Wheel Clearcoat

[Thunder-71]

Polished the aluminum on my cookies to mirror like finish. What clear coat is available that will stick and last on the polished area? The painted area is excellent and does not need anything. I have no luck at the auto parts stores.

[DannoXYZ]

Unfortunately, the surface of polished aluminium is very slick. Note how water beads up on it? Paint will do the same thing. To clearcoat bare aluminium, wheel manufacturers have devised this process with a conversion coating:

- send wheel through a pretreatment system and clean with an alkaline detergent
- rinse
- convert either by spray or immersion in an acidic bath composed of chromic acid
- then use accelerators like fluozirconic acid
- next comes the etching agents such as hydrofluoric acid
- send through a series of counterflow rinses
- rinse with pure deionized water to eliminate spotting
- then apply zinc-chromate primer (for aluminum) and/or
- clearcoat wheel with either a solvent acrylic or powder clearcoat (polyester or acrylic)

[Thunder-71]

Originally Posted by DannoXYZ

Unfortunately, the surface of polished aluminium is very slick. Note how water beads up on it? Paint will do the same thing. To clearcoat bare aluminium, wheel manufacturers have devised this process with a conversion coating:

- send wheel through a pretreatment system and clean with an alkaline detergent
- rinse
- convert either by spray or immersion in an acidic bath composed of chromic acid
- then use accelerators like fluozirconic acid
- next comes the etching agents such as hydrofluoric acid
- send through a series of counterflow rinses
- rinse with pure deionized water to eliminate spotting
- then apply zinc-chromate primer (for aluminum) and/or
- clearcoat wheel with either a solvent acrylic or powder clearcoat (polyester or acrylic)

Way too complicated for me. The cookies look beautiful now but without protective coating they will get bad in a week. I am using clean Fuchs. Thanks for the info.

[v2rocket_aka944]

if you do clearcoat, steer clear of wheel cleaner chemicals.
the clear coat on my refurbished BBS wheels peeled off after a few hits of that stuff.
perhaps if you just wax the s**t out of the new wheels they will clean up easier?

[DannoXYZ]

Yeah, the spray on cleaners usually have phosphoric acid which will eat off paint very quickly.

Without all the treatments, clearcoat will quickly chip off or turn yellow. Best bet is an etching primer, sanding primer and colour paint. Similar to the factory process for painted wheels.

[curtisr]

Eastwood may make what you need:

Eastwood Diamond Clear Gloss/Metal Surfaces

Protect metal parts with a crystal clear, tough, flexible coating that keeps brass, aluminum, steel, die-cast, even cast iron looking great. This self- leveling formulation, resists chips, cracks, fading and yellowing. May slightly dull reflectivity. Resists fuels and temps up to 300 degrees. Ideal in underhood applications except exhaust manifolds. Great for polished wheels, aluminum valve covers as well as items around the shop and home. Diamond Clear for Bare Metal is a solvent-based clear in a 11 oz aerosol can. Assure surface is grease and oil free with PRE Painting Prep (10041Z). Eastwood Diamond Clear Gloss/Metal Surfaces 11 oz - Metal Polishing - Metal Coating

The Pre Paint is a cleaner.