[49dream]

I have aluminum rims that came with my old truck. They are tarnished and oxidide. I bought some product called Blue magic and I used fine steel wool and they are starting to shape up. Can anyone recomend any othe product.
It's taking a long time to get them in shape. Is there a easerir way.
Arm is worn out and I have 3 to go.

[bracketeer]

Weld wheels recommends Mother's aluminum polish. Perhaps using a buffer on a drill might make things quicker. Then apply mother's paste wax, dry, and polish. Then sprinkle baby powder on the rims and buff out fingerprints.

[black66]

Mother makes a buffer called " Power Ball ". It goes on a cordless drill and will polish aluminum, chrome, and even plastic. Works excellent.....

[302 Z28]

There used to be a product called Nev-R-Dull. It came in a small can and for all practical purposes looked like wadded up cotton. It was saturated with some kind of polish that worked wonders on aluminum and brass. I think Mothers has a similiar product, if not the same thing.

Vince

[Beenaway2long]

NeverDull works AWESOME!!

[454me]

This is the product I have used for years. It woorks great and you can get a buffing wheel and a drill to make it faster and easier.


http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/p...iProductID=886

[stickshift]

depending on how bad they are you can wet sand them. put some liquid detergent in the water start with 400 grit or so also depending on how bad they are and end up with 1200 grit. then use never dull or a like product to eliminate small sanding marks. then use a good wax to protect the surface..(use a paste wax) its not an easy way to do it but it works quite well (alos dont sand in a circular motion go with the grain)

[broncoII88]

Similar to the powerball, there is the flitz polishing ball. This can be used with almost any drill and comes with special polishing solution that works awesome.

[willys36@aol.com]

Use a power ball or other 1/4" arbor cloth polishing wheel with a couple of graced compounds (start w/ tripoli, finish w/ white compound. Of course clean thoroughly between grits and don't mix wheels between grits) but don't use an electric drill. Get one of these. Dirt cheap, much higher speed - faster polishing than a drill, much more power than the usual hand drill, can't be burned out by overloading, and lasts virtually a life time. I have several, one with a permanent slitting disk, one with a carbide burr, one for polishing, etc.

[daimon1054]

Originally Posted by black66

Mother makes a buffer called " Power Ball ". It goes on a cordless drill and will polish aluminum, chrome, and even plastic. Works excellent.....

Flitz makes a similar product and it is not worth squat, don't waste your money. If you need to clean you rims then any of the products listed will work but to polish them you need more power. Get a polishing tip for a drimmel tool and turn it kind of slow then use polishing rouge, you can get it all at harbor freight. Work you way from the rough grit to the fine then finish with a polishing compound like mothers, flitz or such. The better you do this the longer it will last and the less upkeep you will need.

[Old School Nut]

Originally Posted by willys36@aol.com

Use a power ball or other 1/4" arbor cloth polishing wheel with a couple of graced compounds (start w/ tripoli, finish w/ white compound. Of course clean thoroughly between grits and don't mix wheels between grits) but don't use an electric drill. Get one of these. Dirt cheap, much higher speed - faster polishing than a drill, much more power than the usual hand drill, can't be burned out by overloading, and lasts virtually a life time. I have several, one with a permanent slitting disk, one with a carbide burr, one for polishing, etc.

yup! thats how i would do it... if its really really tarnished you can start of with emery compound, it really cuts fast (so keep her moving), then use tripoli...... it cant be stressed enough not to contaminate the buffs. and always clean the surface between compounds...

personally, I would use a buffing machine to polish the rims (so it cuts more evenly around the rim so the reflection is not distorted) and then use the smaller buffs for the spokes..
try different things and see what works best for you, if you get it down good you might find yourself polishing just about everything!

-Leo-

[Roadsire]

I did an aluminium grill with medium pitting wet (with soap) sanded with 80 grit to remove the deep pits and worked my way upt o a 1000 grit, then the tripoli and buffing wheels came out real nice but a lot of work and time........

good luck

[sandiegopaul]

Originally Posted by black66

Mother makes a buffer called " Power Ball ". It goes on a cordless drill and will polish aluminum, chrome, and even plastic. Works excellent.....

Yea looks good. I'm waiting to get one myself - even Foose uses them!