Clear coat aluminum wheels

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Will12785

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I recently picked up a set of factory Ford Alcoa wheels to put on my truck. The wheels lived a hard ife of NY winters and had flaked off a lot of their original coating. Because of this, I decided to have them sandblasted. Now I'm not sure what direction to go with them.

What are the benefits or drawbacks of having them clearcoated? What should be considered before making my decision?
 
Assuming after sandblasting you'll finish them out to polished aluminum again...

Pros: Clearcoat will keep the finish protected just like the paint on your car. And you can wash them and wax them just like the paint on your car.

Cons: Will dull and stain really quickly when exposed to water. You will have to constantly polish them by hand often to make them look nice.
 
I always enjoy seeing a set of polished aluminum wheels on trucks. Once they've been sandblasted get them professionally polished to a mirror like finish and either ceramic coat them or clear coat them. If you take care of them with a ceramic coating you can easily re-polish them with a quality metal polish by hand and reapply the coating. If you decide to clear coat them there's always a chance that the aluminum with corrode underneath the clear coat and the only way to fix that is to strip the clear coat back off. Clear coated aluminum wheels are much easier to maintain, but nothing looks nicer than a set of polished aluminum wheels with no clear coat.

You could also get them powder coated. Lots of color options to choose from when going this route.

Good luck with the Alcoa wheels.
 
Bobby B. said:
I always enjoy seeing a set of polished aluminum wheels on trucks. Once they've been sandblasted get them professionally polished to a mirror like finish and either ceramic coat them or clear coat them. If you take care of them with a ceramic coating you can easily re-polish them with a quality metal polish by hand and reapply the coating. If you decide to clear coat them there's always a chance that the aluminum with corrode underneath the clear coat and the only way to fix that is to strip the clear coat back off. Clear coated aluminum wheels are much easier to maintain, but nothing looks nicer than a set of polished aluminum wheels with no clear coat.

You could also get them powder coated. Lots of color options to choose from when going this route.

Good luck with the Alcoa wheels.
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This is the route I'm going to go with. I'm looking for that polished aluminum look and hadn't considered ceramic before. Thanks for the recommendation!
 
For me, the beneift of staying non polished is the SHINE you'll get from them when polished. BUUUT because tehy're non polished, the draw back then is maintenance, pittting, etc.
 
So here's the plan, now that the wheels are back from sandblasting.

I'm going to wet sand them 600, 800, then 1000 grit.

After that I'll use Wolfgang MetallWerk Aluminum Polishing Kit. Ill apply it with Lake Country 6.5 FLAT Pads starting with yellow, then white, then blue.

Once it's fully polished I'll finish the job with Wolfgang Uber Ceramic Coating Complete Kit.
 
Sizzle Chest said:
Get them powder coated
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This would be my advice too.

I've owned four vehicles with wheels which were totally polished/brushed metal and clear coat or with a mixed brushed/painted areas. In all four cases the clear coat has failed despite my best attempts at maintaining them. Never again. They look good, but the clear coat layer never seems very durable when applied to a brushed metal surface. I think a nice hyper silver powder coated finish with a gloss top layer would look just as good and be far more durable.
 
Give it a try, but you might need to step up to a rotary polisher with airway buffing wheels to remove the sanding marks. Please post some pictures of the process. Good luck!
 
Will12785 said:
So here's the plan, now that the wheels are back from sandblasting.

I'm going to wet sand them 600, 800, then 1000 grit.

After that I'll use Wolfgang MetallWerk Aluminum Polishing Kit. Ill apply it with Lake Country 6.5 FLAT Pads starting with yellow, then white, then blue.

Once it's fully polished I'll finish the job with Wolfgang Uber Ceramic Coating Complete Kit.
Click to expand...

Your going to polish sanding marks with a 6.5" pad? Is this a rotary or DA?
 
Will12785 said:
So here's the plan, now that the wheels are back from sandblasting.

I'm going to wet sand them 600, 800, then 1000 grit.

After that I'll use Wolfgang MetallWerk Aluminum Polishing Kit. Ill apply it with Lake Country 6.5 FLAT Pads starting with yellow, then white, then blue.

Once it's fully polished I'll finish the job with Wolfgang Uber Ceramic Coating Complete Kit.
Click to expand...
My advice before you do anything else...give Evans Detailing and Polishing out of chilton wisconsin a call. Those wheels would be right up his allie. Atleast ask for some advice.
Evan knows his stuff and is damn good.

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Bobby B. said:
Give it a try, but you might need to step up to a rotary polisher with airway buffing wheels to remove the sanding marks. Please post some pictures of the process. Good luck!
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Thanks. I'll look into that.

Rsurfer said:
Your going to polish sanding marks with a 6.5" pad? Is this a rotary or DA?
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DA. If that won't work I'm open to suggestions. This is my first time doing this level of work.

opie said:
My advice before you do anything else...give Evans Detailing and Polishing out of chilton wisconsin a call. Those wheels would be right up his allie. Atleast ask for some advice.
Evan knows his stuff and is damn good.
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I will look him up.
 
The only way that I have ever been able to get rid of sanding marks is ending with 3600 grit paper, and using a hybrid wool pad on a rotary. A DA won’t touch it. I don’t know how you get a rotary inside all the complicated radaii and surfaces of a wheel.
 
glen e said:
The only way that I have ever been able to get rid of sanding marks is ending with 3600 grit paper, and using a hybrid wool pad on a rotary. A DA won’t touch it. I don’t know how you get a rotary inside all the complicated radaii and surfaces of a wheel.
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You can mount a buffing pad and use the side edge to get in pretty easily though those are often used with rouge bars for the polishing product. But I’d also agree you want to get up past 2000 grit before starting on polishing metal.
 
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