Anyways, If they were polished wheels you may end up sanding them.

makoshark... why wouldnt you sand them or use abrasive polish on them? Even if they were clear coated (highly doubtful) they would still need some form of abrasive to remove the rest. Acid completely ruins the finish on aluminum, pitting it, etc, etc,..... Sanding is much better, if needed done.[/QUOTE]


If they are pitted, then yes, you would have to sand them. I restore cars and have my whole life so I have experience with polishing metals. I highly doubt they are pitted though. You can use a dremel, drill or a buffing machine with the tight sewn buffing wheel with some tripoli and then a loose buffing wheel with some white rouge to bring the surface back to a chrome like finish. The wheels have already been smoothed and buffed already, so no need to rough them back up with sandpaper. Disregaurd the tripoli if they are still smooth.

 

Thanks for all the input guys, I will probably try to polish them first with a polishing tool since they are still smooth and I doubt there is any need to sand them. If worse comes to worse I will look into getting them repolished.Hell it might be worth it just to get that done since you guys say they will look pretty much new.

As for them being clearcoated, I doubt it but I'm not certain.I bought the car about a year ago and the wheels are factory.

One question I have is what is pitting or pitted? I've never heard of that!

Once again I appreciate it guys!!

 

I don't think your wheels are pitted just discolored or stained.

Pitting would be where the metal has pitts in it. It isn't smooth. one of my wheels has pitting. I'll take a pic so you can see what I'm talking about. I can fix it because I've fixed one part of it. I just haven't had time to do the lip

 

FYI polish is abrasive. Otherwise it wouldn't do anything.

 

you can wetsand wheels?

 

You have to get them smooth enough to polish somehow...

 

Not to hijack, but last winter's road salt ate through my clearcoat on the WS6 rims. I've since been able to take away the damage, but in doing so, I stripped large portions of the clear coat away!!

How do I remove the clear coat completely? And, what tools/procedures are there to restore the mirror-like finish they had when new?

Any and all thoughts appreciated! Oh, and thanks, quickneSS, for letting me piggyback your thread!!

 

Aircraft stripper...that **** takes off everything including skin..LOL

I would have the tires dismounted first or youll kill them if your not 100% carefull and get even a drop on them.

 

i got acid on my polished Boyd's, and even after using them in the winter season I found that some "Heavy Metal" Polish (green) polished up with a dremel worked very well to get the wheels cleaned up.
I bought mine from www.brilexsolutions.com