Questions about the finish on aluminum wheels.

[jeryst]

I have a nice set of aluminum wheels that had gotten corroded over time. You know how when the clear peels and then that ugly whitish/grayish corrosion sets in.

Well anyways, I took the wheels to a friend who does bead blasting and asked him to blast the wheels since I had nothing to lose. The surface of the wheels came out perfect, but the wheels are now a dull gray color.

Can I restore the finish in any way, such as by spraying them with clearcoat, or polishing them with something? I could always just paint them, but they looked really nice when new, so I'd like to get them back to something similar.

[stevekarlo]

I would think that after bead blasting you'd need to polish the snot out of them. I know that Eastwood sells all kinds of polishing compounds and kits to polish aluminum.

[A383Wing]

get a Mothers Powerball and some polish..get your electric drill and get to work...

[Brock Samson]

i did my old tarnished slots by hand with that german two stage WENDOL product. i spend about hours on each wheel... they looked damn near new when i was done, minus a bit of curb rash. 

[terrible one]

Instead of going straight to polish, you need to make the finish as smooth as possible first. The bead blasting will leave a pretty rough surface compared to what they started with. I would suggest getting some sandpaper and giving each one a good sanding in steps. Maybe 400, then 600, then 800, then 1000 grit. THEN you can polish them to a mirror shine! In my opinion if you go straight to polishing them after the blasting you aren't going to be satisfied.

Here's a before and after of a pair of slots I did long ago:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22768.0.html

[Charger-Bodie]

Instead of going straight to polish, you need to make the finish as smooth as possible first. The bead blasting will leave a pretty rough surface compared to what they started with. I would suggest getting some sandpaper and giving each one a good sanding in steps. Maybe 400, then 600, then 800, then 1000 grit. THEN you can polish them to a mirror shine! In my opinion if you go straight to polishing them after the blasting you aren't going to be satisfied.

Here's a before and after of a pair of slots I did long ago:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22768.0.html

Good advice.

[Hemidog]

I agree with TO, I sanded my slots, and the polished them with Autosol, came out pretty good!