What to use to clean polished alum wheels?

[k9t8m]

I dont want to ruin my polished alum wheels, anyone have any products they suggest?

[Cuban.]

dont do what i did and spray them with chrome rim cleaner. the acid murdered my rims. I stick to McGuire's Hot Rims Aluminum on my rims now and it's great. After that i go over them with a coat of Mother's Polish

[Chingon HD]

wednol, i might have the spelling wrong, but you'll have to order it

[1988 GMC 355]

Chemical guys and poor boys both make a wheel sealant after you polish that I have heard is greaT! also the armor all wheel protectant is freaking awesome! use it after everytime you wash your truck after the wheels have dried(lug holes too) and you spray it on heavy and then no water spots :D

[bocker20]

If they need to be polished, a mini buffer with Flitz or jeweler's rouge works really well. Takes a bit of time and patients but the results are worth the effort. Be sure to wear a respirator and it wouldn't hurt to put a nice coat of wax/sealant over top when done to protect from the elements.

[rabiddawg]

any good polish will do,
but the secret is to use cornstarch to pull out the polish residue in the pores the wax with a good wax or glaze.
btw those expensive sealants are just glaze.

[gmctrucks]

Use a Power Ball it will help you from what I heard also if there is a truck stop close to you stop in and see what they have.

[ragmc]

Best stuff I have found is http://www.meguiarsdirect.com/product_detail.do?q=MEG+G13508

[CustomChevyGuy]

Blue Coral made this stuff that looked like windex, but it was specifically for aluminum rims. I had great results with it. You just sprayed it, let it sit and bubble, it would turn dark, then you rinsed it off, and dried the rims. They looked amazing!

[rick90gmc]

ive always used Blue Magic, comes in a little blue 7oz container at most parts stores (get mine at autozone) think its only around 6 bucks, apply heavy the more elbow you put into it the nicer it turns out, once it starts turning real dark let it dry for a bit & wipe clean with a clean rag... the more time you want to spend rubbing the stuff in real good the nicer the results

[rick90gmc]

as far as blue magic goes: if anyones ever used the "purple stuff" polish alot of detailers use to polish alloy its kinda like that but thicker & i think it works better, ive probable polished 50 semi tanks with buffing wheel & that purple stuff & the Blue Magic dose even better for me anyway

[Bullitt1672]

Do the wheels still have a clear-coat on them? If they do, and you want to keep that on there I'd use a clear-coat safe compound like they would use to buff paint. If not any aluminum polish would work and would suggest adams metal polish solely on the great things I hear. If the wheels do have the clear, I would strip it using that aircraft stripper stuff. You can get your wheels looking like a mirror then after a good polish (I believe there is a pretty good step by step with pictures write-up on ls1tech about it). Like others have said though, once you get them shined up protect them with some sort of wheel wax (DP wheel wax is good) or a long lasting paint sealant like what Wolfgang offers. Regular wax for paint wouldnt last 2 weeks on wheels.

[Bigredmariner]

Like Bullitt said, if they are clear coated treat them just like your paint. If not and the oxidation isn't too bad Adam's Metal Polish #1 will do a pretty nice job of cleaning them up. Here's a video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-t4YwQZ0MT8

[NHurless93]

My M/T's are uncoated polished aluminum and the best thing i have found to do is wash them with Meguiars hot rims cleaner MAKE SURE you get the aluminum formula and not the chrome (i have heard horror stories about people using chrome formula on aluminum wheels) and after i dry them hit them with Meguiars hot rims aluminum polish and use a sealant, i use the alcoa stuff or some other aluminum sealant or wheel wax to keep them looking nice and shiny

[1997Chevy!]

Dont waste money on a $20 powerball, get a old rag and any aluminum polish go over them real quick and then rinse with soap and water.

Clean with water and Dawn dish soap polish repeat rinse! and bam nice looking wheels.
If they are in really bad shape it may take awhile to polish back up but trust me its worth it, i have lots of time in hand polishing and i keep on doing it since i love the look.

[Cajohnson]

I make homeade polish and it works better than anything i have used. I just mixed a little bit of mineral spirits, lighter fluid, different rouge bars depending on what i am polishing, and some carnuba wax. I mix it in a milk jug and let it sit for about 3 days shaking it every now and then so the rouge bars will dissolve. Then i work into the aluminum until it turns dark black. If you make sure to clean all the residue away it creates a mirror shine almost every time. I've sanded rough aluminum castings until they were smooth and then used the stuff i make as a buffing compound and made a mirror shine on the castings.

[Mark13]

I use California Custom's aluminum deoxidizer and then aluminum polish.

My results with a reasonable amount of time spent:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t115/MarkM13/IMG_3810-1.jpg
They hadn't been polished in 2-3 years at the least, probably more like 4 years.

Same products used on a friends trucks. These wheels have 1.2 million on them.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t115/MarkM13/IMG_3803.jpg

[dstoltenberg]

x2 on the meguires

[kemble]

Smithbrite, find it and try it. Works great on all uncoated metals.

[moogvo]

After WEEKS of SCRUBBING on my wheels and getting them to what I thought was nice, I saw this stuff at Lowe's next to the diamond plate tool boxes called "Diamond Brite". I got a bottle and to test it, I applied a little to one of my wheels with a napkin and buffed it off. No hard work at all and it came out AWESOME! (Now, I have to go do all of the aluminum on the truck again...)

It is NOT safe for coated surfaces!

[Catalina]

Mothers polish works good but seem to take a while when using it. It depends on how stained the rims are. mine were pretty bad and still could use a couple more cleanings. When you are rubbing the solution on the wheels it will turn black from the oxidation. This tends to ruin microfiber towels. So if you use mothers polish, I would recommend having a separate set of towels for you rims and a set for you car.

[ieetgluu]

Mine were heavily oxidized and I used an old can of Mothers Aluminum/Magnesium Polish and, while it will probably make some people cringe, a few scotch brite pads. And lots of elbow grease too. In most cases im sure an abrasive like scotch brite isnt neccesary, but it my case it was very neccesary.

[ChevyLs1z]

I'm with Chingon HD...Wenol it is the best stuff I have used