Polishing Alloy Rims?

[AccordNut]

Are there any good tips on restoring a nice alloy shine to my se-i rims? I thought either pressure washing/sand blasting would work.

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Uhh don't sand blast them otherwise you will see them melt away faster than you can blink.

You have to bead blast them using glass beads. Or you can use other types of mediums.

[HondaBoy]

isnt it media? like a media blaster cabinet? well anyway, if you rims are looking dull, wouldnt that the be the clear coat on them? i know i have a set of alloys and they have a clear coat over the entire wheel. on the spokes, there's painted and polished part, along with the rim itself that was originally mirror finish. they are old and the clear has gone away some, so it lets the aluminium oxidize a bit. if you want, you could always get metal polish like i did and shine them up that way, but you'll have to keep doing it over and over if you want them to stay like that. a shop i know restores rims in this type of case. they would strip them of clear coat and redo them, dont know if they use a bake on finish like a powder coat? i'll have to ask.

[AccordNut]

well my rims arent in too bad of shape, they still look shiny when i wash them real good with some alloy cleaner stuff i buy at autozone...i was just wondering if there was a way to give them that factory shine, i guess clear coating makes sense

[mykwikcoupe]

clear coating often flakes off or turns yellow. Gp to the site of truck'n on TV they did a whole show on polishing aluminum. Theres a 3 step process for coating you only have to do like every year and it keeps it nice and shiny. I use 3 different roughs and 6 differnt wheels. let me know if you want in in depth. Ive got a few sites bookmarked for reference.

[HondaBoy]

well, if your rims arent too extremely bad, you can use some cleaner and wax they make for wheels. all honda wheels i've seen have a clear coat finish. sometimes it does peel off. like on my friends 93 accord, the clear is peeling off. under that is aluminum finish. the clear coat that will flake off and/or turn yellow is usually cheap kind or they didnt clean up the surface before spraying it. those SE-i wheels look good redone like with a powder coat finish. i've seen em redone in black and gunmetal, just an idea.