said:
OK, but there are a few more questions:

-What should be used to re-coat them when done?
-How hard is it to maintain the wheels if they are not re-cleared?
-How effective/lasting can spot repairs be?

I've seen a few products claim to last on polished wheels, but it's kind of a terrible surface for adhesion. Anybody have experience with something that holds up for years to come?
Click to expand...

What kind of wheels are we talking about first off? I know they have a clear coat, but are they polished, painted, or brushed aluminum? That would really make a difference in how you clean them up and whether or not you recoat or polish them at all. Be careful using sandpaper, as was mentioned earlier, you can ruin an aluminum wheels finish if you use too course of a grit. If they are a cool set that you are really in love with, you could strip the clear coat, acid wash the bare aluminum, then polish them the professional way with jewelers rouge(coarse, medium, and fine grits), then polish them with a proper wheel polish. We used to do that on my friends Peterbilt show truck. You could shave in those wheels when we were finished. It all depends on what your final goal is... Personally, I have yet to see a clear coat on an aluminum wheel that holds up long term. Alcoa has a coating they call "Endurashine" or something like that, it holds up fairly well, but it scratches and then can't be buffed out. I prefer to just leave them uncoated and just polish them occasionally.
 
I'm not sure exactly how powder coating can be done or even applied if the wheels will be sanded and polished. My worry is once the polishing compound is on the wheel and you wipe everything by hand with a clean towel, what happens next in order to get the wheel prepared for powder coating? Won't the polishing compound affect the powder coat? No matter how much you try and wipe the wheels clean it will still have a very thin film of the compound on it and I believe that may create a problem with powder coating.

I'd say leave the wheel cleaning and polishing to the powder coater to figure out in order to make the PC stick for good.
 
Blue85 said:
OK, but there are a few more questions:

-What should be used to re-coat them when done?
-How hard is it to maintain the wheels if they are not re-cleared?
-How effective/lasting can spot repairs be?

I've seen a few products claim to last on polished wheels, but it's kind of a terrible surface for adhesion. Anybody have experience with something that holds up for years to come?
Click to expand...

Be careful sanding them, I'd start out with 1200 grit!

I wouldn't recoat them with anything once you get them polished. The best way at keeping aluminum wheels shiny is to clean them often. Wash the truck, and get the wheels good too. That will pretty much do it. Especially with a quality wheel like a Weld or Alcoa. Tire shine can actually stain and dull the finish on aluminum.

When I polish them, I just use an electric paint buffer with a big flat buffing wheel and go at it with some average polish.

Here was my results on my neglected welds. I didn't sand them at all, just a good polish.

042.JPG

003.JPG
 
swettysblazer said:
My roommate and I each have a set of aluminum wheels that we are trying to clean up. They have the usual corrosion/pitting around the lug area and a little bit around the outside. We were just wondering whats the best way to take care of this? We were thinking hitting it with some 150 grit sandpaper and then some finer stuff after.
Click to expand...

The best way is to take them to somebody and say, "Here, clean these up."

Polishing sucks!:D
 
Wet sand then polish, I started with 300.
Before and after.
DSC01817.JPG

DSC01822.JPG
I spent about 14 hours that weekend.
It does suck!

DSC01817.JPG

DSC01822.JPG
 
It is very labor intesive if they have pitting....the pits will need to be sanded out, and then its kinda like body work, work your way to finer grits then polishing compounds made for aluminum...if they are forged it will take even more work with the harder metal.
When you get them done (IF) you can have them powdercoated, they can prep them for the powdercoat, or leave them raw aluminum, and stay on top of the finish by keeping them clean, and polish with a Mothers ball once or twice a year with some metal polishing compound (finishing compound)
 
Are the aluminum or alloy mags? If they are alloy mags they will not get a mirror finish. Are you looking to clean them or get a mirror finish?

I did polishing on 3 peterbilts at work and they were so far gone from de-icers I had to sand them down with 180grit and a DA just to get a smooth surface and then worked up to 1000. I polished with two different clothe 8" wheels on a 3000rpm dewalt polisher/sander. First was a yellow wheel with brown tripolli rouge and then with a white wheel and white rouge. I then finished then by hand with zepher pro40 Polish. Zepher can be found at most big rig parts counters. You can still see some scratches at the right angle but these wheels were very rough to start with, they had a scratchy surface to them.

uploadfromtaptalk1348069242391.jpg

uploadfromtaptalk1348069263936.jpg
 
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