Metal Polish?

[Evan.J]

Hey there,

I will soon be doing a complete over haul on my Dodge Ram 1500. The truck needs a good bit of work on it from the paint and clear coat cleaning to the rims and nerf bars. I have talked to Murr1525 about the body work and I'm set with that. Now, I have some other questions. I want to polish up the chrome nerf bars and the rim. I have tried many things with on the rim and bars and I havent been too pleased with the over all results of the products. I haven't used and of Meguiar's Metal polishing products so I'm open to any and all suggestions and tips that can be offered to me. The one rim on the truck is an aftermarket aluminum rim and the other are chrome clad (plastic cover) I'm concerned about the aftermarket one since I am having a very hard time keeping it polished and looking good.

Thank You in advance for everyone's help

[Derrick]

Re: Metal Polish?

well i have been very pleased with Hot Rims products they have the Mag and Aluminum polish and the chrome polish wich both work great! You can also try the NXT Generation all metal polish which is also a good product. If none of those work for you then hopefully someone else has some better info than me. I would hate to say to use 0000 ultra fine steal wool but for me sometimes that can be a last resort on chrome if nothing else works but try and stay away from it if you can

[brickyardz]

Re: Metal Polish?

Does the aftermarket aluminum rim have a clear coat over the aluminum? They do that with many of the rims and using a metal polish will dull the look. If the rim is clear coated you should treat it just like you would your cars paint finish. I would suggest ScratchX if it is clear coated. If there is no coating and it is raw aluminum, then I would try the Hot Rims Mag & Aluminum polish. It works great on my aluminum rims and I have used it on some other polished aluminum pieces and one or two chrome pieces as well.

If you don't know if the rim is clear coated one of the easiest, and safest, ways to tell I have found is to take a small amount of ScratchX and try to polish a small part of the aluminum rim. If you start getting a black residue on your applicator there is no clear coat. If it doesn't turn black it is most likely clear coated. If it isn't clear coated I would use the mag & Alluminum polish, it works much better on raw aluminum. If it is clear coated the ScratchX won't harm the finish since it is clear coat safe but I would still do the test in a small area just in case you get different results.

[Murr1525]

Re: Metal Polish?

Yeah, you might want to do a little checking to make sure of what actual coating is on each of those surfaces.

Chrome on a hubcap sounds fairly flimsy, probably only want a mild cleaner/wax for that if anything.

And as for the other wheel, see the above posts.

And then again, depending what the bars are of. If it is uncoated, metal polish would be fine, if coated, then treat like clear coat paint.

[Evan.J]

Re: Metal Polish?

Well, I do know the aftermarket rim does not have a clear coat on it. When I bought the rim from my local tire shop they even told me of this, but failed to tell me the proper cleaning method of the rim. ( My fault too for not asking)

[roushstage2]

Re: Metal Polish?

Which wheel is it?