Overspray Removal on Aluminum Polished Wheels

[hook47]

Finally got around to polishing the wheels on my 2018 DX3 37 RB. Surprise, paint over spray on wheels. Tried Mother's Aluminum polish and powerball and some other stuff but without any luck. Tried searching, still no real answer.
What chemical will remove the over spray without harming uncoated polished Aluminum? There are also are some strange stains, like something was splashed on the wheel and allowed to dry.
Thanks for any help,
G

[halla]

I am not sure what to use to remove the overspray. I do know those weird spots are due to the wheels heating up and burning water etc... right to the aluminum. I used two of McKees 37 RV products and it takes off the water spots immediately. RV Liquid Chrome Metal Polish and Aluminum Metal Restoring Spray. You can contact them and ask, they are great to work with and have a lot of useful RV products. They are one of the Rally sponsors as well.

[tom234]

I have the exact same issue. So far the various rim cleaners have not worked.

[Whalenss]

Try lacquer thinner.

[Vansteenburg]

Try White Diamond metal polish. Worked wonders on our 57 chevy stainless and our Alcoa aluminum wheels.

[tom234]

Is there any protective coating on the rims, such as clearcoat or something else? I would like to know before I get to aggressive in getting the paint off.

[Whalenss]

Originally Posted by tom234

Is there any protective coating on the rims, such as clearcoat or something else? I would like to know before I get to aggressive in getting the paint off.

Good point. I didn’t think about that when mentioning lacquer thinner. If you use Mag / Aluminum polish and the rag doesn’t turn black then the rims have a clear coating. I don’t recall mine ever tarnishing so I’m thinking they have a clear finish.

[halla]

I believe they are uncoated. I had a thread on here somewhere were it was discussed and the part number came up as uncoated. The coated wheels have a durabrite finish and carry a different part number.

[jrowe0521]

i have 2014 georgetown xl. i called ford and asked about coating on alum wheels. they gave me number for wheel supplier. they are clear coated, not anodized. therefor you can not use strong solvent such as acetone. I had good success with chrome polish for an abrasive and a random orbital polisher. it still took a lot of effort. I constantly checked for the feel of remaining overspray as to not remove clear coat. On the stainless hubcaps you can use acetone. they look great now. good luck!

[halla]

I am not sure that ford uses Alcoa rims like our Freightliners.

[adrinkard]

I have the same problem with one of my wheels on my 2017 GTXL 377TS. It has been back to the dealer a couple of times and they didn't have any luck. They said FR wanted to try again but I got in touch with FR and they had me tell the dealer to fill out a warranty request. Now according to the dealer I have a new rim waiting for me there as soon as I can get back down. All this is over a several months time period.

[jrowe0521]

dynamax can tell you who made the alum. wheels. I suspect the same company or at least also clear coated.

[Cowracer]

NeverDull. Its a cotton wadding with some sort of magic polishing/cleaning chemical built in.




Tear off a chunk and start rubbing. You will get a black residue from the action (it cleans off easy) and it should clean just about anything off the wheels.

Be Forewarned though: It's still gonna take a LOT of elbow grease.

Tim

[bclemens]

We use Alcoa polished...not the Durabright wheels. The Durabright is nice...unless something happens then you can't buff them out.

[hook47]

Finally finished the wheels a couple days ago. Have used many of the products mentioned. As said, all take a bit of elbow grease to get it done. In this case some polishing with Mothers wheel and polish to start, break up the painted surface then used goof off and Brakeclean. About 99% clean. Future polishing will get the rest. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

[Cowracer]

Now if you got a HEAVY cleaning job to do on aluminum, I got just the ticket.

My truck front wheels have had brake dust practically embedded in them. No cleaner, solvent or chemical that I have found could ever remove them. except one.

NAPA Aluminum Brightener from your local NAPA Auto Parts store. Its a nasty acid/chemical that you want to make sure you wear all the protective stuff, like maybe a full body condom, but it flat out works. And works easy. You never have to scrub. Just spray one, wait a while and hose off.

This is the "before"



And this is after 2 quick go-arounds of just spraying it on and hosing it off after a couple of minutes



Now this stuff has one drawback. It can leave the aluminum slightly 'chalky' white. I never had to polish it off on my wheels, but when I did my pontoon boat logs, it was enough to make me want to.

This is right after spraying one log



This is the white 'chalky-ness' that I was talking about on the nose cone.



Here is one log cleaned, the other one not.



Like I said, this stuff works like magic. NOTHING was able to clean those logs till I went after it with this stuff. The white chalkiness was easy to polish off, or at least MUCH easier to polish than the grey, ugly stuff.

Here is the front half of the log polished, the back half is still raw from being cleaned.



If you have anything that is aluminum that you think is beyond hope, give it a try.

Tim

[old40ford]

Originally Posted by hook47

Finally got around to polishing the wheels on my 2018 DX3 37 RB. Surprise, paint over spray on wheels. Tried Mother's Aluminum polish and powerball and some other stuff but without any luck. Tried searching, still no real answer.
What chemical will remove the over spray without harming uncoated polished Aluminum? There are also are some strange stains, like something was splashed on the wheel and allowed to dry.
Thanks for any help,
G

I really don't know of a harmless chemical that will remove it, but, you can use a clay bar with Mequiar's quick detailer and it will come right off. Just takes a little bit of elbow grease, not too much.

[Iwannacamp]

21+ years at NAPA...it's acid. http://media.napaonline.com/is/content/GenuinePartsCompany/716642pdf?$PDF$

X2 on the Never-Dull, but not for coated

Coated?? might use a body shop clay product for removing overspray

YMMV

[BuzzWolfAR]

I'd go to Cosmetic Industries website and see what they recommend.

[BuzzWolfAR]

Originally Posted by BuzzWolfAR

I'd go to Cosmetic Industries website and see what they recommend.

Wrong name, should be Aero Cosmetics, maker of WashWax All.