Milky Rims?

[calired67]

I bought a 2001 silverado used. someone used something on the rims that they should'nt have. now the have a milky look to them. is here anyway to fix them or are the a lost cause?

[AlmostStock]

I believe these wheels have a clear coat on them and yours have been damaged. Even normal use and cleaning can do this. I had a set of Trans Am wheels that looked bad so I had them sand blasted and powder coated. They turned out very nice. I don't remember the cost but it was a lot less than new wheels. Maybe someone else has another idea to try first.

[NOVA71]

They are aluminum correct? What you could do is polish them to a chrome like finish. You would have to sand them down with around 1000 grit and then resand with around 1800-2000 grit. Then polish them with some polishing compound. If done properly they will turn out like chrome. I have to warn you though that it is VERY VERY VERY time consuming. I did this to my aluminum intake and have spent prob around 14 hours or more and I'm still not totally finished. If you want to do this I recommend that you do a section of the back of the rim first to see what the end result will be like and how much work would be involved. You can see how my intake is turning out if you click on the link at the bottom of this that will take you to my Nova page. Scroll to the 3rd pic from the bottom of the page once you are there. I'm in the process of sanding with 2000 grit. The top is almost finished sanding, the bottom still needs to be sanded with 2000. Then I still have to polish with compound(which is easiest). This may be too time consuming for you though. It is alot of work. I did kinda regret after I started, but it will look awesome when I'm finished.

[calired67]

looks cool but I was hoping for a quick fix. Although there may no be one.I could have saved you alot of time by suggesting sand blasting the intake first it would have made sanding alot easier. nice ride by the way. had one in high school but never did much to it.

[NOVA71]

Yeah, I tried Blasting it with glass beads on the bottom first but it still left a pretty rough surface. I ended up sanding it all first with my mini die grinder and some sanding drums to get all the little bumps off. Then the 1000 and then the 2000. Worked really good, just time consuming. I don't know if there's any shops that would be able to do something similar with a large disc and a large buffing wheel. Probably expensive if so. One of my buddies had a guy privately do his aluminum rims with a large sanding disc and buffing wheel that was like the same size as the rim and they came out super. I don't know what he charged him though. good luck.

[calired67]

Found replacements on ebay for around 350 might be the best bet.I will check around town to see if anyone can do the polishing cheaper.