Looking for some help please. I have a 2002 with original rims and they have some white squigly raised deposits on them that do not come off. I am assuming oxidation? How do I remove and protect from this in the future. Original rims are uncoated aluminum correct?? Thank you.

 

If you have the OEM polished rims they are clearcoated....
If you are looking for a spot solution get a dremel tool and a sanding drum or the rubberized abrasive wheel. Abraid the offending area, you may need to finish with some finer sandpaper or steel wool and then use a clear coat paint touch up tube.

Otherwise the whole wheel needs to be atripped of clear coat, the offending area(s) sanded and polished and then the wheel re-cleared..

To prevent it happening again, inspect the wheels for chips to the clearcoat at every wash and touch up chips with clearcoat touch up pen.

Some just strip the clear from the wheels and leave natural, coating with a paint sealant like Rejex and when they start looking dull polish with a Mothers powerball attached to cordless drill along with an aluminum polish
Rich

 

FYI, I wouldn't recommend "touching up" the offended area with a Dremel and attached sanding drum without removing the clearcoat first! (ask me how I know...)
The wife's 2001 T/A has polished aluminum wheels as does my 01 MN6, both have oxidation on the wheels. The T/A, however, has suffered through two MI winters and I tried the 'ole "Dremel the stuff off" mod with her car. I ended up burning right through the clearcoat and sure did get rid of the oxidation, but took a fair amount of material with it! After that disaster, I am planning a full restoration of the wheels, with a clearcoat strip, sandblasting and final wet sand polish job. Extensive, yes, but the wheels on the T/A have gone black in spots where the crap clearcoat has been eaten away by road grime/salt/brake dust. The 'vette isn't as bad, just the "squiggly white lines" in some areas, but don't put the Dremel to the spots unless you want nice divots in your polished aluminum wheels! Remove the clearcoat and hit it with 1000 grit paper, and wet sand with finer paper (up to 1400 grit if you can get it) to restore the polish to the worked area. Again, ask me how I know... Good luck, and post some pics! I will!

 

Have them chromed. End of polishing problems.

 

Also an option!

 

I have extensive metal polishing experience; aluminum, stainless steel, and hard steel alloys. On aluminum you can start with 3M 600 grit wet/dry paper used with water. I would not touch it with dremel sanding wheels. Start with finer grit papers and work down (coarser) until you have the grit that will remove the damaged area within a reasonable amount of time and then work back up with the finer grades to 600 grit. The aluminum can be polished out from there with a cloth wheel and polishing compounds to a mirror finish. You would have to respray the clear coat. You may want to do a test area on the inside wheel rim to check your technique first.

There is no way I would sandblast or glass bead aluminum. You would severely pit the surface and have to start with 100 grit and then 240 grit, 320 grit, 400 grit, 600 grit, and then polishing compounds to return to a mirror finish. If you plan on doing the entire wheel you may want to consider silicon carbide pastes that are available in the above grits. At least then you can use power tools with cloth wheels.

 

Now that's good advice! Where can we find these pastes you speak of? and the cloth wheels?