Wheel cleaning (EZ off?) disaster. Need advice.

[tiltrite]

I`ve gotten a hold of a set of very cool Appliance Plating (Japanese made Cragar knockoffs) wheels from the 70`s. Three of them are in very nice shape; the 4th however looks like it`s been covered in baking soda or oven cleaner or (?!) and has a powdery whitish film all over it. Anyway I`m wondering what the best approach/product would be to get this ugly ducking nice and shined up like its mates. I`ve added photos of the ugly one next to one of the nicer ones.



http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m176/tiltrite/L1000834.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m176/tiltrite/L1000833.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m176/tiltrite/L1000835.jpg

[metalwax]

tiltrite, im not sure you can fix that. check out our metal cleaner this would be you best bet on that. the problem is that its in the pours and you need to fix that first. do you plan on polishing the whole wheel or just the outer lip.





Commercial link removed by moderator. Please review our rules on posting links.

[tiltrite]

would you use the cleaner or the wax on these? The goal is to polish the lip and try to bring the rest of the wheel back from the dead as much as possible.



BTW: vigorous rubbing with a cloth starts to take some of the gunk off, so before I got any more into it I wanted to make sure I used the right thing to clean/polish so as to not make it worse!

[vtec92civic]

you might want to get some mild wheel cleaner like cg sticky wheel gel to start off the cleaning of the wheel and then asses the damage from that point on.



You might have to get that rim re-finished but then again maybe not. The spokes are not polished are they? They appear to be painted or powder coated.

[tiltrite]

the spokes aren`t polished- they actually look like they dont have much of any kind of finish on them. Almost raw metal looking.

[metalwax]

would you use the cleaner or the wax on these? The goal is to polish the lip and try to bring the rest of the wheel back from the dead as much as possible.



BTW: vigorous rubbing with a cloth starts to take some of the gunk off, so before I got any more into it I wanted to make sure I used the right thing to clean/polish so as to not make it worse!



sorry guys I have been on the road. oven cleaner has lye which is a very caustic product that will go into the aluminum and flash then lock its self in the pours. then once it does that the process of corrosion starts which is the dust. now this is where the metal cleaner comes is to play. i make the metal cleaner in 3 differant strength`s. standerd, medium and high performance the reason i do this is because as a detailer I alway`s needed that special niche for a project.



tiltrite, i have the same wheel at the shop ill do a video on it in the next couple of days.



this will give you an idea of how the metal cleaner works.



http://www.performanceboats.com/html/youBoat/data/500/bmw11.jpg



http://www.performanceboats.com/html/youBoat/data/500/engine-polished.jpg

[tom p.]

If these are un-coated aluminum wheels, they can be polished to a mirror-like finish but shall represent major upkeep and time thereafter. I envision wheels like this for a show car, not on a daily driver. Welcome aboard, Tilt!

[tiltrite]

Thank you, nice to be here!





this will give you an idea of how the metal cleaner works.



http://www.performanceboats.com/html/youBoat/data/500/bmw11.jpg



http://www.performanceboats.com/html/youBoat/data/500/engine-polished.jpg[/QUOTE]



Mwax: your pix demonstrate pretty much exactly the situation I`m in with my wheel. I need to clean out the corrosion and then polish it up (and then I`d polish the other 3 wheels so they all look alike.) I don`t mind putting work into maintaining once they`re pretty again, as long as I can get them pretty again!



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I`ve been hacking away at the wheel for a while with some mother`s metal polish and while it has helped the white haze a lot, the metal underneath is still pretty splotchy and the lip is still dull compared to the other wheels. :cry:

[tiltrite]

Anyone else have any ideas for a metal deep cleaner and polish that they have used or are familiar with that might solve this situation?