How to clean sand casted and unpainted alloy rims best?

[super]

Hello together,
has somebody good experience in how to clean sand casted and unpainted alloy rims best?
I have these pretty nice FIA wheels from Bob Lacey since many years on my car and meanwhile they look not as good as they were. Especially the oxide spots I have on them don't look very nice. Have you guys a hint how to get them looking like almost new?
If tried to clean the sand casted surface with oxalic acid which worked well, but the probem is that the machined areas will become dull and matte when they get in contact with the oxalic acid. Protecting / Covering these machined surfaces with tape will also not work perfectly.
Have you got better ideas?
Werner

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by super

Hello together,
has somebody good experience in how to clean sand casted and unpainted alloy rims best?
I have these pretty nice FIA wheels from Bob Lacey since many years on my car and meanwhile they look not as good as they were. Especially the oxide spots I have on them don't look very nice. Have you guys a hint how to get them looking like almost new?
If tried to clean the sand casted surface with oxalic acid which worked well, but the probem is that the machined areas will become dull and matte when they get in contact with the oxalic acid. Protecting / Covering these machined surfaces with tape will also not work perfectly.
Have you got better ideas?
Werner

"Naval Jelly"










Bill S.

[super]

But isn't Naval Jelly for iron and steel, not for aluminum?!

[super]

But isn't Naval Jelly for iron and steel, not for aluminum?!

[mrmustang]

Henkel Corp 1415346 Aluminum Jelly, 8 oz

[super]

Perfect!
Thanks for your hint. I will try to find a source for this stuff over here in Germany/Europe.

[Blas]

Try WD40.

[Harpoon PV2]

Back many decades ago, when cleaning antique Indian motorcycle cases, we would use Westey's Bleach White, which was formulated for whitewall tires! Gentle on the aluminum, looked great when done, and not much scrubbing! Cheers, Dennis

[super]

Hello and good morning,
I searched a bit through the web, but I had no success. All of the mentioned good stuff seems to be no longer in production or not available on my side because of its ingredients. And WD40 will not solve the oxide problem.
So, I am still open for further input.
Werner

[twobjshelbys]

Try dry ice blasting.

[super]

Hello guys,

lets give you a short update to that what I did, because meanwhile I cleaned my rims as mentioned.

But to remember to the reason of this thread, first a screenshot to the situation how it was at the beginning of the cleaning procedure:



Now the procedure itself:

First I used oxalic acid (2 coffee spoons of the acid powder in 250 milli liters of warm water) to remove the oxide spots on the sand casted surface. Then I cleaned everything with a brush and a lot of water to get rid of the acid residuals. For the areas that were unreachable with the brush I used a small electric hand grinder with little plastic brushes.



Then, I cleaned the machined surfaces with a cleaning fleece that is typically also used for copper pipes before they will be soldered. After that, I removed the remaining slight differences in brightness on the casted surfaces that were still visible with a glass fiber eraser, someone of you possibly know this eraser from former times where technical drawings were made by hand with ink on parchment or foil.



This glass fiber eraser works pretty good, I never would have never expected that, especially on small surfaces with many details.

And this is the result:

... almost as new - I am happy!

By the way - let me wish you all and also your families Merry Christmas!

Werner

[1985 CCX]

Looks like mine ……..

[PDUB]

Well done, Jeff!!!