Wheel wax?

[jfh]

Hi folks,
I've asked about shadow chrome before and last week took my wheels to a place in Sacramento for powder coat. I'm no expert but they had a very nice grey powder coat that I chose to mimic the original powder coat and paint finish. I will pick them up Thursday and get new Michelin tires mounted. Do folks wax or otherwise put any protective coat on wheels?

i'll post pics later.

Cheers,

[PhilPhil]

I had a set of wheels refinished in a finish more or less exactly like shadow chrome on my old GTI. It's a multi-step paint process with a final layer of clear coat. So, you can basically treat it like any other paint. I put wax on them like the rest of the car and they were fine for the rest of the life of the vehicle.

Even "bare polished aluminum" wheels usually have clear coat on them (although the barrels on my current Work Meisters seem to be simply anodized). The finisher / manufacturer should be able to tell you what the final finish is. If it's clear coat, just treat it like paint and you should be fine. If it's ano, then the manufacturer might have special instructions for the finish.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure your shadow chrome wheels are like any other paint finish.

[Fumanchu282]

Agree that you would treat them just like you'd treat any other paint finish on your car.

When they're brand new, I would use a sealant rather than a wax. I find sealants have better hardness and longevity of protection but lack the deep shine of a carnuba wax. That's just fine for a wheel. I generally do this at the beginning and the end of the season when I'm switching to/from winter wheels, and maybe once in between if I'm doiung a wheels-off detail.

Then going forward, unless you're taking your wheels off for a full detail, I would use a cleaner wax (I like the Zymol Cleaner Wax). It's more of an all-in-one solution, but will give you better results if you're not starting with a clay bar. You could do this whenever you wash your car and wheels.

[jajou318]

Talk to an automotive detailer. Not just a place that washes cars. Look for a place that applies coatings - I'm sure there's one they can do for wheels. Or you can wax them but you probably won't do that ever again after mounting them.