DLUX on bare aluminum wheels getting water spots

**Stokdgs** · 01-31-2020, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by Accumulator

I`m not really using/doing much of anything, other than wiping down with whatever SprayWax I use as a Drying Aid. Well...the exterior aluminum trim/etc. gets FK1000P/KSG, but I was thinking about underhood/undercarriage bits that I might consider coating.

Having grown up with bare aluminum wheels, there`s zero chance that I`d ever [mess] around with them again. Period. I`d replace/refinish wheels that had bare aluminum rims or somesuch.

Yeah, I *DO* appreciate it when guys keep aluminum/magnesium wheels shiny, but I`m not spending my time that way.

The last time I had a set of beautifully polished BBS Wheels, the only way to keep them lovely, was to get out my air die grinder, chuck on a really nice cone shaped buff from eastwood, rub some red rouge on it and hit the wide wheel part, and the lip.. Yes, a bit of the cone material blew around and I always wore a really good mask, but that was the only way to really polish them correctly.. And it turned the cone black..

I am thinking that if the bare aluminum wheels today are not completely flat polished but instead have those machined lines still in them, it will be perhaps harder to do this, and if the entire wheel is machined like that, it is going to take a lot longer to polish each one..

Guess one has to decide how you want the final "look" to be...

Dan F

**Accumulator** · 01-31-2020, 03:01 PM

Stokdgs- Yeah..I had Epsilon wheels like that myself and I too used the various felt/cotton bobs. Big PIA to say the least.

Fortunately the BBS ones on the `93 Audi have cleared rims

And yeah, under the clear those have the "machined lines" too.

**JustJesus** · 01-31-2020, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Accumulator

I`m not really using/doing much of anything, other than wiping down with whatever SprayWax I use as a Drying Aid. Well...the exterior aluminum trim/etc. gets FK1000P/KSG, but I was thinking about underhood/undercarriage bits that I might consider coating.

Oh, okay. I`ll probably try out some different combos and see what I like best down the road. The half wheel I hand polished with the Mother`s polish still looks fairly decent, and if all four end up staying that way for at least that long (since late 2016) [edit: okay, looking at the pic from 2016, and recalling what it looks like now, maybe they`re not fairly decent after all -oops]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

Having grown up with bare aluminum wheels, there`s zero chance that I`d ever [mess] around with them again. Period. I`d replace/refinish wheels that had bare aluminum rims or somesuch.

I`ll mess with them ONE time. Just to see. Then I`ll decide whether or not I`ll mess with them again!

**JustJesus** · 01-31-2020, 05:34 PM

Pic from around Nov 2016

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**Accumulator** · 02-01-2020, 12:44 PM

JustJesus- At least those aren`t the *worst* design I can think of with regard to all that polishing. Not that I`d want to do it...

**Stokdgs** · 02-01-2020, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by JustJesus

Oh, okay. I`ll probably try out some different combos and see what I like best down the road. The half wheel I hand polished with the Mother`s polish still looks fairly decent, and if all four end up staying that way for at least that long (since late 2016) [edit: okay, looking at the pic from 2016, and recalling what it looks like now, maybe they`re not fairly decent after all -oops]

I`ll mess with them ONE time. Just to see. Then I`ll decide whether or not I`ll mess with them again!

JustJesus -
I hope this finds you and yours all good !
I like that wheel, it looks like it is polished.. Does polishing these wheels turn the applicator black ?
Dan F

**Rsurfer** · 02-01-2020, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by Stokdgs

JustJesus -
I hope this finds you and yours all good !
I like that wheel, it looks like it is polished.. Does polishing these wheels turn the applicator black ?
Dan F

If it did, then its non coated and polished aluminum, but I guess you knew that.

**JustJesus** · 02-01-2020, 03:39 PM

Gentlemen, yes. It`s bare AL and not coated. The MF towel I used to polish (was just trying to clean it, really) did turn black.

I`ll hit them with proper materials when I do it

Same wheel, just taken. Hasn`t been cleaned in months

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**Rsurfer** · 02-01-2020, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by JustJesus

Gentlemen, yes. It`s bare AL and not coated. The MF towel I used to polish (was just trying to clean it, really) did turn black.

I`ll hit them with proper materials when I do it

Same wheel, just taken. Hasn`t been cleaned in months

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I would take uncoated aluminum wheels behind the barn and bury them.

**Accumulator** · 02-02-2020, 12:02 PM

Rsurfer- You and me both

JustJesus- Wow, those are staying nice for a long time! Guess it`s that CA environment or something..is that a drum or a rotor behind the wheel, wondering whether that might explain some of it.

**JustJesus** · 02-05-2020, 12:17 PM

You guys are funny.

Accumulator: I would credit the CA environment as well. Not much rain, no snow, no road salt. We mainly just deal with the heat (at least in Southern Ca) and water restrictions.

It is a drum behind the wheel. That might be helping out as well. The front wheels look.....well, burying them behind the barn seems like a good idea. Those have discs behind them. BUT, For a while, I was running "performance" pads for the fronts, due to the expected heavy break usage I would be seeing while hitting the off road trails in the mountains. Those pads just made a mess of things.

**Accumulator** · 02-05-2020, 12:22 PM

JustJesus- Heh heh, thanks for confirming my suspicions about the type of brakes...nice to have two wheels that aren`t that bad to clean up, huh? (My Tahoe has rear drums.)

While you folks don`t have to deal with roadsalt in CA, some people I`ve known from there say that the salt *air* from the ocean can be an issue.