wheel polishing

A neighbor who is an independent long haul trucker recommended Wicked metal polish (since I wondered why his wheels always looked better than mine regardless of what I used). So I got some Wicked polish from a Flying J truck stop.

It is great stuff. I do also use one of the small Mother's Power Ball polishing balls on a cordless drill to get in the tight spots.

thanks Scott...they look great...start on mine tomorrow!

lj2654,
Well Sir, first off, there's a ton of different polishes, rouges, wheels and more out there. As one answer already stated, just make sure your wheels are not coated. It's real easy to tell. Anyway, once you've been able to determine they are able to be polished, then you determine just how much labor you want to put into the issue. It's a b it laborous in the onset but, once you've accomplished the shine, from that point on, it's about once every three months for a touch-up. And those take about 15-20 minutes per wheel.

If your wheels are not damaged by large scratches etc., you should not have too much problem getting them to the point you're satisfied with. In the pictures below, I've got an initial amount of about an hour and a half in each wheel. And, what makes a difference is if they're covered during storage periods. Our rig is under a drive-under cover and, the wheels are covered too.

I used a brown rouge and a 3" tightly sewn cotton wheel with a 2500 rpm drill to get the basics done. Then, I used some Zephyr 40 polish from Costco.com. Just about any higher quality pastes or liquid aluminum polish will do the trick for your. It's simply labor that does the job. I use those yellow micro fiber towels for polishing and small pieces of them for applying the paste or liquid. There are certain rags/towels out there that will actually scratch the wheels as you're using them to apply or polish the wheels. So, you have to be careful on which ones to do both jobs. Anyway, good luck and take your time.
Scott

I like Met-All Industries Aluminum polish. Available on Amazon

Steve

Thats right---wheel polishers show up pretty often at truck stops. Cheap too.

75 Chrome Shop at Wildwood... :) :) The guys do a great job.

Make sure your wheels are not coated first. My wheels are 17 years and shine almost like new. Powerball on drill with Alcoa wheel polish, Mothers, or most any other brand.

I use a Mothers Power Cone in an electric drill and Mothers polish. The power Cone allows you to get into all the small areas. Also, be sure your wheels are not coated. If they are you will not be successful unless you get all of the coating off. A real pain.

This stuff is absolutely the best and easiest to use. FLITZ

We obtained some wheel hub polish from Freightliner, Gaffney, SC.