This is how my wheels look now. So how much of a work is it and what tools/products do I need? Its has been parked outside in the rain for the past 5 months (Oregon) and its a daily driver (5k miles in 5 months) so ..... Any tips ? Also, I would rather take the wheel out and take it to my apt to do the work. Sitting on the street polishing will be painful. What tools would I need ?









The day I bought it:


I know ... I ruined it ... but o well ... What now ?

 

So... Did ya ever get these clean?

 

... Tried one of the wheels .... but was too much work sitting in the parking lot rubbing rims .... So quit Plus a shiny wheel would not compliment a dirty car that well so ... I am thinkinng since these are Al wheels, at some point, i can always restore them to original .... so we will see ... For now, they are quite black and dirty and all scratched up

 

Try doing a search for posts by forum member Evil-Twin - he posted some good guidelines for keeping polished wheels looking great. If you can't find them using the search, just PM him.

 

Hi leowiz -

I let mine get to that point once -

Here is a little explanation of how I did the polishing -

http://www.iammoon.com/c5tech/polish_wheels.htm

best regards

mqqn

 

Excellent writeup!! I printed that one!!

 

Wow ... this is cool ... I bookmarked it ... I just need to buy a jack and wait for winter when i cant really do much outdoors Its rains cats and dogs here in Oregon. Btw, my wheels look much much much worse than yours ... They also have tons of curb rash.

 

Good job !! Three questions:

1) How to be sure that the wheels are not clear coated ? I also have CCW wheels. Are they all not clear coated ?

2) Did you try the Master Formula Metal Gloss and Sealer Gloss ?

3) How fast is removing the black residue ? is this easy to fully remove it ?

Thanks and congratulations for your hard work...

 

If your wheels came directly from CCW they are NOT clear coated. You would have had to have sent them off to be cleared somewhere else.

 

I myself use Mothers Billet for cleaning "With microfiber towel" and top it off with "Simichrome" as this leaves a thin coating which makes it easy to remove buildup during daily driving.

Best Regards
John

 

Putting a coat of smething on them to slow down the brake dust build up is a good idea. I use REJEX and it works well.

 

I took care of this on my CCWs just last week.

I found a post by Evil Twin about the rash.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...+happen+to+you

I took the curb rash on my CCWs from this:



To this:



It's not perfect and I may re-do them. But, it's the first time I've ever done this, so I know that it's do-able.

Maybe next, I'll try to take them off the vette and totally clean them.

 

Adams metal polish 1 & 2 and a lot of elbow grease. Great looking wheels but a pain to keep clean.

 

You have the right idea to start with at leas... since the wheels have gotten that bad, best idea is to remove them from the car and take them upstairs to your apartment and do insides also.

Without a doubt, the best product I have used is the Adams#1 and #2. I have tried a lot of other products on my CCW's, but I like the Adams products because they are liquid, and not a paste. Working with paste SUCKS, messy.
MQN's post is pretty much the same way I do it, lots of Microfiber towels, make sure you wash the wheel good first..I use carwash soap (Meguires shampoo) and it works great and is easy on the metal. Then Adams#1 and then #2, and get comfortable!
I've never let mine get as bad as yours...so most of the time, I only need to remove the wheels once a year ( I do it during the winter when I store my car) and spend about 1-2 hours per wheel. During the driving season..I polish them about 1 time per month, sometimes less and I only need the #2 Adams polish since I dont let them get that built up with dirt.. this only takes me about 30 min per wheel.

You can buy a Powerball too, that will plug in to the end of a Drill, this is a lot easier to use and quicker.. in your case , you'll probably need to still do some polishing by hand since they are so dirty. Last step I usually do is put a coat of wax, Meguires, or Meguires NXT to help slow the build up, this tends to help when washing the wheels too when you dont have time to polish after every car wash.

In the end, IMO there is nothing that looks better than A polished aluminum wheel... very much worth the work and time.

ps- I am waiting for the chrome lovers to step in this thread and start whining about polished wheels are too much work etc etc

 

 

Easiest solution; send them to us. We'll dismount the tires completly repolish the wheels, re-mount the tires, re-balance them, and ship them back to you looking new.

 

Question for you. what do you do after washing the car ? do you just dry the wheels with a towel or you just drive home or a few miles and then dry them or do you polish or wax them after every wash ?

 

Hi Swiss C5 -

1 - look for chips in the clear-coat - I can tell by looking at a wheel if it is clear-coated. CCW's (as mentioned) are not ever clear-coated from CCW as far as I am aware.

2 - No - I have tried Mothers and Adams. I used one can of wheel-wax, but I was not impressed .

3 - it just wipes right off, I usually keep a ton of clean microfiber rags around for this. The microfiber rags wash up fine, but I run an empty load through the washer after I was those rags to avoid getting crap on your significant other's clothes...

You are welcome, and thanks for the compliments.

best regards -

mqqn

 

What's the cost to do this???