Best product to remove corrosion from polished aluminum wheels?

[Harry P.]

My wheels are starting to get corrosion around the plastic center cap. I can just pop off the caps with a flat screwdriver to expose the corrosion around the center hole. But what's the best way to remove the corrosion? Is there a magic product out there that will melt it away or do I have to use a power tool and a wire brush type thing and physically scrub it off?

[crazyjim]

0000 steel wool.

[Fabrux]

Is it corrosion of the metal or just the clear coat? If it is just the clear coat you can strip it with muriatic acid and re-apply.

[Harry P.]

Is it corrosion of the metal or just the clear coat? If it is just the clear coat you can strip it with muriatic acid and re-apply.

It's corrosion of the metal.

[DrGlueblob]

Naval Jelly is the old standard Harry.

[Harry P.]

Naval Jelly is the old standard Harry.

I looked it up and Aluminum Jelly seems to be the preferred product.

[chevyfever2009]

Also eagle one wheel cleaner for rough cast wheels

[Mike_G]

Eagle 1 etching mag wheel cleaner will remove the oxidation, but will dull the polished finish, requiring repolishing.

I'd try some Simichrome polish.

[madhorseman]

Harry,Cam Metal Polish, from The Wax Shop, is what I've used with good results before.

I'm not real sure but , will acid not dissolve aluminum? Sodium hydroxide will for sure. I myself would use aircraft grade paint stripper to remove clear coat from aluminum wheels.

Edited April 13, 2014 by madhorseman

[TooOld]

Simichrome Polish , I've been using it for years and will swear by it . I have a set of American polished aluminum wheels that I bought in 1978 ( on a daily driver ) and they look brand new ! If you use it a lot of it a tube will last several years .

You can find it at you local bike shop ( motorcycles ) or on line . If they try to sell you Flitz Polish don't by it , it's not the same .

It also removes scratches from plastic windows and does wonders for BMF !

[crazyjim]

That stuff is great, Bob. I use it on zinc & lead in my stained glass projects.

[astroracer]

Can you post a picture? I just finished completely re-polishing a brand new set of American Racing aluminum rally wheels I bought for my truck. Sanded out with 2000 grit and WD40 then buffed with red and white rouge, a Meguires polishing cone and White Diamond metal polish. Lots of elbow grease but they look like chrome now.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4da33b3127ccef58d8a24aeaf00000030O00BaNmrFmyYtQe3nw0/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00501231564020140412204800442.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Mark

[Harry P.]

I don't think this can just be polished away... I'm thinking I need some sort of chemical.

[Muncie]

Harry,

You've got some bad corrosion going on there and it looks like the clear coat is failing - as they say, that's not going to buff out..

Sanding (very fine) and polishing will remove the corrosion but it's going to come back unless the clear coat is repaired or redone. Your car is too new to have this problem - can Ford do anything for you? factory service bulletins? anything on the Mustang forums? You can't be the only one with this problem.

it may have been mentioned - try a little bit of polish on a spot where the wheel is still good - if the rag turns black the wheel is not coated - if the rag doesn't change color, the wheel is clear coated.

Corrosion like that at the wheel centers can actually start at the wheel mounitng surface (contact between dis-similar metals) and spread to the outer surface. It may look worse inside the cap...

sorry - hate to see that happen

[Harry P.]

Harry,

You've got some bad corrosion going on there and it looks like the clear coat is failing - as they say, that's not going to buff out..

Sanding (very fine) and polishing will remove the corrosion but it's going to come back unless the clear coat is repaired or redone. Your car is too new to have this problem - can Ford do anything for you? factory service bulletins? anything on the Mustang forums? You can't be the only one with this problem.

it may have been mentioned - try a little bit of polish on a spot where the wheel is still good - if the rag turns black the wheel is not coated - if the rag doesn't change color, the wheel is clear coated.

Corrosion like that at the wheel centers can actually start at the wheel mounitng surface (contact between dis-similar metals) and spread to the outer surface. It may look worse inside the cap...

sorry - hate to see that happen

The manual says they're clearcoated. Any suggestions on the best clear to use once I remove the corrosion? Lacquer? Enamel?

[astroracer]

Harry,

The clear coat will need to be stripped off before you can do any polishing. The real problem here is the clear coat gets a chip or cut in it and that lets the air and water react with the aluminum. Once the oxidation starts it just worms it's way under the clear coat and bites deep into the aluminum.

Once you get the wheels stripped and re-polished I would be very hesitant to re-coat them. All you are doing is setting yourself up for the same issues as soon as the rims get a stone chip. Leaving them bare is more work but at least you can keep them polished.

Go to Eastwood's site and look at their polishing kits. I have used their kits for years and they provide everything you need to get this job done.

The only way to fix this is to sand the corrosion out with 180 grit paper. Once you have most of the damage removed you can start working your way up through the grits from the 180. Use WD40 as a lube and wet/dry 220, 400, 600, 1000 finish up with 2000 and the rims will be ready for a high polish with red and white rouge. This IS a lot of work but it's cheaper then new wheels if Ford can't do anything for you.

Mark

[Muncie]

I would use Mark's' answer for a car that doesn't see mag chloride or other winter road de-icers. Can't beat a good polish on bare aluminum - my favorite color. Keeping up with the damage done by de-icing chemicals may be a full time job - they never sleep.

here's a clear coat option -

There may be better things out there including companies that restore factory wheels but Duplicolor makes a clear for wheels - it may be more durable than other rattle can products - I'm going to try it to fix some light curb rash on some clear coated wheels.

I've heard of people going to the effort and expense to have polished wheels clear coated by an authorized Accuride wheel refinisher - that's heavy truck stuff so that would be top end and most durable.

Hope that's better news than my last post.

[astroracer]

And get winter wheels...

[Mike_G]

Harry,

The clear coat will need to be stripped off before you can do any polishing. The real problem here is the clear coat gets a chip or cut in it and that lets the air and water react with the aluminum. Once the oxidation starts it just worms it's way under the clear coat and bites deep into the aluminum.

Once you get the wheels stripped and re-polished I would be very hesitant to re-coat them. All you are doing is setting yourself up for the same issues as soon as the rims get a stone chip. Leaving them bare is more work but at least you can keep them polished.

Go to Eastwood's site and look at their polishing kits. I have used their kits for years and they provide everything you need to get this job done.

The only way to fix this is to sand the corrosion out with 180 grit paper. Once you have most of the damage removed you can start working your way up through the grits from the 180. Use WD40 as a lube and wet/dry 220, 400, 600, 1000 finish up with 2000 and the rims will be ready for a high polish with red and white rouge. This IS a lot of work but it's cheaper then new wheels if Ford can't do anything for you.

Mark

Good advice. I might add that in the absence of a polishing wheel setup, Mother's Billet polish will work well once the metal is at 2,000 grit.

Before:

After:

[BirdWatcher]

I remember my gramps used to make up some stuff with vinegar and baking soda, hot water and something else, i forget.(probably the most important ingredient) The cats were christening his rims in the backyard. Worked pretty good on aluminum, i used it on my bike while he was cleaning stuff too. As far as the clear coat stripping goes, the only product I've ever heard of working is EZ off oven cleaner. Tire must be removed from rim before applying EZ off. I doubt S.O.S. pads would touch it.....

[Harry P.]

After some online research and reading your comments, I've decided that the only way to really get rid of the corrosion is to sand it off. So that's my Sunday (tomorrow)... jack up the car one wheel at a time, pull the wheel, pop the center cap out from behind, sand all corrosion off, then rubbing compound and polish... and finally some VHT hi-temp clear on the sanded areas (meant for aluminum wheels) that I picked up today at Autozone.

It should be a full day's work, seeing as I don't have a floor jack and have to use the scissor jack in the trunk. But there's no way to pry the center caps off without gouging either the wheels or the caps themselves (or both), so the best way to go is to remove the wheels. And besides, I'll have better access to the wheels for sanding/polishing/clear coating once they're off the car and I can lay them down flat on my garage floor.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Lots of good advice already, but if I were you, with limited sanding and polishing options (it's real work to do a 1:1 wheel in a well-equipped shop...even harder if you don't have all the pro stuff readily available) I'd seriously consider pricing having them refinished by your local wheel shop.

Changes in the collision-repair industry, and the refusal of insurance companies these days to replace wheels with minor damage, have resulted in the springing up of many companies that refinish wheels to look like new. A reputable body shop should be able to give you some contacts. You can also ask your insurance company for a referral, as most of them work with wheel shops they've vetted to do good work.

The corrosion appears to already be pretty deep in places, and will need to be sanded out fairly aggressively, in stages of finer and finer grits (and then re-polished, of course, and cleared) and there's always the possibility of having to go so deep into the metal that you'll see a wavy area if you're not really good at blending the damage. Air die-grinders and a multitude of polishing buffs (which a professional shop will have) greatly simplify the process.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[astroracer]

Bill has some good points Harry. You will have to step up through the grits to get the aluminum anywhere near ready for polishing. Just like I stated in one of my earlier posts, 2000 grit will be your minimum to get the shine back. And it will need to be feathered out to keep from making "waves".

This is the rig I set up for polishing wheels. Much easier to stand upright to work on this stuff then bending over working on it on the floor. Couple of cheap rollers clamped to my fab table. The wheel spins in place and makes it easy to access all surfaces.

[crazyjim]

Why not just get the wheels sandblasted?

[vypurr59]

Why not just get the wheels sandblasted?

Getting them sandblasted, would completely dull and pit the finish, and bring out flaws in other portions of the Aluminum. Then the real work of completely polishing of the wheels. Just repair the affected area, Buff and clear coat.