Wheels too far gone?

Y2KSVT

Y2KSVT

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I'm curious of you think these wheels are too far gone. My wife bought this car a few years ago, a little before we met. Of course, the salesman told her she was getting something special because of the "upgraded" wheels. Personally, I think I'd rather she had factory hubcaps than these things. I'm curious if there's any way of salvaging these wheels, or if they're doomed. I just did a full blown detail on her car and to be honest, didn't even touch the wheels, not even drying them after the wash/rinse. Nothing on my shelf was going to help any of this, so I'm coming to the pros. Are there any products and tools that I could use to get these wheels shining again? Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

These wheels are very common:

IMG_2399.jpg


Some kind of pitting, most likely caused by baked in brake dust:

IMG_2403.jpg


Another angle:

IMG_2401.jpg




Mark
 
I would give them a shot, you have in mind that maybe they are too far to be saved, in meaning you cannot do anything worse. i see alot of these where i work and they dont look too bad, but maybe taking care of them while its on the verge of no return maybe you can prolong the life of them.
 
If you un mount the tires you can bring it to a local powdr coat or paint shop and get it dont for a decent price. I know there is a shop here in FL that paints (not powder coats) and bakes the paint on for $70 a wheel. Powder coating run between $80-110 a wheel depending what you want to get. But I would give it a shot. The wheels wouldnt look bad if the finish was nice
 
The thing is, these are 15" wheels so I could probably buy brand new replacements for $100 a piece. I'm just looking for possible ways of refinishing them myself. My main concern is the lip, and whether or not that stuff you see will come out or not. I'm not exactly sure if the lip is polished aluminum or is some sort of coating that's coming off.

What would you guys suggest I try first? Any thoughts? I'm only concerned with the lips, which appear to be machined or polished. The painted parts of the wheels look fine.

Mark
 
Okay, so the searching I've done online say that they are machined aluminum. If that's the case, I'm assuming all of the faces are machined as well as the lips, and I can tell that everything else was painted.

Knowing this, should I be able to sand out those imperfections? Should I stick with some sort of aluminum polish and steel wool #0000? Unfortunately, I don't see one of those Mothers foam balls scratching the surface on these.

Mark
 
They look like clear-coated alloy. The white stuff looks like lost clear-coat and oxidized aluminium.

Have you tried concentrated all purpose cleaners? For example, Castrol SuperClean? As long as you don't leave it on the wheel for more than 20 seconds, it will not harm them.

Another product to try is Brasso. It will not harm the clear coated wheel and if it is non-clear-coated, it will clean the aluminum well. I used it to clean the grungy clear-coated wheels of my Odyssey. Brasso and Castrol SuperClean were the only stuff that made any difference on those wheels.

- Vikas
 
I haven't tried anything, yet. None of it wipes off with any type of towels. To be honest, I'm not sure if the polished areas of the wheels are clear coated, or just the painted parts. The face and lip are machine polished from what I've gathered, and as you can see that the open areas of the wheel are painted silver.

Mark
 
The wheel lip looks just like neglected, uncoated, polished aluminum on Harley wheels after the brake dust and crud is left to etch into the surface. Kind of hard to tell from pictures but it looks like the rest of the wheel may be coated and the coating is lifting. You may be able to do something with the lip with progressive wetsanding but I doubt there's anything short of refinishing that will help the rest of the wheel if they are coated.

TL
 
Thanks, TL!

I think I'll try the wet sanding idea, and if all goes well, I should be able to shine them up with some metal polish. The painted areas still look great, but the etching on the faces and lip need some attention.

Since you have experience with this, would you suggest 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand paper, or will I need something more course at the beginning, due to sanding on metal?

Mark
 
Looks like a time for expirimentation; consider them ruined and then have a go at them. You probably won't make them any worse and you may salvage them.


Cliff
 
If you have the time to spend on them, I would get yourself a cheap brush and a quart of paint stripper. Strip the clear off of them and further inspect the damage. From there, you can polish the rim or re-clear it.
 
Thanks for all the advice, guys. I'm going to start by going to town on them with anything and everything I have at my immediate disposal, so cleaners, brushes, sandpaper, etc. You're right, I really can't make them look any worse. I've even considered sanding everything smooth and then painting them, so if nothing else, they're at least uniform. I'll update this thread with what I'm able to do with them.

Mark
 
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