I have a brand new set of billet centerlines that were about 12 feet underwater for about a month..(hurricane katrina) I tried mothers with a buff pad and a drill and they look pretty good but would like to get them a little better.

Open to suggestions.. (Thinking of using a light sandpaper but don't want to screw them up)

Thanks in advance, Joe.

Sandpaper will mess them up you need to just keep on applying the mothers,they should eventually clean up.anything abrasive will mess them up.Is the pad still turning black?if it is (and it should be) the mothers is working,just keep at it.

Yes it is turning black. Just a long process but there getting there.. Glad I didn't use the sandpaper.. I'll be waxing on and waxing off for a while.. :)

Thanks, Joe.

sixtynine where are you located in louisiana...i am near baton rouge...

My boyd's on my vette were messed up during the hurricane also. I'm using mothers billet polish. Looking goood but is a very slooooooow process.

If you can find a good trucker repair shop, alot of them repolish wheels. You might be amazed what a high speed polisher and the right cutting compound will do. They could have all four wheels looking like new in abuot an hour. Good luck getting them shiney again..Johnny

Hey Joe -- Try Wenol Metal Polish - little a more agressive than Mothers but still won't scatch. This is what I use on all my polished and Billet aluminum. I get mine from Summit - don't know who else sells it - this stuff works great. :waving:

The TV advertises onna those soft BRIGHT ORANGE/RED(?) clothe pieced together balls that chucks up in a 1/4" drill that can polish darn near anything.

I think I saw it on Truckin' or some car/truck show this last weekend??

It might be sold by Mothers???

They used it on wheels, a safety tread aluminum tool box, paint, plastic headlight caps, etc., etc., and everything came out great for no longer than the commercial was on..

pdq67

WOW! Thanks guys for all the suggestions!

Importkiller we were from St. Bernard parish.. (Thankfully my car was not there, just the rims; I can live with that!) :)

I ordered two of the flitz it buffing wheels and have been using Mothers but I'm going to try some of the wenol metal polish for a while.. Just wanted too make sure I wasn't wasting my time or doing more damage.. If I'm not happy with the results then I will send them off somewhere to be polished back out again..

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate your suggestions!!

A trick that my brother (he drives tank trucks for a company called Benito out west, all of their tanks are mirror polished aluminum) taught me that works great is:

1. polish in with Wenol Blue (Wenol comes in three types blue=cleaner, red=cleaner/wax, purple= heavy cleaner)until it turns black
2. take a clean "Terry Cloth" dip it in common flour and shake out excess and wipe the residue off. The floor asorbs any solvents left from the polish and leaves a streak free shine with little effort.

I had Centerline telstars on my extended cab pick-up and it works "Awsome" with little work. I can do all 4 wheels in about 20 minutes.

"Corn starch" like what you make gravy thickener out of will do the same thing!!

pdq67

I was thinking the same thing... :)

Who woulda knew..

I used to use this stuff called Aluma-brite. Only used it on my aluminum intake, but it made it look like new. You know how oil soaked they can get. I think I got it at Supershops, but the one in Orlando closed down. Maybe you can find it online. It is an acid wash. Don't know what it would do to your tires, so I'd take them off the rims if you decide to use it. Hope you and yours made it through the storm O.K. P.S. I'm just guessing that they are brushed aluminum. I wouldn't use it on polished aluminum though....

the worse rims i ever done was on my daughters car i bought for her, 94 ford tempo v-6 , the clear was all peeling and the rims were pitted pretty bad, i used 120 first to get all the flaking and pits out, i then went to 220 then 320 then 600, then,well to make a long story short i finished off with 1500 , and i then used autosol ,it works awesome but it's kinda expensive , but worth it, i got them really shiny like chrome and no scratches, i then painted the triangle slots the color of the car,they look pretty awesome for stock aluminum rims and flashy at the same time

If you can find a good trucker repair shop, alot of them repolish wheels. You might be amazed what a high speed polisher and the right cutting compound will do. They could have all four wheels looking like new in abuot an hour. Good luck getting them shiney again..Johnny
sixtynine: What he said! "They could have all four wheels looking like new in about an hour."