alcoa shinning

[serge-WO]

what kind of product(effortless)can i use for shinning my alcoa wheel

 

[serge-WO]

what kind of product(effortless)can i use for shinning my alcoa wheel

 

[Ol'Joe]

Hi Serge,
with out a doubt the best way to go for both effortless and effective shining of Alcoa wheels is:
Alcoa gel cleaner, Alcoa "PDQ" polish liquid or paste, (I used both with equal results), the Alcoa sealer treatment and the absolute must and best kept secret weapon...... The "Mother's Powerball" polishing tool, the large red one. I nearly choked at the $19.00 price of the ball at wal mart but my firefighter buddy swore I'd fall in love with it. It's what he uses to keep the truck brillant. He was right, again. I used the cleaner with a stiff brush and rinsed it off and then attached the ball to a drill, slapped on a little polish and pulled the trigger. It was absolutely amazing how "effortless" it was. The ball gets ebony black while using it but rinses out completely when your finished. I was so impressed that I went back to wal mart and paid just as much for the smaller powerball to do the hand holes and was amazed how clean they came too. Sprayed the sealer on, rinsed it off and a month later the wheels still blind you in the sunlight. I got the cleaner/poplish/sealer from Camping World on-line. You can get it from Alcoa dealer/distributers but it's cheaper at CW.
good luck and let me know how it goes.

 

[John_Canfield]

The wheels that came our coach have some sort of protective coating that maintains the shine. In fact, they are not supposed to be polished. Be sure yours don't have that warning.

 

[here4now-5TH]

Serge, I agree 110% with what Ol'Joe says.

I do pretty much the same things he does except I used the Powerball Mini for the whole job, not just for the hand holes. I also used the Mother's Powerball Liquid Polish that Wal-Mart sells right alongside the Powerball itself, but I'm sure the Alcoa polish does a good job as well. The liquid polish is easier to apply to the ball than paste, but the liquid does sometimes splatter a bit if you get too much on. The Powerball, although it still takes a little work, makes the job about as effortless as it can be.

After I was happy with the shine, I applied the Alcoa Sealer. As Ol'Joe says, this is the best-kept secret in the war against dull aluminum. I can't remember exactly when I last polished our wheels, but it was at least 9 months ago and they are only now looking like they need to be re-polished. The wheels have been through about 8-9,000 miles of driving, desert heat, and Florida rain and humidity.

 

[Chief-WO]

Serge, as John said above, check your manuals concerning the polishing routine. Once you get started polishing the wheels it will be something that you will have to repeat again and again because your first polishing will rub off the protective coating.

 

[CHIPPYSGT]

My instructions with my Alcoa wheels says DO NOT POLISH. Mine are 3 years old and look like new. A little soap and water, dry 'em and off we go.

 

[Randy Chesnutt]

For me I use Nuvite grade c to remove light oxidation, then Nuvite grade s for final finish. This polish is for aluminum and has been around for years. It is used on airplanes.We used it on our aluminum airplane. The thing with aluminum it's soft and scrathes easy. Allways wash with a soft rag and the same with polishing. I use a heavy fannel.Nuvite has a great site and it will show you how to polish aluminum. Shinney wheels make a coach.

 

[Pubtym]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by CHIPPYSGT:
My instructions with my Alcoa wheels says DO NOT POLISH. Mine are 3 years old and look like new. A little soap and water, dry 'em and off we go. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Mine too...for the realy crusted hard mineral deposits..I found a little Lime-A-Way (spray bottle variety) spritz on clean towel rag...wipe down deposit and shazamm! all clean..rinse with cloth soaked in fresh water..

 

[Tom N]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by CHIPPYSGT:
My instructions with my Alcoa wheels says DO NOT POLISH. Mine are 3 years old and look like new. A little soap and water, dry 'em and off we go. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You have Alcoa's Dura-Brights.

-Tom

 

[Duner-WO]

Serge, I see in your profile that you have a 2004 39K. Mine is a 2004 also and our Alcoa wheels don't have the Durabrite finish.

After you get them polished up I suggest sealing them with RejeX polymer coating. I tried other polishes and they last only weeks before hazing over again. RejeX lasts me about 4-6 months on the wheels before a new coat goes on.

Checkout RejeX here. I bought RejeX for the windshield, rubber trim and paint in the front of the coach so that I could get he bugs off easier. Then I found how well it lasts on the aluminum. Now I do the entire coach with this stuff.

At the IRV2 Branson rally last year, I was watching Petro scubbing the bugs off the front of his Chieftain. I suggested RejeX and one of our members with a $700,000 Travel Supreme said he uses it bumper-to-bumper. Obviously his coach looked very nice. I've been using it for 2 yrs now and highly recommend.

 

[SCVJeff]

Somewhere around here is a reasonably long thread concerning polishing vs. Durabright. There is a letter designation on the wheels that indicate what it is (I just don't remember). My '06 does not have Durabright wheels, and if I remember the thread, those who have them have mixed feelings.

Anyway I bought some really nice felt strip polish balls, large and small in Quartzsite with some fancy polish, both made by Flitzthat works really well. I also have Mothers balls (no pun), but don't think they're anywhere near as good.

(edit: I bought felt balls, not wheels. My bad)
(edit2: added addl info)

 

[MeterMan-WO]

I found this site to be very informative...
http://www.rvcruzer.com/alumrims.htm

 

[BillGott]

I have used the polishing wheels and Mother's Foam Balls (both sizes). The polishing wheels can be used at a higher speed but both do a very good job with just about any aluminum polish. The key to making the Mothers Foam Balls work and last is keeping the speed of the drill down. I also found that removing the wheel made the job easier as I did not have the lug nuts in the way. It took about an hour for each wheel the first time and a good wax every 3 months keep them mirror like.

 

[Tom and Patty]

Here is how our wheels turned out using Mark's (Cruzer's) recommendation. I used the Mothers polish, plus some green polish I picked up at a tire store. The wheels were pretty corroded from a weekend at the beach.

The Mother's Ball, did all four wheels and still looked new. The polishing took me about 1/2 hour per wheel. I used a rechargable drill with two batteries, and never had to wait for a recharge.

 

[Tom and Patty]

 

[Latitude]

I would like to use 'Cruzers' formula. But how do I know if my wheels have the coating or not???

and would it make any difference???


Rick

 

[NLOVNIT]

Rick,

In the mass of papers that came with our coach was product info on our wheels that stated they were Alcoa Dura-Bright. That's how I knew we had the ones with the coating. I would think that if you tried to polish wheels that had this coating you'd ruin the coating.

L-

 

[SCVJeff]

Maybe someone that remembers the thread can chime in here (or recall the thread). But last time this was brought up someone made a comment of a stamped designation on the wheel indicating if it was or wasn't a coated wheel. I thought mine were Durabrites as well, but not according to the stamp on my rims.

 

[Latitude]

If I polish over the 'Coating' will it make any difference???


Rick