Hope everyone is having a great start to Spring. Anyways, wondering if I can or need to polish my 20" wheels. If so, what do I use? I tried the Mother's Billet polish, but I never got the "black" on the rag so I stopped as recommended. Also, what is the best tire cleaner to keep the white on the Pirelli's looking good. Standing by for any advice or recommendations.

 

If you have FACTORY 20" KR wheels, they are clearcoated. Hence, you need to treat them like PAINT. Polishing them with a metal polish is a good way to chew through the clearcoat and ruin them.

A good synthetic wax like Meguiar's NXT or Mother's SYNWAX is the way to go as a synthetic will have more heat resistance than a carnuba based wax.

RP

 

Correct. I had the same question and got the same answer from Ford before I even knew of this forum. There is a wax I use called Collinite 845 Insulator Wax. (Incidentally, this is the wax of choice for my boats, hence the name Grady95) Anyway, this stuff is bulletproof. It is in fact carnuba based, but it is recommended for aircraft, electrical wiring and marine applications. I have it on my wheels and it is working well.
Whatever you do though, listen to RP. You are in fact, treating paint. Better ease up on that polishing compound. Best of luck to you.
PS: http://www.collinite.com/auto.htm#insulator

 

Thanks fellas for the excellent advice. After reading some more, I thought it might have been clearcoated, but didn't know they clearcoated wheels. So as I understand, the whole wheel is clearcoated and I'll just wax it with carnuba wax from now on. Thanks again

 

Collinite Insulator Wax is, indeed, very good stuff (I have a bottle less than 3' from me at this exact moment) but, compared to a synthetic, it's heat-resistivity is much lower.

Either way, treat it like paint!

 

I had a 97 Exploder, and it had the brushed saw tooth, or tear drop aluminum wheels. I wanted them to look like chrome, so I took them to a polishing shop, where they removed the clear coat, and polished them with rouge. THAT WAS THE BEST THEY EVER LOOKED, it was insanely hard to keep them shiny. I would NEVER, did I say NEVER do that again. Aluminum is one tuff mother to keep polished.

 

I had two main reasons for using it. One, because I had it. Two, because I didn't know any better! Next time, it will be a synthetic for the wheels. This makes perfect sense.