Distraction can be dangerous behind the wheel or cleaning a wheel.

[Rick Morris]

NO wet sanding use xxxx steel wool and mothers aluminum wheel polish then wipe off the residue and thats all folks

I will try this tonight.

 

[Rick Morris]

Flitz Aluminium preclean, Flitz polish and a Flitz polishing ball.

The preclean is pretty aggressive and used when you have serious oxidation.

The Mother's foam balls are kind of crap, they shred and are a one-use kind of thing. The viscose that Flitz uses on their (highly overpriced) balls is much sturdier and reusable multiple times (just wash them in between). So I suppose overpriced is in the eye of the beholder... I don't regret buying them.

Personally I suspect those stains are in the coating, not the metal. The coating on these (and my Touring) is crap. So maybe you should consider taking the coating fully off the wheels and then just polish the bare aluminium. Not sure what would remove the coating... paint stripper?? But no, that would also do away with the black areas...

Powdercoating is the easy way out but it just doesn't look as good as aluminium polished to a mirror. The downside with the polished metal of course is that you have to go over it regularly to keep it shiny.

I agree about the power ball. Not so great. I would happily pay more for a great product, so expensive is indeed a relative term.

 

[JRock]

I followed Art's advice on the steel wool, and it works.
Didn't get all the light marks out, but you can only see them up close.

This also works great on cruddy chrome that is not yet pitted.

 

[cr0ft]

I agree about the power ball. Not so great. I would happily pay more for a great product, so expensive is indeed a relative term.

Buff Ball | Super Mini 2"

Buff Ball | Large 5"

Though don't buy from their site, the prices are very high there. Hit up Amazon.com, should get the price down by quite a bit (25% or more). Though it does seem if you go to front page of the site that if you buy for $125 before the end of the month they toss in an extra can of their polish, which is good stuff and $65 for a quart usually...

But if it's the coating that has "melted" you may have to find a way to get that off, which may include wetsanding in the end. But certainly try less extreme methods first.

 

[Gregger]

I have used the Mothers power ball with a good quality aluminium polishing paste with good results. You want the paste to turn black then remove and polish with a clean cloth.

For really stubborn stains I've used an Aluminium Polishing Kit similar to this in a high speed drill. Make sure you have the aluminium compound. Takes off everything. Don't forget that the aluminium portion of our rims has no coating on it. I polish to an almost chrome finish then apply a good quality rim wax to maintain the shine.

 

[cr0ft]

The Powerball is no doubt great compared to plain old elbow grease, but it's pretty inferior to viscose and the cost difference between it and the Flitz viscose ball isn't huge. I'm sure it works fine, but I'm also pretty sure you're not going to be reusing the Powerball 10 times.

Here's a sales pitch from Flitz that I think is worth reading anyway (no, I'm not getting a commission from Flitz, just bought the product and think it does what it says on the tin).

Flitz® Buff Ball vs. Mothers® Power Ball

 

[IMFASTTOO]

Back in 2001 when i bought my RK i was using S-100 it worked so well that in time it striped the chrome of my spokes. Way to harsh to be using IMO.. I use SIMPLE GREEN straight out of the bottle. it's bio-degradable and safe to use on just about anything...

DONT use simple green straight out of the bottle is too harsh 50/50 with water is better but if you just use LEMON PLEDGE it cleans and leaves a shiny protective coating and prevents corrosion try it youll like it

 

[cr0ft]

Two-bucket wash system with grit guards, a microfiber mitt and a soft brush and a quality car shampoo over here. If it's good enough for supercar detailing, it will do for my Rocket...

 

[IMFASTTOO]

I will try this tonight.

OH and polish only in the direction of the machine finish on the wheels and If you have really bad corrosion you can use xx steel wool to start then go to xxxx and Mothers polish for the final finish I think youll be happy with the results

 

[cr0ft]

SOS pads?

Helped me clean up my filthy pitted rear rims a lot. Or rather, the local equivalent of them. Fantastic for any serious cleanup job, and don't really scratch. Just a thought.