Throwback Thursday: DIY Polished Aluminum Wheel Refinishing

Refinish your wheels at home with a few basic supplies and a whole lot of elbow grease.

If you’re stuck in the house, looking for stuff to do to your truck, why not refinish you truck’s aluminum wheels? This video may be an older one, but it’s got some great tips for refinishing a set of polished aluminum wheels at home with basic stuff you may already have.

Polished aluminum wheels look great, but those looks fade fast, especially in snowy climates where road salt is prevalent during the winter months. It only takes a few years for gleaming polished wheels to look dull and crummy.

The good news is, making your wheels look great again isn’t expensive — it just takes a lot of time. To start, you’ll need to give the wheels a thorough cleaning to remove dirt and brake dust.

High Polish, High Reward

Next, you’ll need to use paint stripper to remove the factory clearcoat from the wheels. Use gloves for this step, as paint stripper is some nasty stuff. As the host explains, “The first thing you’re going to want to do, is make sure the wheel’s completely dry.”

Brush the stripper on and wait a few minutes for it to work its magic before removing the clearcoat off with a scraper or an old kitchen sponge. It may take a few tries to remove completely.

Here, the guys take a moment to wet sand some heavier oxidation. You may be able to skip this step. Next, it’s time to polish. Spread the polish on the wheel, not the polisher. The host says, “I usually take my finger and just get it all around the wheel.”

A polishing cone chucked into a cordless drill makes quick work of the wheel. In no time at all, it’s looking as good as new. You can polish the wheels more than once, though. Our host advises that “The more times you polish them, the better they’re going to look.”

Before mounting them back up, it’s a good idea to protect the shine you just created. Wheel wax or clear coat is a great idea to preserve the looks of your freshly polished wheels.

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Cam Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

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