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How To Remove Corrosion from Alloy Wheels

68K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  chin97  
#1 Ā·
Decided to try and repair the severely corroded alloy wheels on my 2004 Sierra. To me the results were acceptable so wanted to share how it was done. This is not a fast project so plan on 2 hours per wheel.

Materials used were: Eye protection, rubber gloves, non plastic paint brush, chemical stripper from Ace Hardware, Mother's Mag Wheel Polish, coarse steel wool, fine steel wool, 240 grit automotive grade wet sandpaper and a Dremel tool with a small wire wheel.

Notes: Tried doing with wheel left on truck but that did not work and ended up taking them off the truck. The Dremel tool was used to remove the silver paint from the corners of the recessed pockets. The Mother's Mag Wheel polish was used as the steel wool and sandpaper lubricant instead of water. I tried using the Powerball and the Meguiars Power Cone and in my opinion the foam Power Cone worked much better. I was really bearing down on it and it worked extremely well with no sign of damage. While rubbing always go with the machine cut ridges which are for the most part now gone from my wheels. Make sure to rinse both sides of the wheel thoroughly with water after you're finished. Good luck.
 

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#4 Ā·
Using glass beads, soda media or walnut shells were options considered followed by having the wheels powder coated but ultimately decided to try and keep the costs as low as possible. Using blast media might reduce the process time but be aware the clear coat and silver paint on my wheels were of either varying thickness or at least toughness so overblasting isolated areas would be a potential. I'm happy was the results obtained using the process described and at the relatively low cost. In total less than $150 up front and I ended up with 3/4 of the Stripper remaining along with the Power Cone and Power Ball. Good luck.
 
#5 Ā·
The wheels on my 2004 have a good amount of corrosion and have been thinking about how I am going to clean em up. I was wonder what your thoughts are on doing this process then once finished shoot em with a few coats of clear over top to protect them?
 
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