How-to: Polish heavily oxidized and pitted aluminum wheels
 

Original thread: https://www.ranger-forums.com/f59/ho...-wheels-68442/


Let the modding Begin!!

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How-to: Polish heavily oxidized and pitted aluminum wheels

In this how-to I will be showing you one method on bringing back the shine of a heavily pitted and oxidized aluminum wheel.

Materials needed:

• Garden hose
• Bucket
• Soap
• Rags
• Alum Polish
• 800 grit wet sand paper
• 1500 grit wet sand paper
• 2000 grit wet sand paper
• Spray Bottle

Procedure:

First clean your wheels, I like to use Simple Green because it does not hurt the alum wheel

here is the pitted and oxidized wheel(sadly thats even washed):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...2/IMG_1655.jpg
Attachment 115666


Next put some water in your bucket and spray bottle you can add a couple drops of dish soap for lubrication if desired

now keeping your wheel wet constantly, wet sand your wheel starting with 800 then 1500 then 2000. how anal you are about getting a good surface the better the wheel will look when its done...

here is the paper i used...

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...2/IMG_1662.jpg




here is the wheel finished wet sanded after the final 2000 grit.

Attachment 115667
Attachment 115668


here is pitted oxidized, wet sanded, polished (in that order)

Attachment 115669



now your ready to polish the wheel with alum polish. you can use little buffer wheels or by hand. how much time you spend here will determine how "chrome" like your finish will be..

here is the polish i used

Attachment 115670


now enjoy your NOT pitted and very well polished wheel....


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...2/IMG_1654.jpg
Attachment 115671
Attachment 115672

Time per wheel can range from 1 hour-12 hours depending on how bad the wheel is or how picky you are..

Nice job.....there's no sustitute for elbow grease and patience.

This would work for polished aluminum wheels correct? I have a bunch of free time this week and this looks like a great project.

If they aren't totally pitted or heavily oxidized, use steel wool. Start coarse and go to fine, then buff with the hot rims.

after sanding would you be able to paint the wheels or would that require more than just sanding

You could. Prime them with etching primer first. Then sand smooth. Then paint.

gave this a try on my seriously in need rims. there are some minor swirls but this was only with 4 hrs work total on two rims...i will post some pics in my gallery

Nice post deff gona do this soon! quest tho, what kind of preventative maintenance can I (someone) do to keep alum wheels looking great like that??

polishing and wet sanding them every now and again???

https://www.ranger-forums.com/attach...ine=1392311917

Haha, they're still pitted

You shouldn't use steel wool on aluminum

Curious as to why? Mine looked just like Stone's wheels when I started. They came out better, and without any pitting on them with the steel wool.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/attach...ine=1392733586

If you use steel wool on aluminum you will get micro splinters embedded in the rim. It will look great until the steel splinters rust. If you are going to paint the rims, using steel wool would work just fine.