Does anyone know of a polish for aluminum that is aggressive enough to remove the milky surface on aluminum wheels? I'd like to find something in a liquid form I can apply by hand and hopefully avoid having to use power tools and risk burning the aluminum.

 

Have you tried the Mothers Aluminum Polish. It works pretty good for me. And put some elbow grease into it. If that doesnt work then you might have to step up to an electric buffer with some White Rouge polishing compound. Try the Mothers first, it should give you what you need, and its cheap.

 

depends on what's causing the milky part. is it a clear coat gone bad, is it a polish compunt or wax that was left on too thick, your probably going to refinish the wheel if it's anything along those lines. mothes and other polishes like it typically only work for more or less a cleaner of sorts to take out very light imperfections.

 

Well if it is the Milky stuff I am thinking about that I had it was the clear coat. The guy I bought my car from did not take care of the rims and used cleaners that ruined the clear coat finish on my car. They were the original wheels that are found on a 91-92 Z28 or RS and I bought paint/epoxy remover and stripped the clear coat off......At that point you can polish them by hand or machine and they will come out great.....but the clear coat has to be stripped in order for it to work...............

 

The clearcoat was removed from the wheels previously and I also used Aircraft Paint Stripper to remove the paint from the center section and gave the rims the once over as well. It didn't make a difference on the milky areas either. It's the bare aluminum. I've tried Mothers,Eagle1, and some stuff my dad uses on his Alcoa wheels on his rig that is almost miraculous. Unfortunately none of these has done the job.

 

well the only two things i can think of is either you don't have it off like you think you do or you went to far and opened the pores up so much that the polishing compound has been embeded discoloring the wheel which in that case you're out of luck and powdercoating or tinting would be a possible option.

however without seeing them i can't say for sure, i'm certain someone else here has run into that....anyone?

 

Well.................???? You could try using some sandpaper and scuffing it out in different stages............

 

yet hit up some sandpaper...its gonna rough em up so youll have to polish them tho..