Cloudy Aluminum Wheels

[rcreechssr]

I have some 8 year old nice 5 spoke factory aluminum wheels that have clouded on the spokes. The inner part of the wheel is painted silver, looks good, but the spokes have clouded/speckled look. The spokes were satin aluminum ( you can see the small machined lines ) and were apparently clear coated. Looks to me like the clear coat has been damaged with years of chemical cleaning.
Anyone know how to restore these wheels to their original finish. I've tried polish, wax, and polishing compound, nothing has worked yet.
Thanks for your input.
Randy

[jkennedy293]

I'd say take them to a wheel repair shop. They can take off the old clearcoat and apply a new one.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

What you have to do is strip the clear coat (eg paint stripper safe for Al), clean them up and then put new clear. There is a nice explanation on 78ta.com IIRC

Thing is, you could just strip the clear and wax them too, the clear is good because it is like a "permanent wax" that you don't need to deal with usually. W/o clear you need to keep them waxed so they don't get corrosion.

[rcreechssr]

Originally Posted by jkennedy293

I'd say take them to a wheel repair shop. They can take off the old clearcoat and apply a new one.

Originally Posted by Smaart Aas Saabr

What you have to do is strip the clear coat (eg paint stripper safe for Al), clean them up and then put new clear. There is a nice explanation on 78ta.com IIRC

Thing is, you could just strip the clear and wax them too, the clear is good because it is like a "permanent wax" that you don't need to deal with usually. W/o clear you need to keep them waxed so they don't get corrosion.

Thanks, both of you confirmed what I suspected.