Polishing aluminum wheels

[krzdimond]

I just came into possession of some rough Impala SS wheels and the clear coat was failing. I stripped off the old clear and now I am trying to polish the wheels. I am using the Mothers aluminum wheel polish (paste) with a mini power ball and it's not working as I expected (it's all shiny, but I can still see the difference). My question is this: Which is better, a chemical brightener/polish, or a mechanical (buff) polish? I have seen on other sites a liquid chemical that polished immediately, but they scare me.

Here is a representative photo after stripping the clear.... they all look similar. Under the clear it was bright and shiny, while the naked aluminum is dull.

 

[GearHead_1]

I would think that the Mothers polish would kind of be like the final step in polishing a wheel like this. You may want to start with a media blast or a more aggressive polish moving towards Mothers polish. I've recently seen some pistols that have been polished with Mothers and they turned out fantastic. The users comments were without exception how much work it had been using Mothers to get them into that shape. They all felt like they would have been better off to start with a more aggressive compound. Granted most of the pistols were stainless steel but some of the frames were aluminum. You are working with an aluminum wheel but aluminum can be tough to work with it really tends to gum up the polishing media. I would think you would have to clean the Powerball frequently at the very least.

 

[krzdimond]

Gearhead, thanks for the quick reply.If the mothers is designed to be a "finishing" polish, that would explain a LOT and, yes, the ball gets gumed up pretty quick. I have some rubbing compound, I'll see how that works.

hmmmmm, I wonder how the AFP would work???

Robert

 

[ScottB]

did you ever think of buying them new ?? ROH was the manufacturer as memory serves. Those are going to need alot of work, maybe simply having them powdercoated would be a better and less expensive option ??