British Rich

I really need to know what kind of "clear coar" out there will work on top of bare polished aluminum?

I have spent MANY hours sanding polishing and buffing my wheels to what looks VERY nearly like a chrome finish which is awesome, BUT I have tried MULTIPLE clear coatings and none work, they all turn hazy immediately

I have tried:
High temp enamel
regular enamel
Duplicolor wheel clear
regular lacquer

None of these work but I KNOW there is some specific stuff out there that does the job (for all the old school engine polishers out there), just can't find it HELP PLEASE!

(I have used acetone to clean off the polish thoroughly too to make sure it's not that causing the hazing, no improvement)

British Rich

In true forum idiot style as soon as I post this I tried ONE LAST PLACE to find it...and found it.

So for anyone else who has polished the **** outta anything metal to have it turn dull in a week, you need this:

Eastwoods Diamond Clear for bare metal - just google it.

gcgarner

I hear that dulls your shine a little bit. Just clean it with windex or, if it's really bad, get out the Mother's.

TireSmokin'

After all the polishing... you are going to put clear back on??
If you get any scratches or any other damage, you will have to re-strip the clear and then re-polish. Just put a good coat of carnuba wax on them or use Zoopseal. Much easier to repair damage in the future.

gcgarner

Good point Tire Smokin'. I understand why British wants to protect his work, but I would definitely leave my aluminum bare after polishing.

British Rich

All very good points, and after reading some reviews the Eastwood stuff DOES still create a haze so I have no choice but to have no clear...until they come out with a version 2.0 LOL

As for the damage aspect, you make a good point BUT, clear/paint is EASY to take off of bare metal with paint stripper, takes 5 minutes but for me it was more about maintenance, meaning I don't want to have to polish them every 5 days to keep the shine.

However, I did also come across "Nevrdull" (sold at Walmart for cheap too!)
This stuff is excellent, and it seems to protect very well too, I still have a shine today even after having rain here in FL all week....

Combining this stuff with GOOD wheel cleaner makes my wheels more than managable with minimal maintenance

My weapon of choice being Black Magic tire and wheel cleaner because it does not harm any type of finish AND having cleaner tires means better tire shine too of course

(FYI - NEVER use chrome cleaner on ur bare aluminum, it doesn't work well!! LOL)

BADNBLK

iTrader: (11)

I polish stuff all the time... use a wax of your choice on the polished metal and continue to wax it as you would your paint. This works well for me. Just as you should polish your paint once a year for great shine, you should plan on doing this with you aluminum parts.

ZOOPSEAL, is awesome also!

TireSmokin'

It's not the idea of being hard to remove the clear. It's more of the point of it being very time consuming to do properly. Without the clear, it's just a matter of a quick sand and re-buff and polish. It can be done on the car.

If you polished them correctly, the only protection they need is a coat of wax a couple times a year. I prefer the straight carnuba. The waxes with cleaners, sometimes tend to leave light scratches.

British Rich

Thanks Smokin
U've obviously done this before so maybe I should listen to ya! LOL