Dirty whorish aluminum wheels

[Zaairman]

So, I picked up a set of Eagle Alloy 16" rims for the truck for an amazing price/deal (trade for my stock rims).  They're in good shape overall, but just haven't been regularly maintained like they should.  I figured with a bit of work they'll be in better shape than my stockers.  So, what would your plan of attack be for some aluminum in need of help?  Was thinking of seeing what I can get done with the Meguiar's Aluminum polish, but I think they'll need more help than that.  Pics to come soon...  Oh yeah, they are NOT mounted on the truck yet. 

[Kitzy]

Pictures? 

[Too Stroked]

I've gotta agree with ESF in that pics would be great, but I think it's safe to say that lots of polishing will get you where you want to go. Most Eagle Alloys are polished / uncoated aluminum though, so you're not only going to have your work cut out for you on bringing them back, but just maintaining them will bring tears to your eyes. (I use to have a set of polished / uncoated ETs on my 1976 Toyota and they were a true bear to keep looking good.)

I'm going to wait to see your pictures before offering more thoughts, but if you have a rotary and some old polishing pads, it will make the job go a lot faster. Oh, and do everything with the wheels off of the truck. Once they're on there, life gets really difficult.

[Kitzy]

I remove my wheels to polish.  It's just too much of a pain in the ass to polish them when they're on.  It just get's uncomfortable plus it gives me a chance to do the barrels really well.  I reason I ask for pictures is because I really had to go to town on my wheels last year because I let them go all winter.  Polish just wasn't enough for me.  My biggest problem was embedded brake dust.  Below is a thread I did last year on my wheels.  I think I have some more images from before that point where you can see how bad they were to being with.  I'll dig them up.
http://www.thedetailerscafe.com/smf/index.php?topic=1098.0

EDIT - Here are the pictures of how bad I let them get before I started attempting to clean them.  Basically, different cleaners and polishes got them to the point that they were in that thread.

[Zaairman]

ESF, the wheels look very much like yours did.  Quick question with the steel wool... Did you go any certain direction or just scrub the hell out of it? 

I'm emailing the pictures to myself right now... my card reader is broken for the digital camera, I dunno where the cord is.  My netbook just caught a f'n virus, so I can't use the card reader on that, so they're gonna be BlackBerry photos. 

[Kitzy]

I kind of went in directions that made sense given the design of the wheels.  I didn't necessarily try to keep all of the strokes going in the same direction.  It took some work but it was worth it.  You could also try and go about it the way Too Stroked suggested which is sand paper and continue to step down to finer grits.  It may be hard to get areas like where the lip transitions in to the face of the wheel though or like in the picture above where the face of the wheel steps down to the mounting area of the wheel, creating a lip.

[Zaairman]

Pics of the wheels:





Those tires are coming off tomorrow which will make it even easier to clean them up...  I'm definitely thinking the steel wool route.  Think that with some Meguiar's Metal polish would do the trick?  Also, that is the worst of the wheels, the rest are in better shape but still need some help.  The wheels are "dirty" in that pic, I washed them off Saturday PM, but they've been in the back of the truck since then.  None of that will wipe off with your finger. 

[Kitzy]

Yeah those are pretty rough looking.  Like everything, try the least aggressive thing first.  You don't want to have to do more work than necessary.  As for Meg's Metal Polish... I have no idea as I've never used it.  If that's what you have on hand then go for it.  Try just the polish first, preferrably on a terry cloth towel unless you're using a powerball of some sort.  Take it from there.  When I did mine, I did each wheel in quarters, almost like slices of pie.  Also you could try an old clay bar before the polishing.  It wasn't enough for my wheels but if I did it all over again I would still try the clay again.  You just never know. 

[Zaairman]

Yeah, claybar is a good idea.  I thought more about it and like 2Stroked's wetsanding idea.  Don't think I'd try the 400 though.  Gonna try clay and the polish first though.  Need to see if I can find my Powerball.  Used it once and wasn't a fan, but we'll see if I like it now. 

[Kitzy]

I'm kind of glad you decided to go with the sand paper.  It saves me from being the guinea pig later.  Thaks!  I don't think I'd start with anything coarser than 600.  As for the powerball, they tend to be a bit messy.  They suggest using a battery powered drill for better speed control but it doesn't matter.  It makes a mess either way.  They do work though.  I have the wool versions from LC currently but haven't given them a spin yet.  Keep us in the loop with how it all works out.

[Zaairman]

Wheels are at the tire shop now getting the tires removed...  This afternoon is oil change on the truck, but I have lots of free-time tomorrow, so we'll see what I get done...

[Zaairman]

Got the tires off, rims are in my apartment.  Couldn't help but give the worst one a quick trial test spot with Meguiar's Metal Polish.  It removed 75% of the crap from one spot after a quick scrubbing.

[Zaairman]

Welp, I lied.  The 2nd coat of wax is drying on the wheels right now.  Pics to come soon, but, process was claybar using Meguiar's Mild clay and UQD as lube (it's all I had), then buffed using a Mother's Powerball (the small one) and Meguiar's NXT All Metal Polish.  Used regular ole NXT for wax.  Wheels turned out great for the time I put in.  They're not perfect, but these aren't going to be my "perfect" wheels, that's what my 20"s are for... if I can ever afford tires.

[Kitzy]

Awesome.  Glad you didn't have to go through what I did.

[Zaairman]

After washing the wheels:





This wheel was especially  bad





So, step #1 was to claybar the wheels using Meguiar's Mild Detailing clay and Ultimate Quick Detailer as lube.
This removed a lot of the surface crap that was stuck on...





Here's the "bad" wheel after clay...



Next up was polishing the wheels using Meguiar's NXT Metal Polish and a Mother's Powerball (the small one), spun on my Kawasaki 21.8V drill.  This polish is a paste, not a liquid, so to get it on the wheel I'd scoop  it out with my hand and basically rub it on the wheel, then go at it with the powerball.  Here's a half and half shot of the "bad" wheel...



The bad wheel took two passes of polish to get it looking right.  The rest only required one.  I did half of a wheel at a time, working slow and making sure to go over everything at least twice. 



Next, the wheels (and center caps) were given a coat of Meguiar's NXT wax



Then I gave them another coat of wax, but no pics of that.

At the tire shop:


Then back at my apartment... Truck got a little muddy at the barn when I went there to put the stock rims in there til I can take them to my buddy.







I wasn't going for "perfect" here, once I get my 20"s mounted, these will be my winter rims.  But, I am VERY happy with how they turned out.