Ok, just spent about an 2 hours cleaning the cracked and nasty clear coat off the wheels. Here are a couple pics. But I have a problem these wheels are 20 someting years old and they have the brake dust to prove it. What can I use to get the old stains off. they are not really on the front of the wheels but mainly on the sides of the spokes.

 

If the wheel has been clear coated. Then you should just get some aircraft paint stripper and remove the old clear coat. Then polish it with metal polish and steel wool and buff to a high shine with a cloth. After you do all that you can clear coat it or leave it be.
This is what I did to my old school rims.

 

Where can you get this aircraft paint stripper? Carl

 

I found it at Autozone or you can go to your local body supply shop. Make sure you buy rubber glove that stuff is wicked and keep it away plastic parts.

Oh, the stuff I used to polish the wheels is Bluemagic metal polish cream. Also at Autozone.

 

kragen and autozone

sean, i just re-did my work fins black w/ polished lip also. i'll show some pics soon. getting rid of the dirt crap in the sides of the fins are pretty hard and time consuming, and your best bet is just to use aircraft remover and sanding it down at the same time.

 

you rims look awesome, im jealous, im going to get my stock rims sandblasted to see if its still worth while to get them powdercoated and put back on.

 

Do not use steel wool on the polished lip!!! Unless you want to spend a great deal of time polishing out the scratches. Soft cloths only, diapers work quite well. The steel wool will be fine on the fins, if they are rough and are going to be painted. 3M makes sanding pads similiar to Scotchbrite pads, only finer. They work well too and don't leave that odd shine on aluminum that the steel wool will.

Chemical resistant gloves, eye protection and a long sleeve shirt are a must for safety. I just finished stripping a radiator, and trust me, you don't want stripper on your flesh.

 

So, I guess what I did to the lip is bad? I was having a slow leak in one of the front tires so, I knew it was the valve stem leaking. I had the tires removed from both front wheels. Put my stock tires on and put the car back down. Jacked up the *** of the car, put it on jack stands, and put the rims on with the valve stems removed. Got a bucket of water some 500, 800, 1500 grit sand paper and a little tub of aluminum wheel polish. Yes I started the car put it in 3rd and let the wheels spin, and work with the water and sand paper till the clear was all gone. I let the car do all the work I just held the paper

 

I used steel wool to get all the crud out of the polish lip and wheel spokes then I used a cloth as a final buff and had no problems. On the other hand sandpaper is not a good idea.

 

For years I cleaned, polished, striped, and sand my wheels.....
I got tired of that **** and went chrome.

 

I cant say enough about your rims, SE rims look chewy in chrome

 

Talk about lazy. If you wanted, you could probably go clear up to 4000 grit paper, before the polishing compound. Just make sure you soak the paper in warm water and use plenty of water or lubricant while wet sanding. (W-D 40 will work too) Nice idea, just count the fingers when you're done.

When i bought new aluminum rims for my dually box van, I took the rims home and waxed them before they put on the tires. Just the soft towel I used scratched the rims.

Since you are using 'power', the polishing shouldn't be bad at all.

 

Power washer?

 

I managed to get the brake dust off and keep the original finish. I didnt want to use a stripper because I already had the rim polished nice and clean. Plus just trying to keep them original. I cleaned it with good old rubbing compound and a brass bristle brush. Got one done tonight it's just too dark to take a pic. Will get pic up tomorrow, maybe.