Hi everyone. Been a while since I posted. I have a really weird problem that I'm sure others on this board have experienced. I have the anthracite Bullitt wheels (18x9 / 18x10) on my son's 03 GT. Bought them (along with a lot of other things) right here at our wonderful American Muscle a couple years ago. The lips are getting a real bad cancerous looking spider web tarnish to them. It does NOT wash off. The wheels and car have been well maintained and cleaned regularly so poor maintenance isn't the issue. Is there anything I can do? Surely this has happened to one or more of the many people here who have these same style wheels from AM. Barring getting two new wheels (ouch).....give me some tried and true ideas please. See pics below. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I have a simi,ar issue with mine. Don't know why this happens. It could be the rim or could be wax or something like that. Try a clay bar and see if that works. I am going to try one on mine.

 

It might have to do with the product you used to clean them. How did you usually clean them? Is there any problems with the front wheels?

 

There is a very small amount here and there on the fronts but the backs both have it bad. Just regular car soap has been used as far as I know (my son's car so who knows what he may have used at some time). Maybe I take it by a place that refurbs wheels and see if they have an idea about maybe buffing it out?.....I dunno.....

 

Just try a clay bar. They are safe as hell and will take nearly anything off the surface. If you are unsure, then let me try it first. I can do it tonight....will only take few minutes and can try it on a spot.

Those rims are painted and clear-coated just like a car finnish. However, I am not sure what they did on the deep dish.

 

My cobra wheels are doing that but I drive mine year around. What causes my wheels to do this is cinders from the winter chip the clear on the wheel and it oxidizes under the clear making a whiteish patch on the wheels.

 

you probably will have the wheels refinished/refurbished and cleared to repair the problem

 

bumpski

 

I did try a clay bar and it did not seem to romove the spots. I am not sure what the hell they are. I wonder if they could be water spots backed-on by heat.

 

Thanks for trying the claybar....sorry it didn't do a thing. For the heck of it I tried a little wad of NeverDull and it did....nothing.
I'm assuming the dish/lips of these are just polished aluminum? No paint,clear,etc??
I have no problem buying new wheels if I have to but it would be a shame to do so if someone says "That can be brought back to better than new with this $20 per wheel fix"......sigh.

Keep the thoughts comin'.....I appreciate it.

 

well if its only 20ish to fix the rims, i would do it! Alot cheaper than buying new rims!

 

It has happened to mine also. They've only been run on the car last summer...about 8000 miles. I'd have to look at them but I don't think they looked that bad. I've cleaned them with meguires car soap, mr clean car soap and some aluminum polish to shine up the lips.

 

I'm very dissapointed in the Bullitts I bought a couple of years ago- they looked great initially but have pitted and stained permanently along the aluminum (see the pictures).

My Stang is 2 years old- it has 15K miles on it, all summer driving.

This is permanent- won't wash off. I recently started to research getting these rims stripped and recoated, but even that isn't worth it- should probably just get new rims for the cost of fixing these.

Any thoughts on what to do with this?

 

Check this out in the picture above- I know, $29, what do you expect? So why do my $10 lugs on my Sabaru beater still look fine after 7 years and 100K miles?

 

You should be able to polish those out no problem, as long as they arent clear coated.

 

Wow, I hope so. Could you recommend a product and technique? I tried rubbing compound (and aluminum cleaner) and got nothing- it's not just a stain, it's etched, with a spidery cracking underneath.

I hope I can polish them- though based on what others are saying here this AM wheel is defective, simple as that.

 

No, the AM wheel is not defective, that kind of thing happens to all aluminum that isn't sealed.

My father has been an engineer/machinist for 30 years. I showed him this thread and asked him what that is and he said that it's from something (possibly acidic or corrosive) that gets on the wheel and oxidates, creating corrosion on the aluminum. Apparently, it can range from just white flecks to small pits in the aluminum. He said the only way to prevent the problem is to clean them regularly (after every time it has been driven, or at least once a day), and/or to have the aluminum sealed. He went out to our garage and showed me aluminum pipes that had not been sealed, and it looked the same as the above wheel picture did. The only way to fix it, if it isn't too deep or too severe, is to have the aluminum polished by a metal polishing machine...rubbing compound will not work. He said any metal/machine shop that deals with aluminum should be able to do it, and it shouldn't cost too much.

Also, Mr Illin, I'll have him look at your wheels and have him tell me if it's the same thing or something different, and how/if it can be fixed.

 

If this finish problem happens to all unfinished aluminum, why does AM sell unfinished rims? Why wouldn't they make sure all their aluminum products are clear-coated?

Are you saying that all AM wheels are uncoated, and all subject to this finish problem? If not, why are the Bullitt wheels? And why wasn't that specified when I bought them- a warning that they were uncoated? And why wouldn't they be finished?

As I said before- my Subaru rims are aluminum and still look fine after 100K miles- my custom Bullitts that I specially ordered and installed look terrible after 10K miles.

Seems awfully odd to me.

 

Let me do some experimenting with my 10.5" bullitts from AM.

 

Just as I had suspected, the lip IS coated. This means you cannot use a metal polish on it.

Boon44- that looks like clear coat failure to me. I would send AM an email with the pictures.

Mr Illin- did something get on the rims to cause this? Thats what it looks like to me. I would send an email to AM with the pictures and ask them if they can do anything. If they wont replace the rims, then shoot me a PM and Ill give you some things to try.

 

I wonder if the white, spider-cracking looking deposits are aluminum silicate. Aluminum and silica readily combine and form a white compound which is a white-colored deposit. Guess what is in a lot of tire-coating products......silicates, especially armor-all.

 

I was looking around and found this:

http://www.ehow.com/how_14455_remove...-aluminum.html

Maybe that'll help someone. I don't know if it would be okay for wheels, though.

 

yeah that probably wont work since our wheels have a clear coat on them.

i know my wheels are stained right now but havent tried to correct to the problem... one day i will tackle the problem but priority list is 1. converter 2. converter payment plan