oxidized-uncoated aluminum wheels

[top189h]

This year, I plan on bringing the camaro I started out racing in, 9 years ago back out, and racing it along with my dragster. I recently finished completely redoing the interior and mechanical components of the car. The paint was always in good shape and I thought the wheels were too (for being 25+ years old and never well cared for), and boy was I wrong. To me they didn't look too bad at first. So I started with m7 glaze on a terry cloth to remove some oxidation, which it did, but not fast enough for my liking (the front wheels were oddly no trouble, but the 15" tall by 14" wide rear wheels are another story). I tried megs all metal polish which did little more than what the m7 was doing. So I stepped up to 205 which still was doing very little. At this point I am using a wool ball on a drill and some fg400. This is working a little better, but is marring the wheels like crazy. I can still use m7 on a rag and get oxidation off after 7 hours of polishing half of one wheel. For my sanity, I hope there is a miracle technique or product I have never heard of for my sanity's sake.

[jamesboyy]

If it was me I would use a product like P21S Polishing Soap then after that if it was not to my perfection I want I would use a product like noxon to bring up the shine but my suggestion is remove one wheel at a time and focus onto perfecting that wheel until you perfected all four wheels

[Finemess]

Hope this helps, post some pix when done.

AutoTraderClassics.com - Article Extreme Makeover (http://www.autotraderclassics.com/car-article/Extreme+Makeover-74974.xhtml)

[ShaunD]

I use Flitz polish and the Flitz buff balls. You are going to have marring using wool once you get past the heavy oxidation. Why don't you stick with an aluminum specific compound/polish, and maybe use m205 for the final polish?

[top189h]

I did the front wheels with #7 by hand in no time. The rear wheels see much more abuse. I saw a couple of chemical cleaners but I just doubt there effectiveness in this situation ( I assume this is what p21s is). And I plan on finishing with foam, 3 inch pads worked well, but they loaded up with the oxidation really quickly and became ineffective.

[ShaunD]

The Flitz aluminum cleaner works very well at removing a lot of oxidation and brightening the aluminum. Do you have any felt buffing wheels and or something similar to the Flitz buff balls?

[top189h]

Not currently, I would have to order some of the flitz stuff. I have basically no experience polishing uncoated aluminum. All of the wheels on my other cars are either chrome or black, and I've never had a customer with uncoated aluminum wheels.

[dad07]

here is a great thread from Vegas Transplant........might help you along



http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tricks-tips-techniques/69925-how-bling-out-aluminum-wheels-aluminum-finishing-polish.html

[57BORNTORUN]

Nice Camaro.I have a 69 that lived most of its life on the strip.I rebuilt it completely but left the 396-375 HP(500+ now) turbo 400 reverse valve body.100 octane and all steel body.Tell us more about yours.

[top189h]

The 69 wax a junk yard find. It's an all tube chassis car, and other than the roof and quarter panels, nothing about it is off of an actual camaro. It has a fiberglass trunk, doors and front clip and an aluminum interior. It has a dana 60 rear end, a turbo 400 tranny and a 434 inch small block chevy with pontiac style aluminum heads on it. The car was built in the early 90s, for my mom to race, with a bunch of spare parts we had from my family's other race cars. I took over in 2006 when I turned 16 and got out of the jr dragsters. It went 10.0-10.2 at 130mph with a basically stock 400 small block at the time. The last time I raced it regularly was in 2009 and it was running 9.1-9.2 at 145-148. In 2010 I built my other race car (my profile photo). It's a dragster with a 572 big block that has been 7.60s at 175-178mph. I brought the camaro out a few times when the dragster needed some work, but she's basically been a beater car for all of her life. This year, I finally got around to updating it. I redid the interior, painted the chassis, added a parachute, updated some chassis mounts, redid the motor and tranny, new fuel system from the fuel cell to the carb, and new brakes and all new wiring and electronics. Basically the only thing left on the car that needs some love is the wheels. I intended to buy new ones but at roughly 2k for the wheels alone, I plan on holding off another year.

[57BORNTORUN]

So you`re a "YOUNGSTA in a DRAGSTA".Good for you.I have a friend who`s an NHRA record holder.And then AUTOGEEK has BRUNO MASSEL.I love you go fast young guys.:hijacked:

[top189h]

My grandfather started when he was 16, and all of my family has or used to race. I started in the jr dragsters at 7 and the weekend I got my license I started in our camaro. We only ever bracket race now. My grandfather ran some class racing before bracket racing existed and ran some ihra pro stock in the early 80s, but heads up racing never caught my interest in any shape or form.

[57BORNTORUN]

That sounds like my kinda household.My father had a station wagon and after he kicked us out it was a Pacer.Yes I said it.

[top189h]

My dad started in an old dodge dart when he got his learner a at 14. It ran 19s. I was very fortunate with being able to get right into a very good car. I won enough with it to put myself thru school and build the new car. My grandfather has a 55 bel air that has a 632 inch motor with a Leno 5 speed and it goes 790s-8.0s at 170, and my dad has an 82 camaro with a 454 in it and it goes 8.80s at 150. My next project is restoring my 81 el camino that was my dad's first car. I plan on making it a street/strip/local car show kind of car.

[Durallymax]

For my sanity, I hope there is a miracle technique or product I have never heard of for my sanity's sake.

No miracle, its the same concept as paint but with a metal instead. You need to remove the oxidation and then level off the peaks/valleys. Same exact thing you do when polishing paint, but it takes different products.

Do you have a lot you plan to do in the future or just these wheels? I know you said they are 2k so it may be worth the investment in product anyways, unless you can find someone near you who has it. Go to a local truck repair shop and ask for the numbers of local truck polishers, you can either have them do your wheels or see if they will sell you some of their stuff. Be careful though, like anything theres good truck polishers and bad ones. Its a pretty cutthroat industry so there seems to be enough that aren't necessarily bad, just probably would not make you happy with the results when compared with what a good polisher could do. Most charge around $50 per wheel, and that is for truck wheels (22.5/24.5). If you can find someone with a wheel machine thats even better, you wheels may or may not be able to fit it properly though but the machines are fast and have good results with the right operator.


The best products for the job are simple compounds with different buffs. The concept is no different than paint but the products and tools are different somewhat.

Autogeek does not sell any of this stuff so I'll list where you can get it, but I wont post the links. I just double checked the rules and to me this seem's fair since these products are non-compete anyways. It's like talking about engine oil on here, they don't sell it. Autogeek does sell some metal polish though, like flitz, but that is for wheels that are in good shape. If Autogeek would start carrying Menzerna's bar compounds for metal I'd gladly link them and buy them.

Anyways back to the products. Do you have a current picture of the state of the wheels? Looking at them in the picture they look like they wont take too much to fix. If they have a lot of heavy oxidation, an acid wash is a quick way to clean them up. You can get this at your local truck shops. It's a mixture of Hydrofluoric and Sulfuric acids that you dilute with water. I am guessing your wheels are not as beat up as truck wheels so a citric acid based cleaner would be a less harsh alternative. These are otherwise called brighteners also because they "brighten" the Aluminum. Never use them on polished stuff though because they turn it white.

Once cleaned up feel the wheel with your hand, anything you can catch with your finger nail needs to be sanded. If its just a small scratch sand as low as you need to go and sand that back to 400 grit. If the entire wheel is pitted you can sand it by hand, with a DA in spots you can and the rest by hand, or greaseless compound as well on a hard sewn wheel. I doubt you need any sanding from the sounds of it so onto the next step. (Note: If you really wanted you could sand you wheels to a mirror, its just extremely inefficient and slow compared to compounds)

The next step (or first step if you needed none of the above) is compounding. As with paint, you want to use the least agressive method needed. You obviously do not have a thin coating to worry about like with paint, but its more the fact that its a laborious process so why work harder than you have to. One thing thats kind of nice about metal is that the wheels and compounds are fairly cheap and standardized in a way but every companies compound bars are a little different so make sure you understand their system.

With paint you know wool is the heaviest cut, then you use various foam pads for other levels of cut. With the buffs for metal you need to know the material, how the wheels is assembled and if it has any treatments. For spiral sewn wheels the closer the stitches are the firmer the wheel will be and the longer it will last and the harder it should cut as it will allow a lot of pressure to be applied. Sisal is the most abrasive but not used on Aluminum much due to it being soft. Cotton is used for most buffs. Domet and Canton flannel are the softest and should be used for finishing. Loose buffs with one stitch are the softest for finishing as well. I primarily like using Bias buffs (otherwise known as airways or ventilated buffs) as they keep the Aluminum cool and work fast. All of these are assembled the same and most are made from cotton. What seperates them out is their treatments. A treated and clear dipped wheel is generally your heaviest cut and will be very stiff and firm. This will be followed by various types of mill treatments for different cuts (every OEM is a little different so read their chart) until you get to untreated. For the final finish you can get Domet airways or just loose Domet buffs. Its important to only use one compound per buff. So at a minimum you want a buff for every compound you own. It's also important to note that you must use safety flanges for the airway wheels which have a metal center.


There are a lot of different compounds out there, however theres really only 3-5 that you need for what you are doing. They are the staples, the other ones out there offer specific advantages for specific tasks but you wont need them right now. The ingredients of the compound determine the color, so generally speaking the "staples" are the same at every manufacturer but double check to be sure, dont just assume a black bar is emery because there's a lot of black bars out there that are not. Many people call these "Rouge" bars. Technically Rouge refers to the Red Jewelers Rouge which gets its color from the Iron Oxide in it. People started calling the other bars "rouge" too regardless of color (Rouge is french for red).

The "staples" are the following:

Emery: Generally black in color and will remove 400 grit sanding marks easily with a firm heavy cutting wheel.

Tripoli: Always brown in color and is the meat and potatoes of many polishing operations due to the cut it provides while finishing nice. Use this with a stiff treated wheel but not as hard as you would with emery.

White: Has a mild aluminum oxide abrasive in it and is used after Tripoli. Use a non treated cotton air way with this.

Green: Has a chromium oxide abrasive in it and can be used after Tripoli or after white. Very nice for stainless. Use with untreated for mild cut or loose buff for coloring.

Red: The true jewelers rouge with iron oxide abrasive. This has no cut, it just colors your aluminum to look like true chrome. Use domet flannel wheels with this and at a lower speed setting as well.


The majority of wheels come in 8" and 10" sizes to be operated on a rotary buffer. If you do not have one, you can purchase kits that use 4" wheels for a drill. The drill is significantly slower, but less expensive also.

To use the compound, you apply it directly to the wheel as it is running. It has to "melt" into the wheel. Only hold it there for less than 2 seconds though. Re apply often but only very little when you do. If you see compound on the part you are polishing you are using too much. You will also need a way to rake the wheel to clean it out from time to time. If it wasn't obvious by how the wheels are built, you run them on edge versus the face. Work at a steady pace overlapping each pass. Watch out for edges, it will grab then and throw you. You do not need to work the same area over and over, one slow smooth pass is all that is needed. If using a rotary you will want to run the wheels at 3000-3500RPM except for the loose soft wheels, run them at 2000 and then finish with a slow 1000rpm pass to really make it nice. When finished you can use some baking flour or corn starch on a microfiber to help remove the leftover compound



It sounds like a lot of stuff and it is, but its not that expensive really. Just looking around I see Enkay polishing and Zephyr both offer starter kits to be used with drills that come with small compound bars for $40. I would get one of these and go to town. If you want the bigger stuff to get done quicker, compound bars are less than $15 each for 3lbs and wheels are less than $20 each. Busch shine and Caswell plating are two other places you can buy them. You may also find some of the stuff locally. enough truck places will stock some compounds and wheels.

One last note is safety, this is not a clean job like polishing paint. The particles in the air from polishing are terrible for you which is why you will want a good respirator as well as goggles or just a combo full face. You need goggles not glasses because it will throw everything behind the glasses. You will get pretty dirty so do not wear nice clothes. Even though the wheels are cotton, they are very loud so you will want some ear protection as well.


I got a bit winded in my post but hopefully it helps some. Here are some pictures to illustrate what all of the above was about.

A few of the compounds and wheels I use along with buffer(849X), respirator, wheel rake, and corn starch.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140120_043007_zpsbefa80c4.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140120_043007_zpsbefa80c4.jpg.html)


Your wheels looked a little bit better than these in your picture. For these I only had to use Tripoli, then white then jewelers rouge and they came out great.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_202711_zps76b923fd.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_202711_zps76b923fd.jpg.html)

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_122018_zpsc9472ac6.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_122018_zpsc9472ac6.jpg.html)

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_202605_zps8fde0e9f.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_202605_zps8fde0e9f.jpg.html)

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_225442_zps660dfe1c.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131011_225442_zps660dfe1c.jpg.html)

These wheels were in worse shape and had a machined finish but they still came out okay working from Emery through to jewelers rouge.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140120_003754_zps8dd6dd18.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140120_003754_zps8dd6dd18.jpg.html)


http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140120_042925_zps60192724.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140120_042925_zps60192724.jpg.html)


What I tried showing in these two pictures is the various stages. The closest is just emery, next is tripoli, next is white, and last is jewelers rouge. You can really see the color that the jewelers rouge brings out. More chrome looking than aluminum.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/20140120_013322_zps3a2102e7.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/20140120_013322_zps3a2102e7.jpg.html)



http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/20140120_013407_zps55faecab.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/20140120_013407_zps55faecab.jpg.html)


Here's a nasty one to show you what Acid does.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_184211_zps013b5e83.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_184211_zps013b5e83.jpg.html)

after acid wash

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_185255_zpsf9fcec78.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_185255_zpsf9fcec78.jpg.html)

What Acid does to polished surface

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_185238_zps30a5e12e.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_185238_zps30a5e12e.jpg.html)


Same wheel above after a ton of sanding to remove road damage and the machined finish. From 36grit to 400grit.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_230611_zps1ebab2db.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130625_230611_zps1ebab2db.jpg.html)

After polishing.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130626_015012_zps78faee03.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/AutoGeek%20Uploads/20130626_015012_zps78faee03.jpg.html)



This is the reason I hate clear coated rims. The clear fails and then the wheels corrode 10 times worse behind the clear leading to very deep pitting that takes a ton of sanding to get out.


http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131012_190454_zps16132d80.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131012_190454_zps16132d80.jpg.html)


After stripping clear

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131012_193316_zps4ca6a203.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131012_193316_zps4ca6a203.jpg.html)


After sanding (still needed to get down into the holes better with some more cartridge rolls but this was a practice rim and I was antsy to see shine)

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131111_133037_zps6182a189.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20131111_133037_zps6182a189.jpg.html)


After polishing.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr264/Dieselholicpullteam/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140322_215734_zpsa5db9447.jpg (http://s490.photobucket.com/user/Dieselholicpullteam/media/Aluminum%20Polishing/20140322_215734_zpsa5db9447.jpg.html)









Hope some of this helped.