For the longest time i was trying to find a way to get the rims to shine better. so after some advice from my father and listening to the jacka$$ at the autoparts store. i bought mothers aluminum polish. i used it and the rims looked ok at first but after a few weeks i have swirl marks on the rims. i dont think we should be using this stuff on them???? its nothing noticable until you look at them close up. they still have a good mirror finish on them and still look great when clean. i am looking for suggestions on how to make them look "new" again. can they be waxed? or a different polish? thanks for any info

 

The "polished" factory rims are clear coated, so a product meant for bare aluminum wouldn't work. Two of my factory wheels show slight curb damage and what I plan to do is sand them down, polish them again and refinish with clear wheel coating. Or I may go with a Black chrome wheel finish, not decided on that yet. I'm going to be using these as my "winter" wheels and not sure how much time I'm going to spend on them......

But anyways, if all you have a swirl marks, a paint polishing compound and wax may get you back to where you want to be. (go lightly as you don't want to rub through that coating.) If the aluminum polish damaged the coating, though, you may have to refinish them...... Not sure how caustic that Mother's polish is, but it's not meant for coated wheels and probably says so on the package.

 

yea its my fault for not reading it and just trusting the "dude" at the store. because it is my daily driver i will not be doing anything drastic. but maybe ill try the wax thing. thanks greybeard

 

Sounds like the aluminum polish etched the painted clearcoat a bit. What did you use to apply the aluminum polish? If it was just by hand, then I would advise using one of the mothers power attachments for paint with some polishing product designed for clearcoat, it should clear it up easier than by hand.

 

Simple way to tell if aluminum is coated, rub a small spot w/compound & if rag does NOT turn black, it's coated..

 

well firestone scratched my rims when i got tires installed....they told me they would polish it out.....they got most of the scratches out but the outer part of the rims now look cloudy......so im wondering if i should take this one more step and get them to refinish or replace the rims........?????

 

They damaged them, they should refinish or replace them, IMO. Unless there's a fine print "we are not responsible for damage....." clause somewhere that they should have made you aware of before hand.

That cloudy edge may be bare aluminum..... they may have buffed the clear coat completely off.......

 

yea....i hate doing this cause u know their gona take it outa the techs pay.....but i guess i gota do it..........yea i figured thats what happend....

 

I know how you feel...... If you are confident with your skills you could polish and re-clear yourself. There's a good wheel coating available in rattle cans........ If not, then you'll have to let them deal with it.

 

True, but the Tech will learn a lesson also, which should make him more careful in the future..