Polishing Alcoa wheels

Sanding is about it.One guy used aircraft stripper on his

catldog wrote:
Anyone have any experience with aluminum wheels that have the coating that is bad and unable to polish the wheel properly.I had a manufacturers rep with a product called Nuvite tell me that the coating had to be removed before their polish will work, that was their experience with Airstreams,any thoughts? Thanks jg

Nuvite is an aluminum polish, it doesn't polish any clear coat.

But you can polish thru it eventually.

I set my wheel on a front hub so it can spin. then use my 7" angle grinder with a cotton 12" buff, and red rouge for the first polish, get it clean, then a new buff and aluminum polish, the wheel must be free to spin.

polishing a front wheel

I treat mine the same as paint, use clay bar, cutting compound, polish then wax. The problem with bare aluminum is the maintenance in retaining the shine. I'm sure there is firefighter on this forum who could relate.

Mine are coated and specifically state do not polish. If you're are the same, you'll have to remove all the coating before you can polish...Dennis

I don't have Alcoa's but I have alloy wheels and they were in terrible condition. My Sidekick was from the OR coast and someone tried to remove the oxidation and clearcoat with sandpaper and screwed them up, following the removal of the oxidation he spray painted the wheels and that turned yellowish.

I decided to refinish the wheels and bought a couple of cans of clearcoat remover from Pep Boys. I used my 7" sander/buffer from HF and a set of cotton wheels and their polishing and buffing compounds to get a great shine. Some of the sandpaper marks were so deep I used 500 and then 1500 W&D sandpaper to remove the marks. The smoother the finish before buffing the easier it will be to get a great shine.

I bought a can of spray paint for the area between the spokes and when I get back from Idaho at the end of the month I will finish the job by clearcoating the wheels. My local bodyshop(I've known the owner since High School) suggested the remover and clearcoat. I'm getting a quart from a auto paint store and will use my gravity sprayer.

The remover is very hard on you if you inhale the fumes. I used my 3M Dual Element Mask I use for sanding and painting. Some places took two or three application of the remover and a nylon scrub brush.

It's a lot of work but those wheels really look great.

PS: smacdiesel is right about keeping the shine but it is nothing compared to keeping Brass, Gunmetal and copper polished in a submarine.

catldog wrote:
Anyone have any experience with aluminum wheels that have the coating that is bad and unable to polish the wheel properly.I had a manufacturers rep with a product called Nuvite tell me that the coating had to be removed before their polish will work, that was their experience with Airstreams,any thoughts? Thanks jg

catldog,
The topic of polishing aluminum wheels has been discussed just a FEW times on here and other RV forums. I've been polishing aluminum for decades. It started in '70 when I purchased my first "Norton" (British) motorcycle. I've been polishing aluminum ever since. There is no magic elixir to getting aluminum to shine like chrome. The answer is, LABOR, PERIOD! It takes lots of labor and effort to get the results one wants.

And, as you've found out, the factory will apply a coating on some of its wheels and, on some it won't. That's all based on who's purchasing them and their requirements. Now, if yours does have a coating on them, then it will be just a tad bit of work to get it off so that you can then move forward in obtaining the polished look you'd like to see.

Most of the time, the coating that is used on most wheels is a clear Urethane. It's a pretty darn hard substance. It can be chipped but, not all that easy. Now, I personally have only removed one coating, from one wheel, in my lifetime. And that was on an actual "chrome" steel wheel. I used Lacquer thinner for that task, way back when I did it. It took quite a bit to get that coating to loosen up.

But, if I were you, I'd maybe make two phone calls. One would be to Accuride which, is the maker of many of the aluminum wheels on many of our RV coaches and see what they would recommend for the removal of the coating that THEY applied to them in the first place. The second call might be to a Professional Auto Paint supplies establishment. They are some of the best on chemicals to be used for what purpose, in the auto industry. They have paint strippers, which would include paint from steel, fiberglass, aluminum and more.

Now, once you've found out what chemical to use, and have used it, now you're ready to start the process of polishing. If you're lucky, the condition of the wheels will be such that, you won't need much work to get them to where you'll be happy with them. If the coating removal chemical did not do any cosmetic damage to a somewhat polished surface, you're in great shape.

If, that's the case, then you can simply get some good microfiber cloth and, one of many Aluminum polishing pastes/liquids/compounds on the market. Every body has there top choice. I've used probably a dozen different pastes, compounds, rouges, liquids and more. I've got that many sitting on the shelf now. To date, with all the products I've used so far, Mothers is close to the top rank in leaving the shiniest results.

This is kind of, a matter of preference. I've used Semi-Chrome, Mothers, Brown and white rouge bars, Zephyr 40 (a Costco on line item only) and more. But, that's enough information for you to get started with anyways. Good luck. Remember, it's only LABOR!
Scott

I use mothers with a couple of their polishing balls on a electric drill.
Works fantastic

I think the OP is saying that the coating is peeling in a few places? if the coating is just dull then buff as you would any other paint. it is a lot of work, but looks good when done.

Do you have a pic of the wheel?

I will get a pic of my wheels if I can figure out how to load it,the wheels are coated,the coating is similar to what is on the Airstream trailers,on their forums they have used aircraft strippers and various paint removers to get this stuff off.I would like to avoid the aggressive sanding if I can.Sounds like another project.Thanks Again jg

FIRE UP wrote:

catldog wrote:
Anyone have any experience with aluminum wheels that have the coating that is bad and unable to polish the wheel properly.I had a manufacturers rep with a product called Nuvite tell me that the coating had to be removed before their polish will work, that was their experience with Airstreams,any thoughts? Thanks jg

catldog,
The topic of polishing aluminum wheels has been discussed just a FEW times on here and other RV forums. I've been polishing aluminum for decades. It started in '70 when I purchased my first "Norton" (British) motorcycle. I've been polishing aluminum ever since. There is no magic elixir to getting aluminum to shine like chrome. The answer is, LABOR, PERIOD! It takes lots of labor and effort to get the results one wants.

And, as you've found out, the factory will apply a coating on some of its wheels and, on some it won't. That's all based on who's purchasing them and their requirements. Now, if yours does have a coating on them, then it will be just a tad bit of work to get it off so that you can then move forward in obtaining the polished look you'd like to see.

Most of the time, the coating that is used on most wheels is a clear Urethane. It's a pretty darn hard substance. It can be chipped but, not all that easy. Now, I personally have only removed one coating, from one wheel, in my lifetime. And that was on an actual "chrome" steel wheel. I used Lacquer thinner for that task, way back when I did it. It took quite a bit to get that coating to loosen up.

But, if I were you, I'd maybe make two phone calls. One would be to Accuride which, is the maker of many of the aluminum wheels on many of our RV coaches and see what they would recommend for the removal of the coating that THEY applied to them in the first place. The second call might be to a Professional Auto Paint supplies establishment. They are some of the best on chemicals to be used for what purpose, in the auto industry. They have paint strippers, which would include paint from steel, fiberglass, aluminum and more.

Now, once you've found out what chemical to use, and have used it, now you're ready to start the process of polishing. If you're lucky, the condition of the wheels will be such that, you won't need much work to get them to where you'll be happy with them. If the coating removal chemical did not do any cosmetic damage to a somewhat polished surface, you're in great shape.

If, that's the case, then you can simply get some good microfiber cloth and, one of many Aluminum polishing pastes/liquids/compounds on the market. Every body has there top choice. I've used probably a dozen different pastes, compounds, rouges, liquids and more. I've got that many sitting on the shelf now. To date, with all the products I've used so far, Mothers is close to the top rank in leaving the shiniest results.

This is kind of, a matter of preference. I've used Semi-Chrome, Mothers, Brown and white rouge bars, Zephyr 40 (a Costco on line item only) and more. But, that's enough information for you to get started with anyways. Good luck. Remember, it's only LABOR!
Scott

Great looking wheels, if I ever get to AZ. I will look you up so you can show me on our rig how you do it! Just to let you know I'm a slow learner.