Corroded wheels

[Ralph A]

My aluminum wheels on my 2005 Horizon are corroding around the lug nut caps. Does anyone have a solution for this? Besides not being able to fix the problem, the corrosion continues to grow. I have sent e-mails to Alcoa and several other sources, but no answers.

[Jimmyzw22]

You have steel lug nuts and maybe lug nut caps. It is called Electrolysis. Deferring metals cause corrosion. Use mothers aluminum polish to clean it up.

[Ralph A]

I should have elaborated more. I assumed the problem was caused by electrolysis and I tried scraping it off and polishing with various compounds, although I never tried Mothers Aluminum polish.
The corrosion is about 1/32" thick. So I have a two part issue:
1. Getting the current corrosion off
2. How to prevent a re-occurrence.

[JohnRR]

Left side of fuel tank was the original scuffed & gouged surface, center of tank is after sanding with 320 grit orbital/DA sander, the right end & strap was after sanding & polishing with black buffing rouge. Second picture same tank almost finished and buffed with Mothers. Steps in front of tank in third picture had not been prepped & polished yet (tank was almost 7 years later). All wheels shown were purchased as used and machined surfaced and were sanded & buffed as well.
No need for shabby looking wheels.

[Wizard]

aluminum fuel tank ?????

[JohnRR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wizard aluminum fuel tank ?????

I used that as a example of what could be done to aluminum to make it shine. I could not find any of my wheels to use for the example. The wheels shine even easier.

For the area around the lug studs you would not even have to do the whole wheels just the flat area by the lug holes to where the flat starts to curve.

This pair had over a million miles on them before they got the treatment. You may not be able to tell but flat surfaces come out looking like chrome.

These wheels were original machined surfaces also.

[GG1]

JohnRR
So what is the exact procedure and tools used.

[Jimmyzw22]

Polishing aluminum wheels is much easier just use the mothers power ball and mothers polish. The electrolysis however bothers me. I inspected all of my wheels this past weekend and could not find any corrosion or buildup. You could try loosening the lug nuts and polishing under them then re-tightening.

[JohnRR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GG1 JohnRR So what is the exact procedure and tools used.

Start with a DA/orbital sander (I prefer air)
Using 320 grit paper sand out all gouges or scratches or in the case of the OP all the corrosion. If it's really deep it does not hurt to two step it using a coarser sand paper first then the 320. If you really want to get carried away it does not take much longer to hit it with a 500 grit before polishing.

Next it gets polished with the black rouge with a "rough" cut pad then finished with the white rouge and a cotton or "finish" buff pad. While it can be used with with a good regular buffer for the amount I use it I have a portable 1HP I use, I can't find a picture of one right now but I'll try and take one of it tomorrow and post it.

Then use I use Mothers either by hand or with a power buffer it depends on how I feel and how much time I don't have.

[Snowwing]

The wheels on my 05 Journey are manufactured by Accuride (as I believe yours are) and are polished then coated to retain their shine. In order to polish that area the coating has to be removed. The corrosion at the lug nuts is underneath that coating. My solution was to install Alcoa "hub" caps to cover that area.
'
Good Luck
Ron

[JohnRR]

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