Alumium Wheels

[Tom Y]

I have these wheels for my bus but they have scratches and dings. The question, if I don't remove all the scratches will they look dirty faster? There is some lite scratches but some are deeper and I would have to sand them out. Thanks Tom

[jackhartjr]

Tom, I have found that with wheels like that...just polish them, they will look good.  Unless you are showing it nobody will notice much!
Jack

[Tom Y]

Jack, Yes they look fine to me. But with scratches will they look dirty quickly? Thanks Tom

[tekebird]

scrtatches and dings have no effect on how dirty looking the get ( time wise)


However Those are not typical bus wheels and look to be hub piloted not stud piloted.

[TomC]

Instead of polishing them, why not paint them?  Properly prepared aluminum will hold paint well even with the temp changes.  I have a '63 Ford Falcon with a 302 in it.  I got tired of trying to keep the aluminum intake manifold clean, so I removed it, cleaned it in acid, primed with aluminum primer, and painted with Ford light blue engine paint.  That was 24 years ago and it still looks new!  Good Luck, TomC

[kyle4501]

Are you saying painted wheels don't get dirty? 

Paint chips off & looks worse 

Those are nice looking wheels, Polish & wax 'em & then enjoy them . . . .

As was mentioned earlier, they are hub piloted. Is that what is on your bus? Mine have stud piloted (tapered holes for the nuts) & LH threads on the street side. 

The scratches won't make a noticible difference as far as time required to get dirty.

[luvrbus]

Tom, you can clean the scratches and dings from the wheels with 600 to 1000 grit sand paper it is a bunch of work but the results are good   

[JackConrad]

    When we got our used aluminum wheels, we started by wet sanding with 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper. This was followed by wet sanding with 1200 grit , black (emory) compound, red (tripoli) compound, and finished with blue polishing compound. Compounds were applied using a polishing wheel on a 7" grinder.  Wheels still have a few deep scratches, but they are only noticable on close inspection. Jack

[luvrbus]

Tom, there's a product by 3M called fastcut compound that is a lot and faster to use than the compounds Jack is talking about with the same results  50 bucks a quart at auto paint stores fwiw

[Brian Diehl]

Since TomY has not been able to respond yet I will for him (hope he doesn't mind).  Tom converted the hubs on his bus to be hub piloted, not stud piloted.  Tom's done a lot of amazing work to his bus including shortening the middle, lengthing the back, putting an L10e in, and raising the roof.  Now, if he could only get it on the road!   

[H3Jim]

If you're gong to paint them, why not polish them, then paint them will clear lacquer or something so they won't oxidize as fast.

[Bob Gil]

If you are still haveing problems trying to figure it out you can give them to me and you won't have to worry about them any more. 

They look good enough to use the wife said.








Shame on me

[Fred Mc]

I clear coated(powdercoated) the al. wheels on my wifes car. I had to polish them first which was the hard job. To powdercoat you just spray on the powder and bake them at 400 deg. Its not difficult if you have a big enough oven. While you may not want/need to do them yourself what I'm getting at is that if they are already polished to have them clearcoated will not be expensive. Clearcoating will reduce the luster a very small amount but it does protect them from oxidation, salt etc. Cleaning then consists of washing just like any other painted surface.

Fred Mc.

[Tom Y]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yes these are hub piloted and as Brian said I changed over to them. There is a lot of scratches but for now I may just shine the rest like the one pictured and call it good. I did not realize they were that bad when I got them. I bought a truck to get the wheels and parted out the rest. I had 3 wheels with the round holes but liked these. They but a wheel on the front for me so I could have it towed and they put another aluminum wheel on with the round holes. So one of these days they will be on the BNO ad area. Thanks Tom