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Polished wheel scratches...any fixes?

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Old Aug 25, 2008 | 04:47 PM
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mrod67's Avatar
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Polished wheel scratches...any fixes?

My truck has the 17" polished aluminum wheels and i got stuck in the mud and one wheel buried itself. The surface got light scratch/scuff marks all around it. Are these wheels polished aluminum or polished with a clearcoat? Id like to know the finish so i know how to tackle the cleaning job. Thanks.
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Old Aug 25, 2008 | 05:02 PM
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Polish? It's a truck. Go run it around in the mud for a while and the caked-on dirt will nicely cover the scratches and voila! Problem solved!

Trucks are supposed to be dirty. Although I do wash my truck about once a year whether it needs it or not.
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Old Aug 25, 2008 | 08:10 PM
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They have a clear powdercoating on them....try a polishing compound and a soft rag, if they`re real bad you may need a small buffer.
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Old Aug 26, 2008 | 03:39 AM
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I bought a used set of those off a member here. He listed them as new 08 takeoffs with very low mileage. When I got them it was obvoius that those low miles were mostly off road because two of them were scratched up pretty badly from getting stuck off road. I used some mothers mag/aluminum polish and my auto buffer and cleaned them up fairly well but the scratches are still there. I think that's about the best you can do for them. They can be professionally fixed but it's pretty expensive...
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Old Aug 26, 2008 | 08:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Dodgezilla
I bought a used set of those off a member here. He listed them as new 08 takeoffs with very low mileage. When I got them it was obvoius that those low miles were mostly off road because two of them were scratched up pretty badly from getting stuck off road. I used some mothers mag/aluminum polish and my auto buffer and cleaned them up fairly well but the scratches are still there. I think that's about the best you can do for them. They can be professionally fixed but it's pretty expensive...

I agree, I have had 4 or 5 sets of different polished alloys on my truck now and once scratched, they are scratched. You can make them look nice and shiny like above so that the scratches don't really show as much.

There is a place here in Houston that will repair alloy wheels and make them look just like new. $100 a wheel.
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Old Aug 26, 2008 | 10:09 AM
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Yup. I was quoted $100-$200 per wheel for the repairs. You can buy take-offs for less money....

What stinks for me right now is that I was on my way out for dinner Saturday night. There is a line of back yard fences at a certain point of the main drag and one of the people had his back gate open with a nice set of polished alloys with tires for sell. My wife was driving, and we were already late, so I couldn't stop. On the way back the tires were gone and I can't remember which yard it was since all the fences look the same. I don't know if he sold them or if he just gave up and put them back in his shed. It's a line of about 10 houses and I don't feel like knocking on each door trying to find who it was. I keep waiting for them to be back out on the curb for sale but no luck yet. I drove down the street looking for a HD Dodge Ram but no luck there either..... I want to get these so I can replace my scratched ones and also put my spare on one of them.
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Old Aug 26, 2008 | 11:27 AM
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I hate when that happens! LOL Been there done about the same thing, wheels were in the back of a pickup in front of a store with a sign on them. Couldn't stop at the time. 4 hours later no truck or wheels and no one in the store new what I was talking about.
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