Are my wheels chrome or polished? Pic Inside

9646gt

Member
Apr 7, 2005
595
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Holloman AFB,NM
Just curious so I know what the heck to try and polish them up with (dont want to sand chrome) They are in kinda rought shape so its hard to tell but here are a few pics...
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They look polished to me.I have the Eagle Cobra Replicas also but mine are in chrome.Are you going to change the center cap?I still have Eagle center caps because they are chrome and even though its a cobra rim it still looks kinda different because it does not have the cobra center cap.
 
Yea. They're polished. They don't look like they need to be sanded. Get some Mothers billet polish and go to town on them. If you really need to, just scuff them with a scuff pad. You're asking for a lot of work if you're gonna sand your wheels.
 
Very tough to tell from those pics.

Just because they aren't very shiny doesn't mean they're polished and it's dulling. You can just have some serious grime buildup which is dulling out the chrome. My old ones used to do that for some reason.

Shine them up really well using a chrome/aluminum polish (wenol, nevrdull, etc.) and post a better picture. Or at least try a pic in direct sunlight. That's usually the easy way to pick out the difference.
 
I don't detail many Mustangs.....in fact I can't remember if I have ever detailed one :shrug: .... BUT anyways it seems to me that you have aluminum wheels and not chrome.

Using chrome polish on aluminum wheels is bad as most chrome polishes are abrasive and they will jack up your aluminum wheels.

They also don't look as if they are cleared but to test this get some ALUMINUM wheel polish and apply some with a towel. If your towel comes up black then you have non-coated aluminum wheels. If it doesn't then you have coated aluminum wheels. You can't get them to shine anymore than they are unless you wish to remove the clear coating.

Anthony
 
When I use polish on them it leaves black residue to I guess they would be polished aluminum then? I tried chrome polish with decent results too (mothers) I tried to polish with basic mothers aluminum polish (not billet or other expensive ones) and a mothers powerball once but still didnt get the results I was looking for..
 
shane93nc said:
They look polished to me.I have the Eagle Cobra Replicas also but mine are in chrome.Are you going to change the center cap?I still have Eagle center caps because they are chrome and even though its a cobra rim it still looks kinda different because it does not have the cobra center cap.

Now my center cap is chrome..there is no doubt about that..thats what made me think that maybe mine are chrome but they were on the car when I bought it.
 
if it brings up a black residue on the rag then they are polished. Looking around the valve stem in the second pic was somewhat of a giveway to me. You can somewhat see the ripples in the metal. Reminded me of the way my 99's look at certain angles.
 
deff polished. Chrome does not get that fadded or crappy looking unless it is neglected for along time. Thats whats so nice about chrome it does not need to be repolished to look good, just cleaned up.
 
Those are polished.

Use proper polish for ALUMINUM or Billet rims - do not use Chrome polish.

BTW - Generally Aluminum polish contains more abraisives then chrome polish. Abraisives are a no-no on Chrome.

trust me - it takes half a day just to do the Chrome in my Engine bay. No abraisives in what I use.