Appearance & Detailing Interior & Exterior Appearance Modifications

those with polished wheels, come in!

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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 09:18 PM
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Default those with polished wheels, come in!

those of you with polished wheels, what exactly do you do everytime you wash your car? ive searched but cant find specific guidlines on it... im debating between zr1's or tt2's or a boyd wheel for my car, and wondering how much work a polished wheel will actually give me.

my car is a DD by the way.


what i think should happen is this:

wash like usual
clean wheel surface with some sort of cloth
get some aluminum polish, throw some on the wheel and hit it with the mothers power ball..

is this correct?
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 09:49 PM
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Not if it has a clear coat on it. Then you would just use car wax.
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 09:50 PM
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are you suggesting me clearcoat them? or do tt2's come clearcoated?
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 09:59 PM
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9 out of 10 aluminum aftermarket wheels won't have clearcoat on them - Boyds and TT2s don't. My last set of wheels were TT2s, and the current set are Smoothie 2s. I just wash them like the rest of the car. I actually dry them right after the glass because the water spots will "stain" until you polish them back out, and you don't want to do that each wash. Driving in the rain will bring that nasty brake dust to the face of the rim, and will pit and discolor the aluminum if you don't wash it off. I wash my car 2-4 times a week depending on how much rain I've driven through or how much bird crap there is on the car, so aluminum rims aren't really additional upkeep for me. I do a quick polish on the wheels every two weeks(most people still think they look fine), and then take them off and clean the inside every 6 weeks or so. I am really **** about my car, so alot of this isn't necessary. The main thing is to wash them off after you have excess brake dust sitting on them. Sorry for the novel...
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 10:04 PM
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I just wash w/ soap and water and make sure to dry them well or else they will waterspot as mentioned above. I prob. only polish twice a year but my car isn't a dd.
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 10:16 PM
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well like hank said, i dont think it will be any more work than i do now... i wash my car at least 2 times a week, and i too am very ****, actually put my car up on a lift at work last week to clean the underside, lol.
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 10:17 PM
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do you guys encounter different looking wheels? like, i was thinking maybe one wheel will polish better than the other, than it will look stupid cuz one wheel will be shiney while the other's dull.
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 11:15 PM
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Polished wheels take a little bit of extra work to keep clean. I just wash them like a normal wheel most of the time, but I bust out some aluminum polish to keep them shiny about once a month. Then seal it up a little with some wax.
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 11:27 PM
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what kind of polish/wax is everybody using? how do you apply it?
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 11:50 PM
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my trick to keeping them looking like chrome is to polish them once a month with Mother's Billet Polish and in between polishes simply use Stoner's Invisible Glass or ammonia-free Windex with microfiber to clean 'em
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 11:56 PM
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so whenever you wash your car, you just dry them off, and use windex and they stay shiney still? that sounds easy.

btw, is "stoners invisible glass" an actuall product, or a joke, considering its 4-20 and the product can most likely cause some sort of high-ness, hahahaha
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Old Apr 20, 2006 | 11:59 PM
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Originally Posted by NBMgreg
so whenever you wash your car, you just dry them off, and use windex and they stay shiney still? that sounds easy.

btw, is "stoners invisible glass" an actuall product, or a joke, considering its 4-20 and the product can most likely cause some sort of high-ness, hahahaha
people really make it out harder than it has to be - they get hazy when using just soap and water. follow it up with either I.G. or Windex and you will be happy with the shine.

and no, no joke... best stuff you can put on your windows.



- Ron
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Old Apr 21, 2006 | 12:00 AM
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hahahah thats funny, how ironic.

thanks for the info, i actually meant to PM you to ask you, yours seem to be the shiniest ive seen yet lol good job
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Old Apr 21, 2006 | 01:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Silver02TA
my trick to keeping them looking like chrome is to polish them once a month with Mother's Billet Polish and in between polishes simply use Stoner's Invisible Glass or ammonia-free Windex with microfiber to clean 'em
I thought their "Mag & Aluminum Polish" is what you should use for Polished Aluminum like it states on the can?

I didn't see Polished Aluminum in the description on the Billet Polish
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Old Apr 21, 2006 | 03:34 AM
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Gords polish is your friend at least with the Fikse's and American racing wheels I've owned.
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Old Apr 21, 2006 | 09:30 AM
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Originally Posted by BlackHawk T/A
I thought their "Mag & Aluminum Polish" is what you should use for Polished Aluminum like it states on the can?

I didn't see Polished Aluminum in the description on the Billet Polish
http://www.autogeek.net/motbilmetpol.html

any polishable metal - unless it has a clearcoat (and not chrome of course). neither apply to TT2s.
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