I bought some used aluminum aftermarket wheels from a guy for pretty cheap. They were in rough shape, so I sanded the clear coat off, polished them and got them looking pretty good. My question is, should I put a few coats of clear coat on them or just leave them polished? I've never had much luck clear coating anything with a spray can, which would be my only way of applying it.

Thanks!

 

Bet that was a fair bit of work doing that cleanup and polishing.

I've never had much luck either clear coating like that out of a rattle-can. Most of the clear coat like that is designed to be the top coat of a primer or color base coat.

Depending on how much $'s you want to spend, doing a clear powder coat might work well for you. Or perhaps a rattle can of clear epoxy if you can hunt some of that down.

 

I assume you know that there are companies that do nothing but repair aluminum wheels? You are just doing this for entertainment?

At any rate they would be a good place for advice on the finish. Bare Aluminum is not going to stay pretty for long.

Here is one from GoOgle: Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists of Louisville, KY

 

x2 what donbrew says about bare aluminium not staying pretty long. One would have to devote the rest of their life to polishing them to keep the crud away.

 

I had the same dilemma last year. But after sanding down and polishing just one wheel ,i desided to powder coat them with chrome finish. Also did some research on clear coating polished aluminum. There are pretty much no durable products for that. Unless you have access to some industrial application equipment.

 

I fought polished aluminum rims for 12 years, buffed and polished every Thursday night during show season! Mothers power polish and a couple of power balls to bring out that shine!
I've said goodbye to billet and hello to base clear coat!!

 

The duplicolor wheel paint worked well for me and is still good after 6 years aside from touching up a few chips, but i did a color base coat then the clear, so im not surehow well the clear works on bare metal.

 

powder coat for the win here! just do it and support a local, like I did...

It's nearly indestructible.