Hey everyone, my 98 Sport has a set of factory Canyons that I really like the look of, but they're seriously oxidized / pitted / corroded. I guess 15 years of New England road salt has taken its toll on all 4 wheels...I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I could possibly bring them back to life, even just a bit better than they are now. Scotchbrite pad? Aluminum polisher + a power drill? Pictures below:

 

You can resurface them with progressively finer sandpaper, followed by Mother's metal polish, but it will require a lot of elbow grease.
I did a set on a different vehicle that looked similar to that- I figure it took me 5-6 hours per wheel to sand out the nicks and pitting, then sand out the coarse sanding marks, then polish them up.
Plasti-dip might be a quicker option if you want colors.

 

If you are up for painting them, don't sand them, just get some aircraft stripper and go to town. That's what I did to mine. I have the wagoneer turbines; the clearcoat was a little rough so I stripped the clearcoat, used a red scotchbrite on the wheels, then laid a handful coats of wheel paint on them. I'm pleased! Been about 4 months and they still look good; just waiting on the machine shop to cut some sheet metal, so I can build my center caps. Hope this helps, good luck!

 

That's what I figured I'd have to do, but not the plasti-dipping. I like the aluminum look too much. Maybe as a sealer coat over the finished product though. The mother's polish comes with one of those powerballs that go on a drill bit right? That should speed things up.

Any pictures of the results? Not really looking into painting them but if they can come out good, I might reconsider.

 

Unless you are willing to put in the time & effort to refinish those wheels (as Radi stated 5-6 hrs / wheel), better to just leave them alone. Old looks alot better than half *****.

 

I'm off for the summer until September so I've got plenty of time to monkey around on it. Maybe I'll take a weekend and do it, done it before on some steelies to clear up some rust so I have a good idea of what I'm getting into.

 

I have a thread in the jeep build thread, with pics. Far from half ***. Took about an hour to prep each wheel and an hour to paint each.

 

He was saying that if you're not willing to put the necessary time in, like you did, they would look like crap.

That's a $100 set of wheels (In good shape). I'd find another set in good shape before I spent $500 in man hours trying to fix them.

 

I did this with some rims for my Ranger. I bought a rough set of "bullet hole" wheels and sat on the midnight shift with a rag and can of polish. Took about 2 weeks total for all 5 wheels, worked on them about 2 hours each night. I am a perfectionist though.

Be aware that they are coated polished aluminum, and once that coating is gone, they will oxidize very quickly. I'd polish them up, then immediately reseal them with an aluminum clear coat when you are happy with the look.