JZERS

Have 04 C5 with polished aluminum wheels. Inside of rims worn and discolored. Cleaned with mild soap solution but not effective. Is there any safe way to clean these without damaging the surface?? Appreciate any suggestions.......

Chris Draper

Brake cleaner and a brush.

leadfoot4

Mothers "power ball" polishing tool, and a jug of either their wheel polish or 'Blue Magic' polish. I've used them both, and they both do a good job.

frsr06

Sounds like the inside barrel of your wheels have already reached the point of pealing of spalling. No easy fix other than total stripping and if desired re-clear coating. Most folks say this is not a permanent fix. I no longer have a C5 but when I did I stripped the wheels and managed the aluminum with out a clear coat - it required more work to keep clean but not the end of the world. If you can't live with these solutions I suggest getting some after market wheels.

frsr06

Here's the stripped version.

Robrote

Agreed. Your clearcoat has failed. Stripping and re-polishing is the only cure. Good luck

~Josh

Watch out. Nice metal becomes addictive.

<====== see avatar.

JZERS

Thanks........

JZERS

Thanks............looks like I'll need luck.

JZERS

Thanks for the tips.......

JZERS

Thanks..................I'll try that as a last resort.

JZERS

Thanks .......I'll give that a try. Dealers have advised to use Simple Green spray cleaner.

~Josh

Simple Green is the worst on raw aluminum. It will turn raw polished aluminum white.

Not4spd

Here's what I did for my CCWs. Took some 1500 grit sandpaper and went to town wet sanding. Then followed with wet sanding using 2000 grit. I finished everything off using mothers power ball and some 3m compound.

Vetteman Jack

K-Spaz

Forum member Toque has a bunch of wheel finishing info on his site.
http://www.toquez06.com/

Click on the Z06 and then scroll down to all the procedures he's got tips on. You'll find the following:
http://www.toquez06.com/ccw.html

Jistari

Prior to it going through the clear coat (yup OEM wheels were clear coated) you just wash and wax them.

After it gets through the clear you (basically) have two choices:

Strip them, clean up the surface and reclear the whole wheel (more work, less maintenance)

or

Strip or sand them and paint the inside of the barrels dark grey (less work little or no maintenance). Sounds hokey but it really does look fine when done.

mattba

I recently purchased my C5 and the barrels had never been cleaned though the clear coat was still in pretty good shape. I used full strength Simple Green with a green scotch pad to clean mine and then polished them with multiple coats of Collinite No. 845 Insulator Wax. But again, the barrels were in pretty good shape. In the past when I had some C6 wheels with rough barrels I cleaned them and then painted them black and it really made the chrome pop. I would not hesitate to do that on polished C5 wheels with rough barrels.

monoloco

What did you use to get the polished shine on the C6 wheels? They look great.

redzg

I've wondered about that. May have to post a request for photos from others that have done it.
That or clean and paint one of mine.