Thread: Polishing Black Wheels

Well I wanted to share my method of how I polished up my black wheels that I have on my 99 Grand Prix. This method is for black wheels that are clear coated. It can also be used on silver clear coated wheels. I'm not endorsing any of these products but there are similar products on the market that can also get the job done. For this process I went with Mother's. I wanted to try out their new prefessional paint restoration system as I have read nothnig but good reviews along with the longer working time and no dusting for the compound compared to the short working time and dusting of Meguiar's M105 compound.

I also wanted to try out the new Mother's M Tech line that is only available at Autozone. I have been informed that these are rebranded products from the California Gold line but at a lower price.

For this process I used the following items:
Drill - Cordless in this case with a spare battery in the charger that I alternated.
Mothers Powerball - For the flat surfaces
Mothers Power Cone - For the harder to reach areas and in between the spokes.
Mother Professional Rubbing Compound 08612
Mothers Professional Finishing Polish 08712
Mothers Micro-Polishing Glaze
Mothers M Tech Synthetic Wax
Mothers M Tech Tire Shine
Lake Country Tire Dressing Applicator
Foam Appicators - preferably one for each product.
Microfiber towels - preferably one for each product.
Wheel Cleaner
Tire Cleaner

The wheels are 18" Falken Koblenz. They are black with a chrome lip. I bought them in 2007. As one knows wheels experience a harsh environment with brake dust, road grime, heat etc.... The wheels were in bad shape from the daily driving and from the soft Mothers tire brush that I use to clean them. Treating the paint on the wheels is similar to treating the paint on your car. The more the clear coat is touched the more chance it will swirl. So in this case I decided that this will be an off the car paint restoration. My goal was not 100% but more like 70-80% improvement. I did not have a small enough pad to use with a Porter Cable so that is the reason I used a powerball and power cone.

I started off with the drivers side wheel. I started off by cleaning the wheels and tires. I don't have photos of this but I used Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner to remove the brake dust. I used Adam's All Purpose Cleaner to remove any old tire dressing and grime from the tires.

All photos were taken with an iphone as I did not have my goo camera with me.

This was the first wheel I worked on. All of them look the same. But you can clearly see the swirls. Don't mind the ding on the spoke.



Here's and after shot of after using the compound on a mini powerball. You can clearly see the swirls were removed and the clarity has been restored.



This is the finished shot. I sealed them up with Mothers M Tech synthetic wax. Finger got in the way lol.



This is the second wheel I worked on. It was getting dark so I moved into the garage. You can see the white oxidation between the spoke.



This is after using the compound with the power cone and applying the polish by hand with a foam applicator. Oxidation is now gone.



I had an LED flashlight on hand. You can see all the imperfections on the spoke. I got a little glare from the chrome lip. All the wheels looked the same.



This after using the compound with the mini powerball. Much better.



Followed up with the polish by hand. I played around with Mothers Micro-Polishing Glaze after I polished this wheel to fill in the deeper scratches and swirls that the powerball could not remove as it does not have a cut to it like a cutting pad used on a dual action polisher. There are deeper imperfections as you can see in this photo but I have no intentions of removing them as I will be replacing these wheels with new ones due to the chrome lip starting to bubble from underneath the chrome on one of the wheels.



I don't have any final shots of this wheel. I sealed this one up with Mothers M Tech synthetic wax as well. They look much better and I am very impressed with mothers professional paint restoration system. I would say that I acheived my goal of 70-80% correction.

I also played around with the M Tech tire shine. I applied it with a lake country tire applicator that I got on ebay. I cleaned the tires prior to applying the tire shine.

Before


After


Final shot in the sun. Not the best shot but it gets the point across.



Hope this helps anyone that is looking to maintain the appearance of their wheels.

Thanks for the write up, rims look mint. Definatly gonna polish up my MSR 065's if this snow ever melts. Also noticed your tires are cracking almost as bad as mine.

Originally Posted by spazzz

Damn fine job Mike.
That must have been a PITA.
Did you use one of the red powerballs?
I still have 2 of the original yellow ones and maybe I could trim them to work on wheels.
That sucks about the chrome cancer.
Mothers Showtime detailer and Mothers California Gold carnauba wax have been two of my faves.
Good to hear there is some excellent, reasonable priced products from Mothers that work great.

Thanks for the write-up.

I used the mini powerball


and the power cone


This is the micro-polishing glaze


The professional paint restoration system


This is the M Tech line available through autozone

Originally Posted by smoke14

Thanks for the write up, rims look mint. Definatly gonna polish up my MSR 065's if this snow ever melts. Also noticed your tires are cracking almost as bad as mine.

Yeah these tires are done. I have a new set. Looking for replacement wheels to replace these black ones.

Post up your wheels when you get them cleaned. Hopefully this will help you out in getting yours all cleaned up.

Will do. There tucked away in my garage and will probably be there another month. Also, your tires don't look near as bad as mine.

Originally Posted by smoke14

Will do. There tucked away in my garage and will probably be there another month. Also, your tires don't look near as bad as mine.

Yeah you look like you are in need of new tires. Your wheels look like thay have a polished aluminum lip. You may want to conider a aluminum polish.

Originally Posted by HighOctaneRacing

sweet job man

Thanks.

Originally Posted by smoke14

Will do. There tucked away in my garage and will probably be there another month. Also, your tires don't look near as bad as mine.

And yours dont look as bad as mine lol. Or even my sisters car for that matter