Polishing Clearcoated Wheels

[IIGood]

What's the best way to polish up some clearcoated wheels? I see the Mother's wheel polish says not to use it on clearcoated wheels so do I just use polish & wax that would be used on the body's paint?

I've got the upgraded, 5-star polished aluminum wheels on my 2003 GT...it's basically the same thing as the '01 Cobra wheels. They've got the mirror-like finish to them. The wheels aren't in horrible shape but it kinda looks like they're a bit hazy and I want to really get them to pop again.

Suggestions? Thanks!

 

[MustangIIMatt]

Scrub them completely spotless with a cleaner like Meguiar's All Wheel cleaner, then use a polish from Meguiar's professional line (tan bottles) with a Mothers Powerball to polish the clear. I cannot emphasize enough how spotless the wheels need to be before polishing, andy brake dust present will get ground into your clearcoat.

 

[Mustang5L5]

What's the best way to polish up some clearcoated wheels? I see the Mother's wheel polish says not to use it on clearcoated wheels so do I just use polish & wax that would be used on the body's paint?

I've got the upgraded, 5-star polished aluminum wheels on my 2003 GT...it's basically the same thing as the '01 Cobra wheels. They've got the mirror-like finish to them. The wheels aren't in horrible shape but it kinda looks like they're a bit hazy and I want to really get them to pop again.

Suggestions? Thanks!

I have those same wheels. From my understanding, they aren't really a true clearcoat on them. It's more of a plasticized coating vs a true clear. So, I use plastic polish with good results. I'll use a power wheel, but use a headlight polish or general plastic polish with good results.

For initial cleaning, i'll use a product called "Iron-X" which will remove all the iron particles from the brake dust/rotors from the surface of the wheel. Spray on, let sit, rinse off, repeat, and then do a general cleaning. Then i'll dry and polish with the plastic polish.

 

[IIGood]

I finally got around to doing something with my wheels based on your suggestions here ( @74stang2togo , @Mustang5L5 ) and I think they're looking a bit better. I did get a Mother's Powerball and some Meguiar's PlastX and went at 'em. Well, at least 2 3/4s of them. I guess they weren't as bad off as I thought, or I'm not putting quite enough oomph behind it, but I do see some difference. Mostly noticeable when I do an area, buff it out, and compare it to an untreated area. I didn't go whole-hog like Mustang5L5 did but I got as best I could thus far. Maybe one day when I get a decent jack I'll pull all the wheels off and give them a full detail. The insides are looking pretty cruddy too after 14 years.

I probably spent too much time on the one wheel yesterday as I killed the freshly charged drill battery. I charged it back up and went at a couple more wheels...I got through another wheel, and then about 3/4 of a third wheel before it died again. So the battery's on the charger again and I'll have to hit the last 1 1/4 wheels. Heh.

EDIT: The battery charged up so I went out and finished up. I figured I'd actually take some before/after pictures just to show the difference, though I'm not sure how well the comparison will show.

Before:

After:

 

[Mustang5L5]

Those look much better.

I plan on swapping on my winter roller wheels shortly, so while the wheels are off the car is when I go to town on them. Figure I got 5-6 months of winter ahead of me

 

[IIGood]

Thanks. I think next time I polish them, I'll see if I can get a second battery for the drill and have that at the ready for when the first one dies. I might be able to get 2 wheels out of each battery if I hone my process.

And I think I might also get the cone-shaped Powerball as well. I bought the PB mini this time around and that worked pretty good but I think the cone would've been better around the valve stems and by the calipers up front.