Polishing rims.

[astaticwinter]

Hey guys, I'm new here and this is my first post.

I was looking for some advice on polishing my rims. They're ASA Ar2's...raw metal finish, with a clearcoat on them. After a season, the lips have some scratches and are a little dull, so I want to brighten them up and make they shine. I was told not to use metal polish on them, since I will strip the clear coat, and that I should use a normal paint cleaner. Right now, I have Meguiars M80, M83, and a sample of Cleaner Wax I could use...any suggestions on which would be the best on the wheels?

I was also wondering if I should invest in a powerball, or powerball mini, or just do the job by hand. I don't want to use the powerball, obviously, if it will strip the clearcoat as well.

Here are a few pics of the rims if it helps...sorry if they're a little big.





Second pic has some curb rash I was hoping to get repaired, but it shows the fine scratches on the lip I'm looking to get out.

Thanks a lot in advance, I'd really appriciate any suggestions.


-TJ

[themightytimmah]

M83 -> M80 -> M21 (if you can get your hands on some) is how I'd do it.

[sneek]

You can try using meguiars NXT metal polish. It is clear coat safe.

[astaticwinter]

NXT Metal Polish was my first idea, but I wasn't sure if it would strip the clearcoat. Would the metal polish and a powerball be fine, or would the M83-80-21 be safer with the powerball?

[astaticwinter]

Update:

I got in touch with TheTireRack.com, and they said I'd be better off with a paint polish on these, so I'm going to go the route of 83-80. Thanks for the advice guys.

Any suggestions though on the powerball? Think it would still be safe since I need to go with a paint cleaner on the rims?

[joshtpa]

I use the Mothers Metal Polish. It works great.

[DieselMDX]

make sure u post new pics this is a interesting post

[backwoods_lex]

Would scratchX be up to the job on this one since it is clearcoated?

[astaticwinter]

ScratchX would probably work too, I have a tube of the old ScratchX on hand actually. I'm getting the powerball anyway for my exhaust, so I figured I might as well use it on my rims since I'll have it. The old ScratchX was made to use by hand only, and it really needs to be worked in with several applications...I think on a rim, the powerball would do a better job than I could by hand. Don't get me wrong, ScratchX works great, but I'm used to machine polishing now since I got my PorterCable, and I could never go back to hand polishing, haha.