[dollarbill]

My truck wheels looked really good last summer. They are Eagle Alloy 187, Eagle Alloy Wheels Series 187 They look like garbage this year. I do recall spraying Black Magic wheel cleaner on them and clouding them over but now its black bumpy crap, mostly the front wheels. I thought it was just brake dust. I tried to polish them with my Mother's Power Ball and Liquid Metal for Aluminum. The progress shown in the picture took about a half hour to get. At this rate I'm looking at at least 1.5 hours per wheel. There has to be a faster, easier way. I'm open to suggestions....

[mrvandermey]

Just a thought, have your tried to power wash then with a pressurer washer? Then after that use a good aluminum polish and polishe them. I get brake dust on my wheels. When I do a show car wash, I spend easily 1-1.5 hours per wheel. Check the auto stores, you may find something to "soak" your wheels in order to break up the particles before cleaning and polishing them.

[Jim D.]

dollarbill,

You've really got some winter build-up there! These are bare aluminum, right?

I'd recommend you use a spray-on, hose-off wheel cleaner that is safe for bare aluminum... something like FX Wheel Cleaner or Mothers All Wheel. From the sound of it, your Eagle One wheel cleaner may have been too harsh (they make about 6 different cleaners for different finishes, so make sure it's safe for bare aluminum).

Follow the directions on the cleaner, and you're going to probably need to scrub a little on the stubborn areas with a wheel brush ... some wheel cleaners only recommend about 20 seconds of penetration; some up to 2 minutes. With bare aluminum and since you're going to polish, you'll probably be okay to go a little longer.

Once you've got it clean, then polish them with the PowerBall and PowerMetal polish... you'll want to clean it before and after... it should only take you about 15 minutes to polish each wheel given the amount of damage... well, certainly not 1.5 hours, anyway.

If you need more help, the guys at waxforum.com (the mothers forum) are pretty helpful.

[REDdawn6]

Buy new rims...

[crazycarnut]

purple power. my ex girlfriend burnt up a rotor on a wheel and i couldn't get it off, i sprayed purple power on em and let it sit for 15 minutes. After that about 10-15 minutes and they came clean.