Alcoa Aluminum Rim Back to New

M

mtmaher1

New member
Long Haul Polish is my current favorite polish for finishing up by hand after the machine. It is very cost effective and seems to work as good if not better than some of the other expensive products I've used. This is the last product I used. I've also used zepher, ez reflections, and countless others. This long haul was on sale last time I was in so I stocked up. I believe it was 12.00 for the 24 oz.

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I use these terry cloth towels folded into 1/4s for application as well as removal. The areas I do are usually large so they usually become saturated with polish and very loaded up with black oxidation. If i'm feeling cheep i will recycle the cleanup wipe down ones to application for next time. At this price they get tossed after i'm done with them. I've tried washing by hand to get the "heavy stuff off" and then tossing in the washing machine but it makes a mess! Not worth it.

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Here is a quick overview of the essentials hardware for machine pollishing.

The uppper right two wheels are pretty well spent, but they are from top down. Red and blue. Red is the highest cutting, blue is less agressive than the yellow. They start out as 8" wheels

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Here are the 2 compounds up close from the pic above.

Green is for stainless steal, the white is a final pass clean up step.

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Heres a preview.



This project started because one of the aluminum rims on a semi had a crack and needed to be replaced. The other rims weren't too far gone but they needed a polish to not look rediculous next to the shinny new alcoa rim.

Starting off with a pic of the new and another of the old- both with fresh rubber.

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Ok now to start off with the process. The rims were cleaned up with Truck and Trailer wash by Zep. Its a strong soap that WILL dull aluminum some but it does a good job of cleaning it up to prep for polishing. These rims had tar, and some road stripe paint on them but the pics are after it was all removed.

When rims are farther gone than these I hit them with Zep alum. Its a strong acid that will dull the metal good. It workes at getting out all the grime from the pits and pores of rough aluminum.

Since these wheels weren't too bad i was able to use the yellow wheel with the green stainless steel specialized compound. As you can tell from many trial and error runs i've come up with some different combos than the manufacture advertises.

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These pics show how the polish is applied to the wheel and the general way this type of polishing wheel is used. Its a two hand project once you get going so i don't have any in action. Its also quite dirty so i didn't take the gloves off and get in there with the camera in between steps. I finished up with a white (no cut wheel) and white rouge. They were cleanedup with the Long Haul polish by hand by a terry towel as pictured in the begining of this post.
 
Here is a before of the old rim

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This is the after- Notice the alcoa decal got the color polished off of it.

Here is one of a similar angle for the fresh out of box Rim.

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A couple more befores- trying to show clarity

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Afters of the one I did first then the New one

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Finally there are two outside ones. The rim that is mounted on the truck is the new alcoa and the one leaning next is one being followed from start to finish.

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The rim was factory alcoa. It was older and many monthes since its last polishing. My guess from memory would be about 8 monthes at best. I take care of all the metal for all the trucks by this company so i loose track of when I did each truck. Remember trucks like this put on many miles and the winters here in MN are uncoated aluminums nightmare with all the salt and other de-iceing products used these days.
 
Jordan@DD said:
What do you charge to do that?
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They get a deal from me. Its a business owned by my dad and uncle. When ever I get time or its convienient for me I will polish a tank or two... Rims when they get new rubber, or the paint too.

As far as doing it for others it all depends on if i have to drive, the condition of course because it can vary widely, and if the rim will be removed from the truck.
 
Very nice work!!!



I saw all the equipment you use at the "75 chrome shop" on I-75 south of Ocala, FL.



I was about to post the results I got from the powerball and blue magic polish on some alcoa's.
 
Thanks,

Lets see how the poweball does, post em up. I've never used a powerball what are your thoughts? They don't seem like they would last long.
 
mtmaher1 said:
Thanks,

Lets see how the poweball does, post em up. I've never used a powerball what are your thoughts? They don't seem like they would last long.
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Alcoa wheels from a topkick



I have only done these wheels and another set where I had limited use due to the design with this powerball. So longevity I can't comment on. I would think that as long as not too many shape edges, it should last a good while.



With the amount of wheels you do, I think you would be an ideal candidate for a durability test of the power ball. :bigups
 
Jordan@DD said:
What do you charge to do that?
Click to expand...



mtmaher1 said:
.... it all depends on if i have to drive, the condition of course because it can vary widely, and if the rim will be removed from the truck.
Click to expand...



If you would be so kind.... how many minutes would you guess you spent cleaning each of these wheels.



Thank you!
 
I usually figure about 1/2 hour per wheel. That all depends on if I end up doing 2 or 3 passes with different wheels/compounds.



If the aluminum is in rough shape it is well worth your time to acid wash it before starting. It keeps the wheels from loading up so quickly.
 
mtmaher1 said:
If the aluminum is in rough shape it is well worth your time to acid wash it before starting. It keeps the wheels from loading up so quickly.
Click to expand...



That's exactly what I do with a few dump trucks I take care of. It's amazing the difference it can make and how quickly it works.



A word of caution to those who never used acid wash, do your homework with this stuff before working with it....it's pretty harsh....which you probably can already tell by the name of it.:)

 
Great Work. I would love to see some of your work. I live in Blaine MN so I am not sure where you are from. I would love to watch you work and get more info on the products and tools you use.
 
Oh man I hate polishing aluminum, it can be a dirty, dirty job and I don't blame you for not taking off your gloves. Here is something that works really well on aluminum. It can be difficult on wheels, depending on their design. If you are ever polishing aluminum diamond plate (toolbox, or boat trailer maybe) or a large smooth area (floorboard, or fuel tank maybe) this works great. Get a thick, heavy, creamy aluminum polish and a wool cutting pad, I always would get good results with a Buff and Shine 7503G. Polish the aluminum like you're doing some heavy compounding. If you want a higher shine you can go over it again with a lighter pad and same polish. It's pretty fast and easy.



Danny
 
Nice writeup.

Guys this is a dirty job!

When I lived in California I had an equipment rental company on contract. We would detail their Rigs every quarter and would polish all the wheels, tanks, racks and accessories.

I would come home black and it would take a couple of showers to get completely clean.

Any thing contaminated by the polishing was tossed out.



A tip for removing the polish is to put a little cornstarch on your towel. It just absorbs every thing off the metal.
 
I'm living in Saint Paul but i do most of my aluminum polishing in western MN for a few smaller trucking companies.

I don't have access to a shop in the metro, so I only do minor polishing and upkeep on my own stuff here.

My larger tools such as my extractor and most of my "down and dirty" supplies are at a shop near the SD boarder of MN
 
I haven't tried corn starch, but i've used flour - Same idea. It helps get rid of any residual polish left after the hand rub down with liquid polish.



Good Tip i forgot about that
 
Nice work man! I work at a semi autobody shop. I use to polish wheels all day long, lol. Now we found someone who will do one wheel for $40, in like a machine, cuts the rims a little to take the marks and scratches out and then polishes it. Lets just say it looks 100% better then I could do, lol, and can't beat the price. Now im just ploishing gas tanks, fenders, boxes, and trim.
 
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