I bought Eagle 1 Tire and Rim cleaner. I used it on my fiancés car and it worked like magic. Marks that I thought where permanently on the rims came off. The tires came out really clean as well and therefore picked up the tire shine treatment much better. However when I used it on my truck it left them with cloudy marks and a dull look. Does anyone recommend any kind of polish to get my rims back to looking good? I have the stock rims on a 1998 XLT w/ Off road and 4 Wheel package, they are the 17” rims. I don’t know what there called, the best way I can describe them is they have kind of like the Nike sign cut into them.

 

One of my old trucks had the exact same wheels you have. (I still think they were the best looking ORP wheels ever offered.) What you have is a diamond turned cast aluminum wheel with a clear coat protective finish over the top for corrosion protection.

With all of that in mind, you may have one of several problems. One common problem is for the clear coat to become compromised by breaking through it. (A scratch, rock chip, etc. can cause this.) When the coating integrity is compromised, the aluminum wheel itself starts to oxidize. This looks like white powder an can occur under the clear coat. If this is your problem, you're looking at stripping, polishing and re-clear coating your wheels. This is not for the faint of heart and better off handled by a body shop.

Another common problem is light scratching, dulling, or oxidizing of the clear coat itself. This is the better problem to have since you can probably polish your way to fame and fortune - not to mention nicer looking wheels. Let's see what RockPick has in his bag of trick for polishing clear coated wheels. I'd bet that intellegent use of something like Scratch X or DCP might help get you back to better looking wheels here. Follow that up with a synthetic protectant like Zaino or NXT to keep them looking good.

OK RockPick, time to chime in!