mine were already stripped but this is what i did....
Here I polished my stock 88-90 style 17" rims. When I got them they were already unclear coated and polished but as we all know road grime will make them dull. I found this out the hard way and thought they were clear coated and was getting tired of Brake Dust so I found a Meguires product for rims and I used it. Much to my suprise they clouded up and turned from a Mirror finish to a dull yellow runny ruined rim! I was freaking out and took it to my detailer and he gave me some
Wenol to try. I worked great! I've heard guys wet sanding each rim and I wasn't about to do that especially if I can get them polished/buffed from WheelWorx in my local area! So last year I had a gig at a Mercedes Dealer and the Detail guy was a friend of mine. We quickly struck a deal, since I was giving him a ride to work, to wash my car once a week. Well he wanted to do a good job and used a similar product to clean the rims and it clouded and hazed them up! (he still owes me a cleaning!) Now I try and polish them twice a year at least. I use a product called
Wenol . This stuff works Great! If your not sure if your rims are clear coated or already polished use these tips from the
Wenol site!
*COATED / ANODIZED ALUMINUM
Many factory and aftermarket aluminum wheels and accessories have protective coatings. If you're not sure if your wheels or trim are coated, apply a little polish to the surface and rub - if no black residue appears the surface is coated. In order to polish these surfaces you must first remove the coating. Many professional polish shops use “aircraft stripper” for this job. Use these products with caution and never use them on or near your painted surfaces. IMMEDIATE damage WILL occur! For more information on strippers contact your local automotive paint supply outlets. Be sure to follow safety precautions and manufacturers' recommendations.*
What I used was a toothbrush for the sides and edges. Then I used an electric heavy duty drill. A 5 1/2" sanding pad for a drill and covered it with a 5 1/2" polishing bonnet sold at Home Depot. I scrubbed the sides and edges for about a good hour with the toothbrush per rim. Then I took the drill and polish and polished them with a good amount of Wenol. Don't be shy with the polish! Use ALOT! I used alot on the first pass on each rim. Then I spot checked them after buffing with a clean cotton rag to remove all excess polish so I could see where I missed. I repolished by adding alittle Wenol to the buffing pad. I went over each rim about 4 times total with about 2 hours total in each rim while the car was on the ground sitting in my driveway!
Before:
You can clearly see the haze/cloudiness of the rim. The bad spots almost look White.
Driver's Side Front rim is done. Rear is not. Big Difference Eh? Sorry bout the lighting. It was starting to get dark. Luckily I have a big spot light on the side of the house right there
and After...
Anyone need a Mirror to shave? This project on a 1 to 10 scale an easy 2. It just takes patience. I still don't have them shining like I want but a quick going over before Hot Rod week at Ocean City Maryland and they will look like mirror's!
