So I just cleaned my tires with simoniz tire cleaner and although I did a fairly good job of keeping it off my rims, once I washed all of it off it ran down my rims and now the chrome looking (aluminum) rock ring looks terrible. it almost looks like it is caked with salt, it is blotchy and grey. i have tried a few products that i have including a jewely polish/restore kinda thing to no avail. I'm not sure, but i don't think i can buff this out. Any idea what i can do? and how the hell would you even avoid this?


EDIT: never mind, in small print they say not to let it contact aluminum. Brilliant idea to put it in tiny writing after the instructions instead of on the front of the bottle. Ah well, I had my rims for a few months before I f#cked em up.

 

Have you tried Never-Dull? I have a buddy that got a set of old aluminum rims for free off of craigslist and after many hours spent on each rim they look brand new! If the tire cleaner actually managed to etch them that fast then you might be SOL but I would definitely try some Never-Dull before you give up. Gook luck! - KY

 

Holy crap! Thanks for the warning. Now THIS is the kinda posts I look for on here. Sorry about your rims, but thank you for posting.

 

Sometimes if the etching is bad you can slick it up with 3M 2500 or 3000 wet or dry sandpaper. Use the paper folded in 1/3's and wet from a bucket of water and a sponge. Go over the bad area lightly, then polish the area. You will know how hard to sand the areas after sanding and polishing a small area until you get the results you desire....

 

X2 on what TINMAN said. Aliminum is pretty forgiving stuff if you know how to work with it. First off, since the stuff changed the surface of the wheels, I'm guessing they are uncoated wheels. If so, you should be able to polish that out with no trouble at all. Just use what TINMAN recommended. You'll be fine.

 

What is this "cleaned" thing you talk about and what does it have to do with a Jeep??!?

 

It is the process of putting a lot of effort into destroying your brand new wheels, apparenty... So I think i'm about done with cleaning.

 

i would use never dull the same thing happened to me with my old jeep and i was able to get it very close to perfect with that stuff.. You should be able to get it at any auto parts store and its not too expensive

 

i use westley's wheel brite on my tires, and although you're not supposed to get it on the rim, a little bit will get on the before i can get it washed off. never caused issue with my rims, and makes tires look awesome

 

Isn't that Great, The bastards make a tire cleaning product that you can't let get your Wheels? Brilliant!!!