# Ace's Guide to polishing Aluminum Rims.



## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

I came across a set of polished aluminum wheels for a pretty good price, but someone had been neglecting them for the last couple years. So i decided id find out what worked best to clean these wheels up and make them look like new. Should be easy right, WRONG takes some time and sweat. So here is a write up from my own personal experience on how to clean rims and what works best. Like it, love it, use it, or hate it heres my .02. 


The rims i started with









Some Close ups 
















As you can see a lot of staining and dirt build up. Just all around very dull, dirty, stained, and grimey. 

Here is with mothers metal polish by hand. On the spoke in the center right side was polished with cleaner then buffed off. 









Here is the first set of products i used. 


















And here is how it looks after going over one time took about 6 hours. 









Next i used 800 grit sand paper and wet sanded and redid all the polishing again with the speed ball on the bigger parts and on the lip and all crevices where the spokes meet the lip i did by hand. 








Hard to see. 









Heres one that i went over twice compared to one in the shape i got them in. 










So i was happy with it but not overly happy with how it looked and i went over them again which helped but still not 100% so i went back today and got some other products. I wanted to get Blue Magic Metal cleaner and Never Dull but the never dull was sold out so i settled for just the blue magic. 
I took one of the rims i was already done with and did 4 different things on the lip all next to each other. 
The new product, Blue Magic and 1500 Grit Sandpaper. 


















From Left to right coming around the bottom i did: 
1500 Grit with a dry microfiber towel polish after, Blue Magic polish, 1500 Grit wetsand and Blue Magic, 1500 Grit wetsand and Mothers. 
I KNOW THESE ARE HARD TO SEE BUT TAKE MY WORD FOR RESULTS. 

















RESULTS:
Blue magic by itself works best for an already clean surface like i was using. Tomorrow im going to get 2000 grit and see how it looks, but with 1500 then blue magic it took me 2 times to polish it to not notice the very small scratches. IN conclusion for upkeep use blue magic which also leaves a silicone layer to help protect and seal the rims as well. Mothers does not offer any such protection. FOR ROUGH rims like i had i reccomend using the powerball first with the powerball wax then using 800 grit then 1500 grit and then the power ball again to knock down any left over scratches and then blue magic which is what i will do with my remaining rims. Let me know if this helped at all or if there is anything else you want me to try. 
Thanks
JB


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## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

Well i finally got around to a test session. I tested everything on an untouched rim. No sanding , no previous polishing . 
The Wheel of the test 








close up 








The products








From left to right the products are: 
Mothers Metal Polish, Meguiars Hot Rims Mag& Aluminum Polish, Nevr Dull, Eagle One Nano Wax, Blue Magic, Noxon Metal Polish, and Mothers Powerball Aluminum Polish. 

I then took a highlighter and marked sections for each product and used each per instructions 
Here is after polish is on 








After wiping the polish off here are the results of the seven products. 

















So after all the testing and products id have to say the best 2 products are Meguiars and Blue Magic with the Mothers in the can in second place. I still need to sand and stuff for the rims in the bad spots but as far as just polish goes those are my findings.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 16, 2005)

Nice job. Thanks for documenting it.


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## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

no problem i figured i had to spend all the money to find the best product any way so no reason not to fill others in


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## BlackSapphire (Apr 16, 2008)

Did I read that right? You polished one wheel for 6 hours? Wow.... that's some serious dedication there.


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## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

yea the first one. I went over it like 3 times and i had to do it by hand in most spots then i had to wetsand it cause the water stains and grime wouldnt come off. Thats why i did all this to find the best method haha.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 16, 2005)

BlackSapphire said:


> Did I read that right? You polished one wheel for 6 hours? Wow.... that's some serious dedication there.


We can learn a lot from people who pursue things obsessively


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## BlackSapphire (Apr 16, 2008)

Rudeboy said:


> We can learn a lot from people who pursue things obsessively


No doubt!


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## semipimpedauto (May 29, 2008)

for the waterspots, you could have tried vinegar.


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## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

no i havent i have never heard of that? Have you had success with it on polished aluminum


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## Genxx (Mar 18, 2007)

A few more products that if you can find them might even help out a little more or make things easier. I am not saying they wil better than what you have tried but I have used them with great success currently and in the past. So just some FYI I guess.

Another product that myself and a lot of my Harley Buddies use is called *xtreeme metal polish*. Problem is it can be hard to find even to buy online and all my old places I used to be able to get it no longer carry it. I use what I have left sparingly because it is so hard to find. It has done an excellent job on everything I have tried it on. Everything from chrome to aluminum. There is also a product the truckers us but cannot remember the name of it but the one time I found some I was impressed.

Here is a link to what xtreem look like if you can find it.
http://www.texbrite.com/products/xtreem-metal-polish-majic.htm


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## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

Genxx said:


> A few more products that if you can find them might even help out a little more or make things easier. I am not saying they wil better than what you have tried but I have used them with great success currently and in the past. So just some FYI I guess.
> 
> Another product that myself and a lot of my Harley Buddies use is called *xtreeme metal polish*. Problem is it can be hard to find even to buy online and all my old places I used to be able to get it no longer carry it. I use what I have left sparingly because it is so hard to find. It has done an excellent job on everything I have tried it on. Everything from chrome to aluminum. There is also a product the truckers us but cannot remember the name of it but the one time I found some I was impressed.
> 
> ...


thanks for the info... heres a link to 12 cans of it, gonna b 10 or 11 cause i might steal a couple to try out. thought id give you the link since u said it was hard to find


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## Genxx (Mar 18, 2007)

Shoot me the link I need some more.


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## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

OOPPS i meant to put it in there haha my bad.. 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Meta...013QQitemZ230207633913QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

i hope its good i went ahead and got 2 cans of it


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## Genxx (Mar 18, 2007)

I will be buying 2 cans of it. Thanks for the link. Should have known ebay would have some.LOL


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## Ace (Jan 29, 2008)

as soon as you said it was hard to find i got on ebay haha.


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## MACS (Oct 3, 2007)

For badly neglected or pitted rims you can save a lot of time by using buffing wheels and cutting compounds. The "buff balls" and parts store wheel polish will take forever on a bad set of rims.


Just using this kit as an example:
http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=949&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=433&iSubCat=436&iProductID=949

Then follow it up with white rouge for the mirror finish:
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=435&itemType=CATEGORY&iMainCat=433&iSubCat=435


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