Alcoa forged aluminum wheels

[gary6721]

2018 view with upgraded wheels to Alcoa forged aluminum. Tried to rotate them front to back as recommended in the mb manual. opposite sides are very dirty and rusty. Could not clean them so put wheels back in their original configuration by rotating. Front and back. Side to side. Question is how to remove rust and dark residue. Tried the following with little effect: Black Magic aluminum wheel cleaner, Black Magic intense all wheel cleaner. mothers mag and aluminum polish and finally scrubbed with eagle one original never-dull. Elbow grease does not get me to where I want to be. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

[Old Crows]

Sorry for your troubles. Operator Manual notwithstanding, it is not cost effective to rotate the tires on a dually. You run them in place until damaged or worn out and replace them.

A real PITA if you have 4/6 Aluminum Rims only two of which fit one axle.

Just keep the inflated no higher than the recommendation on the door placard (61 psi); align if necessary; inspect frequently and drive on....

Enjoy the ride!

 

[Winterbagoal]

2018 view with upgraded wheels to Alcoa forged aluminum. Tried to rotate them front to back as recommended in the mb manual. opposite sides are very dirty and rusty. Could not clean them so put wheels back in their original configuration by rotating. Front and back. Side to side. Question is how to remove rust and dark residue. Tried the following with little effect: Black Magic aluminum wheel cleaner, Black Magic intense all wheel cleaner. mothers mag and aluminum polish and finally scrubbed with eagle one original never-dull. Elbow grease does not get me to where I want to be. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Found this....probably covers what you've already tried.....
https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Oxidized-Aluminum
Haven't had to deal with this yet, so not much help here. Sorry.

 

[FIRE UP]

2018 view with upgraded wheels to Alcoa forged aluminum. Tried to rotate them front to back as recommended in the mb manual. opposite sides are very dirty and rusty. Could not clean them so put wheels back in their original configuration by rotating. Front and back. Side to side. Question is how to remove rust and dark residue. Tried the following with little effect: Black Magic aluminum wheel cleaner, Black Magic intense all wheel cleaner. mothers mag and aluminum polish and finally scrubbed with eagle one original never-dull. Elbow grease does not get me to where I want to be. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

gary,
Well, as has been stated, while the owners manual is the bible for some and, for about 98% of the time, it's pretty good to follow, rotating tires on just about 99.999999% of the motorhomes out there, is really not warranted or, in the same amount of percentage, is pretty tough to do so, based on logistics.

So, with all that jargon stated, you've found that wheels can get pretty ugly in certain situations. Now, I've been polishing aluminum since Christ was a pup. Depending on what stage the aluminum is in when the project is started, there can be multiple stages of progress for different results. For instance, as stated, I keep my wheels etc. on my bike, motorhome etc. in top shine. But, for some odd reason, I neglected my rear wheel on my motorcycle for quite some time 'cause it's one of those things that, "out of site, out of mind" things.

So, I had to replace a tire on the bike and the brakes so, off the wheel came. WOW, that wheel was ugly. Using standard aluminum polish was totally useless. So, I dove straight into the project with some 400 grit wet/dry sand paper. The trick here is, LOTS OF WATER, to keep the particles flowing away from your work. Once you've cleaned the wheels with that 400 grit, it's time to move up to 600 or possibly 800 grit. You can do that process 'till the scratches from the 400 grit are all removed.

Then, the same results are seen with each grit. Finally, you move to around 1000 or 1200 grit. At that time, the wheels actually begin to shine. Once the entire wheel's been done with the 1000 or 1200, it's time to break out the drill motor with a buffing cone or wheel on it, using a brown rouge. You'll see that wheel start to gleem.

Once that's done, change buffing cones or wheels, which ever you're using and, using the same drill motor, apply MOTHER'S. You will not get it any shinier than with the use of Mothers. Yep, it's a bit of work but, when you're done, unless you drive your motorhome through the waves at the beach (think SALT), they will stay like that for months and months, without touching them. Good luck.
Scott

 

[azwiz]

Take it (RV) to a truck stop or truck wash of good size tell them to acid wash the wheels, most big truck washes have people who will polish and buff them out. A lot easier and faster, they have the right equipment and do it all the time.

 

[Sgibbs]

If these are the Dura-Bright Alcoa wheels they have a thin anodized coating that is destroyed by trying to polish the surface. Go to the Alcoa web site and get their instructions for how to care for the wheels. The fronts are polished on one side and the rear outer are polished on the other side. It is not possible to rotate them per the MB manual without dismounting the tires and remounting them. You can swap left and right sides but that is about the only way to do any rotation without dismounting the tires. As others have said watch the wear, keep it aligned and drive it.

 

[Calson]

Clear spray lacquer on new wheels will prevent oxidation and it is cheap stuff to use.

To rotate the 6 tires as per the guide would entail removing the tires from the two inner rear wheels which are steel and putting them on the aluminum wheels from the front tires. So there is the labor cost of moving 4 tires to different wheels and possible damaging the valve stems so they should be replaced as well.

For cleaning the wheels my gas powered pressure washer does the job in minutes.

 

[imnprsd]

FireUp: Are your Alcoa Wheels coated? ...They look great, but "Sgibbs" makes a good point.

The picture below shows that my 2004 Itasca Horizon has Alcoa Wheels with "round holes" vs. your Alcoa wheels that are more "oval." Can you or anyone else remind of of the differences when it comes to Alcoa coatings on these two different type of RV wheels?

Other than that, has anyone tried using coca-cola to clean their Alcoa wheels? I hear it does a good job on cleaning kitchen pots and pans, but I have never tried it on my wheels, because I think coca-cola only works if you can let it sit. However, I think concept of using an high alkaline cleaner is probably the secret sauce when it comes to de-scaling or cleaning on NON-Coated wheels.

Note: They make a BBQ Grill Cleaner that I have used with great success, but I think it's chemically pretty harsh. Is it on Aluminum or is chrome the only surface that may have problems.?

 

[FIRE UP]

FireUp: Are your Alcoa Wheels coated? ...They look great, but "Sgibbs" makes a good point.

The picture below shows that my 2004 Itasca Horizon has Alcoa Wheels with "round holes" vs. your Alcoa wheels that are more "oval." Can you or anyone else remind of of the differences when it comes to Alcoa coatings on these two different type of RV wheels?

Other than that, has anyone tried using coca-cola to clean their Alcoa wheels? I hear it does a good job on cleaning kitchen pots and pans, but I have never tried it on my wheels, because I think coca-cola only works if you can let it sit. However, I think concept of using an high alkaline cleaner is probably the secret sauce when it comes to de-scaling or cleaning on NON-Coated wheels.

Note: They make a BBQ Grill Cleaner that I have used with great success, but I think it's chemically pretty harsh. Is it on Aluminum or is chrome the only surface that may have problems.?

Imnprsd,
First off, no Sir, those wheels are not coated. In fact, it's actually quite rare that any wheels on coaches are coated unless, it was specked out when the coach was new. Some of the higher end ones MIGHT come coated but, even many of those are non-coated. Polishing aluminum has been a hobby of mine for oh, maybe 50+ years. I started when I bought my first motorcycle, a 1970 Norton Commando 750. And I've been polishing aluminum ever since.

Second, never, repeat, NEVER-EVER put any form of acid, mild or otherwise, on any aluminum wheel!!!!!!!!!!!! You see, what even the mildest form of acid WILL DO IS ETCH the aluminum. Without professional equipment, it will take you WEEKS to obtain any type of shine on them after you've applied even the mildest form of acid.

Rarely do any aluminum wheels actually corrode and or get any form of "rust" on them on motorhomes. But, they do oxidize. Oxidizing is merely aluminum's way of RUSTING. It's oxidizing because it's got no way of protecting itself. Coating, from the factory, is some seriously tough stuff. There are so many on here that are falsely informed about it that it ain't funny. Contrary to popular belief, you CANNOT DAMAGE a factory coating on Alcoa wheels simply by trying to polish it, AIN'T HAPPENING!!!

If you could damage that coating that easy, then simply washing it with a dirty sponge would damage that coating and, Alcoa would be notified eons ago about a faulty product. You'd have to rub your finger tips off to even put a haze on that coating. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine if a wheel has factory coating or not. First, on Accuride wheels, it states *Accufinish* on them. Second, if you don't see something like that, and try and polish them, if you don't see BLACK on your rag within about 2-3 seconds, THEY'RE COATED. If you see black, you're removing oxidation and aluminum.


Anyway, pertaining to your "Round" holes vs our oval holes, typically the round hole'd wheels were installed on the larger Winnes and Itascas, around 39 to 40' and up. The 36 and below, use the oval holes. They're both 22.5" wheels.
Scott