Throw out your wheel polish!
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From: NW Chicago Subs
Throw out your wheel polish! OK, I have a set of Prostars that are stained and pitted and just don't shine like they should. I tried everything. Wheel polish, alluminum polish, wax, car polish, buffing compound, buffing wheel, car buffer, Power Ball...Nothing gave me the desired finish. So last night I was cleaning up the car for tomorrow and desided to try rubbing compound (a bit harsher than buffing compound. Used for scratches) and I was amazed! It took out all the stains and even most pits and fine scratches! I spent 15min on one wheel on the car and it looks better than any of the other attempts by FAR! I will try to do the rest tonight. But I really want to try doing them off the car with stems removed and a buffer. So if you have polished wheels, give this a try before giving up on them. Don't attempt if you have clear coat or painted wheels. I will try and take a before and after pic to post.
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From: NW Chicago Subs
I am probably going to do that too since I have some scratches that are too deep for the compound. But for now I will just do a quick buff with the compound, on the car.
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I did this on my extremely dirty used ProStars. The barrels were nasty.
Wasn't a big deal for me...not using the ProStars for looks, but wanted to clean them as well as I could.
Steel wool...polish (mother's mag and aluminum)...RejeX.
That was just the barrels.
I use nothing but Mother's Billet on the exposed spokes and lip. No RejeX on the parts facing out.
They look fairly decent to me...
http://www.arbybean.com/ar/images/May01.JPG
Wasn't a big deal for me...not using the ProStars for looks, but wanted to clean them as well as I could.
Steel wool...polish (mother's mag and aluminum)...RejeX.
That was just the barrels.
I use nothing but Mother's Billet on the exposed spokes and lip. No RejeX on the parts facing out.
They look fairly decent to me...
http://www.arbybean.com/ar/images/May01.JPG
^ Yeah, they are clearcoated. Anyways, I remember a write up not too long ago about stripping and polishing stock ws6 wheels and they turned out great. Here's the link https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...ing+ws6+wheels but the damn pics are gone 
Edit: that link isn't the one I was thinking of, but it's still good!
Edit: that link isn't the one I was thinking of, but it's still good!
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that you need to use something a little more abrasive to get the results you want (like removing stains and such). I'm a huge fan of using wet sanding/micromesh to get the desired results followed by some English custom polishes and Mother's billet polish.
Polishing aluminum is no different than polishing paint...you need a perfectly smooth surface to get the reflection you want. It just takes different products, and sacking up and taking sandpaper to things every once in a while.
Polishing aluminum is no different than polishing paint...you need a perfectly smooth surface to get the reflection you want. It just takes different products, and sacking up and taking sandpaper to things every once in a while.
Joined: Oct 2006
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From: Webb City, MO...out in the garage
mine had some pretty rough rash on them when i got 'em. they look immaculate now, or will soon, i'm still working on them. i only had trouble with one spot, it looked like a black smudge and would buff off, so i sanded and sanded and sanded then buffed the hell out of it....ended up putting a small flat spot on the lip of the rim and it's STILL THERE. i dunno if it's a flaw in the forging or what...but i gotta leave it i guess.
i'll post up some pics in a new thread here in a few days hopefully when they're done.
i'll post up some pics in a new thread here in a few days hopefully when they're done.
