wheel polishing

Thanks Fire UP

bgholson wrote:
How can you tell if the wheels are clear coated? Are most wheels not clear coated?

bgholson,
At a distance, you can't, at least not me. But, upon close inspection, some of the manufacturers, actually put a moniker or, label on their wheels that say so. One particular brand of wheels is Accuride wheels. They use and, stamp on their wheels the word: Accushield. That tells you right off the bat, that on those wheels is a coating.

Now, if you can't read that or, it's not a set of Accuride wheels, then, a very simple test will tell. Get some mothers or, Semi-Chrome or, any one of a zillion other metal polishes out there and put dab on the tip of a terry cloth of microfiber towel and rub a small spot, say around an inch square.

Now, with an uncoated wheel, the rag will immediately start to turn black. That's the aluminum oxidation coming off. And, the result, a shiny spot. But, if the wheel's got a coating on it, You can rub 'till your fingers fall off and it will NOT TURN BLACK.

And don't let anyone tell you 'DON'T DO IT, YOU'LL RUIN YOUR COATING IMMEDIATELY! BULL SH.. Todays coatings are seriously tough stuff. If you could ruin it with 10 seconds of some "Tooth paste" polish, then you'd darn near ruin it with washing it with soap and water and dirty chamois.

If you don't have any polish, even some wax, (with cleaners in the chemical mix) will do the trick. They're not nearly as strong as a polish but, if there's no coating on the wheels, the rag will turn black.
Scott

I now use a product that no one has mentioned. After spending time and money just like everyone else I found a set of products that work for me. I have tried the power ball routine and liken it to going to the dentist. Take a look at the site:

http://store.alwaysshinywheelsandrv.com/category/aluminum-wheel-polish

This is three step process, for uncoated wheels, that initially takes about 30 minutes per wheel and, for me, does a great job. There is a wash, polish, and sealer. About half of the 30 minutes is letting the wash do its job. The wash removes all of the contaminates and leaves the wheel looking dull. The polish results is a shiny wheel such as the pictures shown on this thread. I have never worked so little and gotten such a good result. The polish process is, wipe it on, wait a few minutes and wipe it off. No scrub, buff or power ball required. Periodically I reapply the polish and sealer just as you would if waxing your car.
I am not pushing this product, just putting the info out there.

How can you tell if the wheels are clear coated? Are most wheels not clear coated?

Here is a truck show trick,use some all purpose flour to do the final polish. A bunch on a soft rag takes any black residue from polishing off and gives a better shine! Yes the flour to bake bread. Microfibre towels are best,terry cloth is almost as good,and some paper towels will scratch.

lj2654.....All good information, but I think an important point was not mentioned. Mothers, Flitz or any others work well. The Power Ball or the Flitz ball both work well. I was always polishing mine, but they just never got that shiny.

Finally, I found what I was doing wrong. I was like "Tim the Tool Man Taylor", more had to be better......it's not. Mine didn't start to shine until I reduced the amount of polish I was using. I was applying soooo much polish that everything just turned black, and I went through about two car wash towels per rim. Now I use about a thimble full to do an entire rim.

On the fronts, I use one of the lug nut cap pullers and pull the caps. I have a large and small Flitz polishing ball. I found the Flitz balls last about 10 times longer than the Mother's because they're a heavier cloth. I use the small ball to get in the tight areas around the lug nuts, again, using very small dabs of Flitz. Polish in small areas. If you apply a lot of polish, it will dry out before you get to it.

Once the lug nut area is looking good, I move to the large polisher and do the rest of the wheel. You should continue buffing until the polish is all gone and the wheel looks finished. When I'm all done, I wipe the entire wheel down with a clean cloth.

On the rears, I remove the lug nut caps and again use the small ball to get the inner edges of the rim and usually use my finger to get in behind the valve stem. I change to the large ball and do the large surface of the rim. I use another clean towel and wipe down the rim and then the center cap. I wipe off each lug nut cap and then reinstall.

To get them looking good initially, you have to spend about 45 plus minutes per wheel. After that, they can be touched up very quickly. Lastly, I found that covering the rims while stored at home, which I see you do in looking at your profile, keeps them looking nice. I put about 10K - 13K a year on the coach and only need to polish the rims about three times a year now.

Schertz wrote:
Coated wheels?

Schertz,
Are you asking what "Coated" wheels are? If so, many of the Manufacturers of Alloy wheels, (aluminum ones) go through a process of either machining their wheels or, polishing them to a high luster and, then applying a "Coating" to them, as in the term, "Clear coat". It used to be just a semi-UV resistant Lacquer but, formulas have improved over the years to the point that Urethanes are the coating of choice. And, when a wheel is coated, it cannot be polished any more than it is, under the coating.

That is, unless one feels the need to go about removing the coating which, is one serious PAIN IN THE A$$. Anyway, my personal choice are wheels that are NOT COATED. I don't mind the time it takes to put a high luster on my wheels. As you can see in my pictures above.
Scott

Coated wheels?

I am surprised no one said "Put Red Max #3 on it". :-)

I agree with several previous posters about the use of good quality polish of your choice and apply with a power ball or cone.
After application of the polish using the ball / cone, I finish the job with Viva brand paper towels to remove the polish residue. After which you have a very high level shine.