How to polish bad al rim?
 

I have a trailer rim that was used on the inside for quite a while, it is now turned on the outside to match the hole pattern of the others. I have brightener put on them each wash, and I put a heavy dose on myself, but I cant get the black stain off them.

Is there a way that I can sand, blast, etc this off, and start from scratch. I was thinking about something like glass beads or walnut shells, etc and "sand" blast the wheel.

Sandblasting will leave miniature pits in the surface that will be visible, and it will take a great deal of polishing to get that out. I would suggest an electric buffing wheel and rubbing compound.

Come to think of it, there is a cleaning product that you use in a sand blaster called "GRIT-O-CORN" that will take off tarnish without doing a lot to the metal itself. You might try that.

Those rims need to be cut! Some of the polisher shops have a big machine that will cut that wheel until it shines for about 50 dollars! If you are ever through West Memphis, Ar (Crossroads Truckwash) or Sikeston, Mo will resurface the wheel for you. I don't know the name of the place in Sikeston, Mo but if you call Daddy Rabbit Truckwash in Blytheville, Ar they will give you the name!

If you want to do it on the cheap, get a sheet of 400 or 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper and wet sand the oxidized areas that you want to polish.

After wet sanding to remove the oxidation, use some Busch's aluminum polish and an electric buffer to polish it.

I've brought a shine back to some pretty f'ed up rims that way.

We have cleaned ours up before polishing with SOS pads. They scratch but they come out with the polish.

You can email these people and they will send you a list of places that have their machines.

VIS-Polish Robotic Aluminum Rim Polishing, Wheel Polishing

Their machine will make a old wheel like new, had six of mine done last summer, WOW, 50 bucks beats hours of hand sanding and polishing.

Get in touch with BigD . . that thing he uses as an avatar ought to do the trick.

Does the tire have to come off the drive rims to be polished in this VIS machine?

Yes, it does.

[youtube]slJKG9kDR1Y[/youtube]