hey, I've got some chrome rims on my Z, and they have a little bit of surface rust. Does anyone know a good method to get surface rust off of rims? I don't want to scratch or ruin the rims, and the rust isn't too horrible. I also want to polish these rims out, does anyone know of a good chrome cleaner?

 

Are the wheels aluminum with chrome plateing? or are the steel with the chrome plateing? If the chrome is actually cracking you have alot of work ahead of you. It could just be deposites.. you might want to try to use some touluene or turpentine to clean them. make sure you wipe with water afterwards to get all of it off though.

 

I believe they are steel with chrome plating. I pulled one of the rims off yesterday, and I polished it out with some Brasso. The rim shines now, and all I have to do is do it four more times before the wheels look impecable.

 

awesome.. I forgot about brasso. That stuff is great!.

 

Also may want to try "Nvr Dull" or called something similiar. Have a friend who swears by it for his Harley chrome. Stands up pretty well to the elements and heat. etc.

 

I cleaned my rims and they look like new. I used a sponge from safeway, that had the abrasive surface on one side and the spongy surface on the other. Just scrubbing with the abrasive side on the water spots got rid of them all, and with the brasso, they shined like brand new. The only thing that was hard to get off was the surface rust, but I've got to find a way to get that off without making more rust on the rims. Someone told me to use double zero steel wool, but after doing research, I found out that it's a bad idea to do that because it'll scratch your rims worse, and make them rust so much faster when they get wet again. I'll find some way to get it off, the sponge did a pretty good job anyways!

 

If it's just surface rust, you can use Muratic Acid/Water mix. You can get it at the hardware store (it's used to clean concrete). Mix it 1 part Muratic Acid to 2 parts water. USE RUBBER GLOVES, and sponge it on the surface rust. It should make it go away. When you have it cleaned up, rinse REALLY welll with clean water. I would also suggest waxing them to keep them from rusting again. They WILL rust again because the chrome plating is compromised. The ONLY way to get it to stop rusting is to have them re-plated. Chrome plating is expensive, so I would say just be sure to keep them clean and wax them often.

 

I personally just use steel wool, but I mix a good amount of dish soap with some water and do it with trhat. thge soap prevents scratching, and it works like a charm, just did it last week.

 

My dad owns his own business, he cleans pools. Muriatic Acid is what is used to stabilize the ph balance in a body of water, and we have a ton of it.