Re: Polished aluminum rim?

From: Bill Pitz (dakota@billpitz.com)
Date: Thu Apr 24 2003 - 00:27:12 EDT


On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 21:36:24 -0400, PoohDog629@aol.com wrote:

>
>
> I have a set of american eagle alloy rims with a polished aluminum
>finish. 'm sure you guys have heard this before, but I took them out of
>winter storage yesterday and they seem to have corroded. There are little
>white blotches all over the rims that I can't feel by touch but can most
>definitely see. I don't know why the finish went to crap, I constantly clean
>and polish them, and I always clean and polish them before I put them away
>for the winter, but this time it didn't work. What can I do to restore the
>finish? Thanks for any suggestions.
>
>
>
>Mike R.
>
>Intense blue over gray '98 SLT CC 5.2L
>Mods Include:
>K&N FIPK, gibson split-dual cat back, and a set of eagle alloys(corroded) on
>the corners

It's probably not "really" corrosion. Over the winter, my galvanized
boat trailer was parked on the side of my house. There's an overhang
of about 2' that comes off the side of the house and goes slightly
over where the trailer was parked. All along that side of the trailer
(and on the galvanized rims) were small white spots like the ones you
described. Evidently water was dripping from the overhang onto the
trailer and then drying, leaving behind the spots. Since it's
galvanized and it doesn't really matter much to me, I took a fairly
stiff brush and some Simple Green to it and the spots were gone with
the "finish" still fully intact. Obviously you probably won't want to
use a really stiff brush on your polished rims, but try a mild cleaner
(or "wheel cleaner") and a lightly abrasive pad or a brush. I'd try a
very tiny spot at first, and just push hard enough to get the spot
off. (Then hose it off and dry it to make sure that the finish is
still good underneath where the spot was)

-Bill



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