What to Use on These Rims...

[craigfilly]

I am gonna take these off my Tahoe on Saturday and clean and polish both sides. I'm not sure what to use as far as polish goes. I have some Meg's Wheel Brightener for cleaning. Can I use the Meg's Finishing Metal Polish on these? Will the WB be safe on these? Yes, I know they are dirty, but we have had some awful weather here lately, so I haven't been able to clean them. TIA25682

[thebamboo23]

Megs WB may be bit too harsh. if you feel comfortable using it, then by all means do so. But I would go with Sonax or a equal product

arent those wheels coated?

[swanicyouth]

WB is fine to get wheels really clean, as long as you dilute it correctly, avoid plastics, and don't let it dry or use it on hot rims. It will get your wheels very clean.

The caveat is, I would only use it on powder coated rims. I'm guessing those wheels in the pic are factory and powder coated? Or, are they polished aluminum and clear coated (can't tell)? If the later - I would avoid WB and use an iron dissolving wheel cleaner like 1Z.

Your wheels likely have some clear/powder coating on them. So, your polishing the coating - not metal. Therefore, I wouldn't use metal polish - but paint polish.

HOWEVER, IME, powder coating is quite hard and can be quite difficult to polish out defects. But, an improvement is possible.

[trekkeruss]

The Wheel Brightener will certainly clean those wheels. But what exactly do you mean by polishing your wheels? As the others have said, your wheels are likely factory-coated aluminum, meaning the aluminum is clear-coat painted. They will never polish up, in the traditional metal-polishing sense. You can still polish them, but you would use a clear-coat paint polish.

[hernandez.art13]

They look clear coated to me. I would use WB.

Of course it's always best and safest practice to do a small test spot.

WB works great in my experience so I went with D143 after I used wheel brightner.

You can also agitate it to get out tougher dirt I believe. It also works great in cleaning your tires too.

After you cleaned and dried your wheels. If I were you I would seal them. For OTC I would choose Meguiar's Ultimate Wax. However I am currently testing out Collinite 476s on ny wheels to see how it holds up.

If they are in fact CC and I'm not wrong on that aspect. Then you can go ahead and opti coat them too.

Just trying to help. :)

Good Luck...

[parttimer]

They look factory cleared to me. I would try any apc or good wheel cleaner before WB. If you still have some brassy spots then use WB on a cloth and clean them up. Gloves first!!

[hernandez.art13]

From what I remember and if I do remember correctly. Then I was told D143 can be used even for regular maintenance washes. You might want to dilute it after you are satisfied with your results. Then just dilute it for regular maintenance washes to save product.

From my understanding at normal dilution. It does nothing to your CC besides keep it clean. Probably strips off waxes that you might have put on.

I imagine the Meguiar's consumer line is close to being the same.

[hernandez.art13]

And

+1 on the gloves for D143.

Umm... I also got some in my eyes while using the Daytona brush for the first time :laughing:

Yes it did burn. Luckily this happened about a month ago And I can still see. :D

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Pretty sure those are clear coated wheels.

I would use Wolfgang Uber wheel cleaner or Sonax Full Effect.

[jamesboyy]

Like stated before use sonax full effect wheel cleaner or something simular, then use acid for the more stubborn parts then if you wanted you could use a metal polish or a combo like m105/m205

[craigfilly]

Thanks for all the advice fellow geeks! I am guessing that they are clear coated. I took advantage of the President's Day sale and the free shipping to buy some gallon Meg's products. I bought the D140 because it is supposed to be safe on all clear coated rims, so I will be using that this go around. Would 4:1 be the correct dilution? Can the D140 also be used to clean the tires and the fender wells? If I don't like the results, I will order some IronX or Sonax. Someone mentioned Meg's UW for the rims...could NXT be used? I got a great deal on some NXT at Lowe's a few weeks back, full size bottle of wax and NXT wash for 7 bucks. Thanks for the tip on gloves!
Feed back please

[parttimer]

4:1 is a fine ratio I believe that is what I have mine set to. I do not believe I would use it on anything other than the wheels.

[hernandez.art13]

^ +1

From what I remember when I called Meguiar's Customer Service.

D140 is acidic and its safer to use on wheels only.

D143 can be used on wheels and tires. I used it on the wheel wells too.I figured if it's safe for tires then why not the wheel wells? (Never had it confirmed though so might want to confirm before trying it on the wheel wells)

NXT Wax on wheels should be fine.