Polished Wheels-?

[GotaT]

I have a complete set of OE polished wheels and spend quite a bit of time keeping them looking as close to Chrome as I can get.. Do any of you know if there is some sort of Clear Coat that can be applied to the wheels after they are Fully polished to Keep that luster w/o All the Elbow grease???

[GotaT]

Bump.. Someone must know of someway to "Seal" the Polished wheel.. For instance. On many New cars they come w/ Polished wheels, not chrome, and you never have to polish them to keep them up..

So, what can be done? Some sort of clear coat??

[DanielDudley]

I seem to recall that there is a sealer called ZOOP [?] that the hot rodders use to seal aluminum. If you bought a copy of street rodder, you would find an ad for zoop seal I'm pretty sure. That's what I would use, although in the past I have used clear laquer from spray cans after wiping down the wheels with laquer thinner. POR 15 also markets a clear brush on sealer that looks pretty user friendly. It is designed for home wheel restoration. LOL

[JeremyD]

Al reed can clear coat them for you - but you do lose a little lustre

[GotaT]

Do you know what he uses to clear coat.. is it the same thing as Automotive Clear coat?

Does he have as website?.. im going to search in the meantime

[ttweed]

Originally posted by GotaT
Do you know what he uses to clear coat...

Al uses a clear powdercoating, and no, he does not have a website, but if you were going to do that, it would be better to take them to a local powdercoater and save the shipping costs.

Personally, I would not put any coating on the wheels other than clear anodizing. Clear coating has its own set of problems, including UV damage, clouding/hazing from moisture, chipping caused by road rocks/tire mounting, etc. which will eventually allow moisture in and lift the coating further. It is not a great solution for longevity of the finish.

If you want the "chrome-like" look, you are going to have to keep after them with an aluminum polish, like Mother's, and continual elbow grease. A surface treatment with Gibbs penetrant may help extend the interval between polishing, but it also dulls the luster a bit, like anodizing.

TT

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by GotaT
Do you know what he uses to clear coat.. is it the same thing as Automotive Clear coat?

Does he have as website?.. im going to search in the meantime

You only ask because you've never met Al. Al is as un-computer, un-cyber as a slide ruler. His work is consistently awesome and if you EVER have a problem with anything that came out of his shop he will make it right without question.
He and his wife Diane are the nicest people you could ever meet.

Give him a call at 714/632-3907 and simply ask him. If you mention knowing about him from the internet he'll tell you he doesn't have a computer.

AL REED POLISHING INC
3010 E CORONADO AVE #A & B
ANAHEIM, CA 92806 0000

[Stephen B]

Zoop seal works well. Supposedly bonds to the aluminum. I just applied it to my new Lindsey wheels - time will tell how it holds up. http://performanceunlimited.com/zoopseal/index.html

As others mentioned clear powder coating looks good for awhile, but suffers from UV exposure and cleaning agents. Clear anodize lasts longest but you lose some of the luster.

[onboost]

There is an outfit out there in Cali that uses some kind of anti-grafitti
coating on polished wheels. Offeres two finishes..satin & gloss..

I got some for my dually wheels..which are being polished now. Plan to shoot them with this stuff as soon as they are done and will post how it turns out.

Will also post contact info for supplier as soon as I can find it again!

[JonT]

if you dont coat them wenol (blue tube) works very well and is 10 mins/wheel every month or so for maintenance

[GotaT]

Of all the options you guys have mentioned and drawbacks the Zoop sounds like the way to go.. Any of you use it, tell me more about application time and the final result.. photos?

I also found a product by the por 15 that one of you had mentioned. may be a good product too.

[Stephen B]

Zoop is a three step process - clean, treat & polish. The treatment step needs to sit for a number of hours before polishing. The result is totally invisible other than water beading / running off more noticeably than just a plain polished surface (similar to RainX treated glass). I think i paid about 80 bucks for the small kit which will do 8 wheels.

[GotaT]

Originally posted by Stephen B
Zoop is a three step process - clean, treat & polish. The treatment step needs to sit for a number of hours before polishing. The result is totally invisible other than water beading / running off more noticeably than just a plain polished surface (similar to RainX treated glass). I think i paid about 80 bucks for the small kit which will do 8 wheels.

Was it complicated to apply all the steps and how long did Each wheel take.. Did you have to do all 4 wheels in one sitting?

Thanks

[Stephen B]

Very simple. Clean using supplied spray bottle. Treat with the sealer (about 10 min. / wheel). And then polish - time dependent on your anal factor. I did it with the wheels off the car which helps. You have a week or so to apply the treatment once it's catalyzed.