Cleaning aluminum rims...?

for aluminum in bad shape from acid cleaning get a liquid rubbing compound like 3M with a red scotchbrite pad to get off the heavy stuff then a liquid polish like gords polish with 0000 steel wool then more liquid polish with a rag and buff

 

What to do with machined wheels on a swift truck that look like some knuckle head decided to keep running with loose/broken chains? Can I sand those deep (fingernail to pencil lead deep) pits out? I've polished on that wheel for hours. It looks good for about three days. Then goes back to looking like ash.

 

You CAN sand them out but it's a HUGE pain. If the truck is yours and you seriously want them polished I'd just swap them out with a polish shop. There's places around that do wheel exchanges or will machine polish yours. The guy here charges like $60 per wheel to machine polish them.


Like this place for example. But there are local places in ohio also.

 

Hitting rims with acid actually compounds the problem,yes it cleans them up pretty good in most cases.But the "clean" you see is actually more damage
to the alloy composition.
Have a good shop re'cut them and do it correctly,they will look much better
and with basic up keep the investment will have its returns in the same way doing it halfazzed

 

Haha, whatever. Been polishing wheels forever and aluminum brighter just removes oxidation. You CAN polish them without it but remember polishing is doing nothing more than removing a layer of metal. The more crap you can remove before you try and polish the easier the job will be. Saying acid hurts them is the same as saying polishing also hurts them. If you do it everyday for 1000yrs eventually you'll wear all the way through the wheel. If anyone wants to do it the hard way I've got several multi-axle trailers you can try you luck on.

 

GOOD POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!
However.....

Charcoal starter is a kerosene based product derived from petroleum crude oil.
Diesel fuel is also derived from petroleum crude oil.

According to "inter Fire Online", a fire training resource center, BOTH are fire accelerants.

Charcoal Starter is listed in Category #6
Flash point = 110*-162* F (42*-72*C)
Ignition temp = 410* F (210*C)

#2 Diesel is listed in Category #7
Flash point = 126*-204* F (52*-96* C)
Ignition temp = 494*F (257*C)


Hmmmmm.....,
To be safe, you may also want to stay away from diesel, eh???
Do they have electric motors that fit in a W9 ????

 

Just take them to a place that does machine polishing.. If they're that bad don't waste your time having them done by hand..

 

I'm looking at some stuff in a boating magazine called SHARKHIDE METAL PROTECTANT, don't know much about it, but they are showing it being used on pontoon hulls to fight oxidation in fresh and salt water.