How to Restore Your Polished Rim Lips

[wret]

You have nice aluminum wheels with a polished lip. They were really shiny when new but now they have sections that are discolored and pealing. You may have accepted this is part of the natural process of new things becoming old, but there is something going on that you might not be aware of.

Ever notice that the worst sections of oxidation on your wheels are near the lead weights? Particularly if you have the type of weights installed out-of-sight on the inside of your wheel. The weights are typically installed with adhesive foam tape. The tape collects moisture and salts and forms an electrolyte between the dissimilar metals of the lead weight and the aluminum wheel. An exchange of electrons occurs causing accelerated decomposition of the least noble of the two metals, in this case the aluminum. This is known as galvanic corrosion. What this means is that the wheel will corrode at an abnormal rate, more so in proximity to the lead weights. Here is an easy way to repair the damage and prevent future corrosion.

Re-Polishing the Lip

Caution: This works on FWD vehicles. Do not attempt it on an AWD vehicle unless all four wheels are lifted off the ground.

Materials:
Sand Paper 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000
Aluminum polish (I like Mother’s)
Paint remover.
Clean Rags
Pail of water

Tools:
Jack
Stands
File (if you have dents or nicks to smooth out)

Procedure:
1. Clean the wheels
2. Smooth out any severe nicks with a file
3. Jack up a front corner where you want to start polishing. Support with jack-stand and chock rear wheels.
4. With one front wheel completely off the ground, start the engine and release the clutch with the transmission in first gear. The wheel that is off the ground will begin to spin at a couple hundred rpm’s. CAUTION! You have created the equivalent of a lathe. Treat it with the respect you would any power tool. Watch out for air valve stem. Mine our out of the way enough so that I could polish underneath, but it smarts when is smacks you in the knuckles.
5. Usually the lip is sealed with clear-coat. You will need to remove it if you want to polish the lip. With a rag, carefully apply paint remover to the rim lip. DO NOT allow the paint remover to come in contact with the painted sections of the wheel or you will destroy the finish. Within a couple minutes the clear-coat will start to flake off. Apply another coating or two of paint remover to be sure you get all the clear-coat off. Stop the engine and inspect to be sure. If patches remain it will slow the polishing process. If you are not comfortable using the paint remover, start sanding with a coarser grit sandpaper. It will take a little longer but you should achieve the same results.
6. Sand the spinning wheel starting with 400 grit sandpaper and proceed all the way up to 1500 or 2000. Keep the paper wet or it will get hot and tear.
7. Finish with aluminum polish on a rag and then a clean dry rag. At this point the wheel lip should have a brilliant shine. If you want, you can apply a fresh coating of clear-coat.
8. Repeat for the opposite wheel. Exchange the front wheels with the rear wheels and repeat. You probably needed to rotate you tires anyway.

Prevention

Replace the lead with equal weight pieces of stainless steel. Stainless steel and aluminum do not have the same galvanic corrosion potential as aluminum and lead. Fortunately for me, I have access to scrap stainless steel and weighing equipment. Otherwise, you will need to order stainless bar stock from a supply house or a steel fabrication shop.

Materials:
Stainless steel bar stock
Double sided adhesive backed tape

Tools:
Balance (accurate enough to at least ¼ ounce)
Metal Saw

To construct the replacement weights, first weigh your bar stock whole. You will then be able to calculate how long the pieces need to be to form the individual weights. Simply cut the bar into appropriate lengths and affix them to the same locations the lead weights occupied with double-sided foam tape. Your wheels will now be corrosion resistant.

Ron Tew