I am going to be purchasing some wheels soon and they are highly polished aluminum. I've had aftermarket aluminum wheels before and they were really a pain in the a$$ to take care off.

I was thinking about having a clear powdercoat or clearcoat finish put on them to make them easy to keep clean. It seems a powdercoat finish would also protect them from small scratches and what not.

Does anyone have any experience doing something like this and if so do you have a place that you would recommend for the job?

I don't really care if the finish dulls them a bit. They will be 9,000,001 times easier to keep clean which is what I'm worried about.

Thanks

John

 

Zoops products. they make an aluminum sealer that supposedly works quite well.

 

I'm probably one of the few people who will say polished rims are easy to take care of . As long as you don't use them in the winter and wash the car every 1-2 weeks you'll be perfectly fine. And then do a quick polish about every month.

 

I agree. Polished aluminum has benefits over painted or chromed surfaces as they can always be rebuffed if scratched. You will find most high end aluminum rim manufactures will not powder coat, clear coat or seal their aluminum as it deters from the natural luster. Sealing/painting also creates a situation where if you need to do work on the rim, from damage, you have to remove the sealer or painted surfaces. I suggest a good coat of wax on your rims to keep them shiny and repel dirt. You should find cleaning them should be no more difficult then the painted surfaces on your car.

Stay away from roads where salt is present as it can damage them very quickly...one good thing about aluminum is if this happens buffing them out can bring them back to a like new condition.

I have no experience with the above mentioned sealer, but if it penetrates deep into the aluminum OR creates a sealed surface that is difficult to remove, slight buffing or polishing can be much more tedious as your going to have to remove the product first before you start your work. It woudl seem to me that the product may be best suited for hard to reach places like a manifold or as such whereas your not going to be able to clean it easily and as often as one would do with wheels.

 

So what you're saying is either chrome them or don't be a lazy A$$ and actually take care of them.

I guess I'll just wash and wax often. The wheels I'm looking at don't have any small crevices or intricate designs to keep clean so I should be OK. I guess I should have said that the last wheels I had were Convo Pros, LOTS of small corners.

Thanks everyone. I would try the zoop but, I've never had good luck with stuff like that.

John