What can I do about pitting/winter damage on my wheels?

[astronut1885]

Hey guys. I was a total boner and never took my Stern wheels off the car for the winter. Driving in 2" of snow with the KDWIIs was more than interesting . I ended up with some pitting and staining on the lip of the rear wheels, washing doesn't help, not sure what I can do about it short of getting the wheels painted/powdercoated. Don't have pics right now, but they're not good... Anything I can do to return the shine of the metal? Will enough polishing bring them back?
Thanks... and please don't pick on me for being a turd and never changing them, I hate myself enough already for it.

 

[Blackone51]

Hey guys. I was a total boner and never took my Stern wheels off the car for the winter. Driving in 2" of snow with the KDWIIs was more than interesting . I ended up with some pitting and staining on the lip of the rear wheels, washing doesn't help, not sure what I can do about it short of getting the wheels painted/powdercoated. Don't have pics right now, but they're not good... Anything I can do to return the shine of the metal? Will enough polishing bring them back?
Thanks... and please don't pick on me for being a turd and never changing them, I hate myself enough already for it.

I use this stuff called Old Yellow, we use it on our metal plastic injection molds at my job to polish and remove corrosion. It works great, my rims are 5 years old and look almost new. Its made by a company called SLIDE and its a polish/cleaning compound. If you can find it its awesome.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Once they pit, the will just get worse. My friend went through the winter with chrome wheels on his truck. All he did was coat the hell out of them with wax and left it on there all winter. The wheels looked dull and swirled with wax, but they stayed mint. They are still like new. He would change it once a week and rewax them. I'm a believer that it worked.

 

[mustang50v8]

got pics? i have fr500's and the bare aluminum part started doing that. i ended up wet sanding them. it was a pain in the ass, but it worked. the only thing i am worried about is how long it will last.

 

[Mossberg]

I just remembered why I moved. Winter sucks.

 

[superstang01]

when mine started to do this i wet sanded with 1500grit...then wet sanded again with 2000 grit....then i went over my rims wit SOS pads and they are shinier then new....the SOS pads really did wonders

 

[urban96]

when mine started to do this i wet sanded with 1500grit...then wet sanded again with 2000 grit....then i went over my rims wit SOS pads and they are shinier then new....the SOS pads really did wonders

yep, sand the areas with really fine grit paper then buff/polish

you can also clear coat them after to protect ur new shine