Cleaning nasty aluminum wheels

SOS pads work good takes a lot of scrubbing but gets grime off so you can polish them back up or sand them but steel wool pads and soap are a good place to start. Just my opinion tho.

 

I polished a bunch of rims like that when I was a kid for a neighbour. He was running to the US a lot and wanted his truck looking good so the DOT would be less likely to hassle him. I started out with SOS pads and it was taking too long so I used an air orbital sander first, then hit them with the metal polish on a low speed electric buffer. Took a lot of elbow grease and time but they turned out pretty good compared to what I had started with.

 

If you are pulling the wheels off, sand them with a da/orbital sander with 320 grit. Don't be scared. Get down to the aluminum. Use a an electric sander with a red wheel and brown clay bar. Work it good, just in any one spot too long. Swap out for a yellow wheel and brown bar. When it's looking good, move on to a green wheel and green bar. Work it good. Finally, use a white wheel and white bar. Finish up by hand with the pro zypher liquid polish. Be lookin better than new. Warning, be prepared to spend an hour or two on each wheel, start to finish.

 

If you're NOT removing the wheels, go to West Memphis Flying J and wait for a guy walking around to hit you up. 20 bucks a rim or so

 

Chemical guys Diablo wheel cleaner hands down best wheel cleaning product i have ever used. Spray it on let it sit for about 10 minutes then wipe away

 

Toilet bowl cleaner works great. It takes all the brake dust off and rust build up on the inside rims. Turns the rim white so will need a good polishing.

 

That much?
I don't remember where it was, but I got all 6 rims polished for $20.
He did such a nice job and spent so much time on it, I gave him an extra $20.

 

They are cheap to buffed if they are in decent shape, but according to what you said i would have them acid wash then another round of wash with soap, then you are ready for serious business......orbital AIR powered sander then buffed with electric buffer.

Don't be shy with the sander you might have to go deep to get them back to look good, believe me it's a lot's of work to ride a shiny truck but it's worth it, been doin it for more than 20 years.

 

Or ... take the 4 worse off, sell them for a $100 bucks a piece and dig deep into your wallet and get 4 of the newest generation of wheels. I'm afraid if you take off the factory polish, you'll never get a lasting polish back, no matter but I will defer to others who say otherwise.

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