I'm trying to decide what I want to do with my Mickey Thompson Classic II's. After Winter, the finish on them is really bad looking and after polishing them out last summer, I really don't have the time or the will to do it all over again. So I was wondering if anyone else had this issue? Since there's no clear coat on the wheels, polishing them after salt and road grime is a bit of a chore that I'm not looking forward to at all lol. I was thinking of using a scotch brite pad on them and just going for the brushed look or maybe getting them powder coated. If anyone has any good tricks to cleaning them up, please share the experience/opinion. I thought I saw a thread on here about someone who sanded them down, but I really don't want to have to do that every year.

 

That's the price to pay for good looking wheels.

 

Even when you spend hours on them though, they don't really end up with a good finish. I'm leaning towards getting them powdered.

 

This is why I got Eagle Alloy 185's. I hate polishing

 

I shoulda went with the dick cepek Dc7's

 

Just put some steel wool to them.. or the scotch brite stuff.

 

Won't it destroy the finish?

 

It shouldn't, I had some chrome 20" on a VW Jetta I had and I only ever used steel wool and a baking soda-water solution to clean the rims. They always had a mirror finish when I was done, no scratches.

 

Hmmm that's interesting. Steel wool would probably clean them up but quite honestly I was afraid of completely ruining them, but ill try anything at this point if my next option is powder coating. What grade of steel wool did you use?

 

#1 or #0 is what I used, the baking soda solution helps dissolve the salts and grime from the road and your brakes. I would definitely try to clean a small, inconspicuous spot on your wheels first though, just in case your chrome coating is more sensitive than mine.

 

I bought some 00 grade steel wool and am gonna try that first. I might need to get a grade a step more abrasive, but I'm gonna see how the 00 grade works first. Gonna post some before and after pics.

 

ok, so i stopped by the garage and tried out the 00 grade steel wool on the wheels...not much difference. So I got a little more abrasive and used a scotch brite pad. This worked better but I'd need to do it a few times with a good cleaner to remove all the stains off the wheels. Then I hit it with some Meguairs Hot Rims paste ad it doesnt look bad, but its going to be A LOT of work. Is there a way to protect these wheels in the winter? Someone told me a coat of Vaseline would protect them and keep the weather off them.

I'm still not sure what I want to do with them....I want to keep them, but do I polish them like this every year or get them powdered? I'm not sure what getting them powdered would turn out like......

 

How bad are they, pitted or just surface discolored ?
If just surface discolorations then sanding with variable grades of sand paper, starting with 400 wet/dry and going up to say 1500 or so or until you get a good finish then semi chrome polish with a buffing wheel, the more powerful the buffer the better.

If you are going to get them finished by painting (easiest to fix up) or if powder coating (hard to fix up) then you might be able to get them abrasive blasted and off to the finisher.
Contact whom ever would be finishing them or just a guy that knows and finding what the surface needs to look like then do it.

Just thinking out loud...

 

im gonna do a wheel tomorrow morning and see how it turns out before i resort to sandpaper....but I may need to go that route

 

I'm not saying use 36 grit paper, you start with fine wet sandpaper around 400 but 600 or 800 is good too.
Then move up.
Once you've gotten to 1500 grit wet paper it is the same as sand blasting just more work.

It is a process, you need to do it all or nothing.

Yu still need to decide where you are going with this before starting the project.

 

If you want them polished out like chrome, find a Semi Rim shop. They polish them cheap and they'll look great!!!

 

I ran into the same trouble. I was going to have them powder coated black, but just sold them and bought black Pro Comps instead. I wish I would have powder coated the MTs though, because I like the look of the fake bead lock.

 

Well I spent some time on the MT's this morning. I made the decision to try and save them before I resort to powdercoating. I hit them with some Hot Rims aluminum wheel cleaner and then with a scotch brite pad followed by some steel wool and a coat of Hot Rims polish. They actually came out pretty good. The front two need a little more work, but the scotch brite pads removed most of the stains from them and I'm pretty fond of the more "brushed" look. I'm going to do some extra work to the front rims and see if I can clean them up a little more. I'm hoping to either find a connection/extension or fabricate one for my Mothers Powerball wheel polisher so that I can use the Makita polisher on the wheels....that'll help burn off the stains. So far so good though. Thanks for all the help and ideas guys. Much appreciated as usual.

 

Any before and after pictures?

 

Happy you got them shined up man.

 

thats y if you are gonna run them in the winter you need to protect them. Plasti-dip works wonders and not hard to do.

 

Meguiars wheel polishing kit will make them look like new

 

Ok so they ended up pretty nice. I need to get some pictures tomorrow afternoon and get them posted. They kind of have a brushed finish to them now which I personally I like better. I'll take some shots tomorrow and get them posted.

 

An older truck driver I work with told me to find Alcoa wheel sealant. Keeps them looking good for a long time. This stuff:

http://fleetwheel.com/images/sealant.JPG