Spare me the agony!
Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Dec 1997
Posts: 9,417
Likes: 11
From: Windsor,Ontario,Canada
I had a 97 and all five, yes all five were aluminum 17s, were replaced. They had a clear coat and they pitted becasue of the pin holes in the clear coat. The OEM 16s on my 2000 have no clear coat. They are a polished aluminum alloy. The Eagle Alloys on it now are polished aluminum and they have no clear coat. When I got them they were corroded and I spent countless hours wet sanding and polishing them. They are now quite bright and have no corrossion problems. As long as I keep them clean and polished. An occational coat of WD40 helps too. 
JMC
JMC
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 3,248
Likes: 2
From: Rochester, NY, USA
JMC,
I recently tried a new polish on my American Racing polished aluminum (no clear coat) 16" wheels and the results were way beyond any other polish I've tried in the past 5 years. The stuff is called Wenol and a friend gave me a quart. I applied it with a rotary buffer and foam pad. Wow! What a shine. Even my neighbor across the street noticed the difference - from his house. You might want to try it.
I recently tried a new polish on my American Racing polished aluminum (no clear coat) 16" wheels and the results were way beyond any other polish I've tried in the past 5 years. The stuff is called Wenol and a friend gave me a quart. I applied it with a rotary buffer and foam pad. Wow! What a shine. Even my neighbor across the street noticed the difference - from his house. You might want to try it.