I searched this morning and found a bunch of helpful info on products that will help polish aluminum wheels, but not really anything that would help clean up my wheels before polishing them. I'll say right up front that I should have bought the chrome versions! Polished aluminum and NH winters are not a great mix! No matter how much I tried to keep them clean during the winter, I was just spinning my wheels. I also was away for a few weeks and forget to dust them off and this is what happened.







New wheels are not an option for me right now and labor is real cheap since it'll be my own. I can take them off and go nuts on them which is what I intend to do. I have been looking for a product that will at least get the discoloration from the brake dust off so that I can go at it with some type of compound to clear them up for polishing. Eastwood has a wheel kit, Eastwood conditioning kit for wheels, that I thought looked ok but I wasnt sure about the products in it. Could I use something like that kit and get the wheels cleaned up or do I need something else before that? I've tried numerous different products to get out the brake dust coloring but to no avail so far. Nothing I have tried has even touched it.

I have a drill and a roto-type saw/drill that I could use to buff and smooth the wheels off the truck if I could just find the right products to go at it with. Anyone have any ideas?

 

since that is a chrome wheel i reccomend using a acid cleaner, a phosphoric acid will work and it wont stain the chrome i use to use it on my mustangs rims, i belive autozone sells some of this also just read the label and etc.

 

The Mothers Mag polish is a decent cleaner/polish. I've used it quite a bit on polished aluminum wheels. It's fairly benign so if your wheels are pitted then you're going to need something more agressive.

 

That eastwood kit should do the job. Other than that, have ya tried the Eagle one’s never-dull wadding polish? That will bring out most stains. maybe try some real fine wet steel wool 0000? & then go with some aluminum/billet polish with a good small polisher/buffer. That is some good pitting & staining so ya gonna have to get aggressive with them to bring them back. I agree polished aluminum is a hassle, that’s why I wax mine once a week!! good luck

 

I'd be more prone to get a pH neutral wash. A good Citrus cleaner will work, though. Acids can clean really well, but remember that they are going to eventually eat away at the chrome. Weak bases are actually the better of the cleaners due to their ability to clean and remain gentle. A good example is Simple Green. Dilute 1:1 and it's some of the best wheel cleaner out there, and will not degrade or discolor any rim out there. Also, it eats away at brake dust very well.

For your problem, I'd try undiluted SG with the foaming tip in use. After that, try a good cirtus cleaner, then go on to try something more powerful. Also, don't let your rims get that bad again.


--One thing about Never Dull--
It removes clearcoat QUICK. So, for those of you out there with factory rims, don't use Never Dull, as the clear on your rims will be removed.

 

A little gasoline on a shop towel and wipe. Follow up with normal car wash and your favorite wax.

The wax helps a lot to keep them clean and easier to clean.

 

You can go to metalwax.com and look for their metal cleaner. I have it as well as their metal wax for the wheels on my truck. The cleaner will take anything you have on your wheels completely off of them. My wheels were so bad that polish alone could not get the job done, but this stuff did it with ease. In fact the metal polish is the only thing that does not leave smearing on my wheels. It will also polish the devil out of your plastic headlights as well as glass. A lot of polishes I have used will leave a bluish tint on my aluminum wheels, but the metal wax does not .