I think all 4 of my wheels are done...

[xxrequiemxx]

So - I washed the stang today b/c using it as a daily driver here in NY, after snow storms it can get dirty FAST.

Well - after washing it and cleaning wheels... I noticed my aftermarket Mach 1 replicas (same that Dark has) seem to have white dots all over... The two front wheels seem to be worse than the rears.

The white spots have no texture. I scrubbed, and scrubbed, and scrubbed with soap/water but that made NO difference. I went home and tried some prepsol (used to remove grease and grim before painting a car), which didnt help at all.

What do I do? Are all my wheels ruined? Did the salt do this? I'm really bummed about this I took a pic with my Blackberry - sorry in advance for the quality. All those white spots are what I'm referring too.

Any help/past experiences are greatly appreciated!

 

[xxrequiemxx]

After thinking about this and googling it... I found that aluminum wheels can oxidate from the salt after snowfall... I am pretty sure my wheels are aluminum.

Some threads said I need to use aluminum polish to get rid of the oxidation... Is this the case?

 

[NotQuik]

i believe they are also clear coated so it's not bare aluminum exposed to the elements. I honestly don't know what a good fix would be.

 

[o0Dan0o]

I would try some aluminum polish, looks like aluminum oxide to me.

 

[DarkFireGT]

There is no good fix. You can't use any polishes on clear coat wheels and waxes won't remove it. You may try a mild polishing compound. We got our wheels on in the fall, and my wife decided to drive the car through the winter. The salt ate the clearcoat just like you are showing. I will never run clear coated wheels in the snow again, which is one of the reasons that Scarlett never sees salt. That, and I don't want it eating up my suspension components and making the bolts hard to get off.

Honestly, at $500 for an entire new set, you're best off replacing them. I didn't realize how bad ours were until we picked up some new 17x9's for the drag radials. Then I really noticed.

 

[autumn_again]

you could try sanding them out if they aren't clearcoated. I wouldn't want to try too much. can you feel the pits with your fingernail?

a slightly aggressive compound and polisher will help, but if it ate threw the clearcoat you'll end up just having a giant bare spot where you went threw the clear to try and even it out.

 

[walter]

Don't despair, in the worse case scenario you can always have your wheels repainted. At least you didn't curb or crack them.

 

[xxrequiemxx]

you could try sanding them out if they aren't clearcoated. I wouldn't want to try too much. can you feel the pits with your fingernail?

a slightly aggressive compound and polisher will help, but if it ate threw the clearcoat you'll end up just having a giant bare spot where you went threw the clear to try and even it out.

The spots have no feelings - they seem to be part of the wheel.

 

[xxrequiemxx]

There is no good fix. You can't use any polishes on clear coat wheels and waxes won't remove it. You may try a mild polishing compound. We got our wheels on in the fall, and my wife decided to drive the car through the winter. The salt ate the clearcoat just like you are showing. I will never run clear coated wheels in the snow again, which is one of the reasons that Scarlett never sees salt. That, and I don't want it eating up my suspension components and making the bolts hard to get off.

Honestly, at $500 for an entire new set, you're best off replacing them. I didn't realize how bad ours were until we picked up some new 17x9's for the drag radials. Then I really noticed.

this sucks.

where i can i get these in 18"? I bought these used.

 

[kooldawg6]

I had the same problem last winter! The winter chemicals ate up the polished lip on my Cobras I tried several different polishes, compounds, really fine steel wool and none of it worked well enough for me. I ended up sanding the lips down by hand with fine emory cloth and coating the lip with several coats of metal polish. That took way too many hours I haven't had them out in the weather yet since, so I don't know how well they are protected. Next step will be powder coating the entire wheel if not new wheels.

Before

I know there is brake dust/dirt on the inside part of the wheel, but the lip has been wiped down.

After

 

[DarkFireGT]

this sucks.

where i can i get these in 18"? I bought these used.

eBay. AFSWheels is the seller. They don't seem to have any right now online, but if you contact them they will sell them to you outside of eBay, probably for less.
http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/afswheels/

 

[xxrequiemxx]

I had the 18x8 all around. Should I got wider in teh rear? If so - could I reuse my Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season tires? I spent ALOT of them

 

[o0Dan0o]

I had the 18x8 all around. Should I got wider in teh rear? If so - could I reuse my Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season tires? I spent ALOT of them

If you get new wheels you might want to keep the old wheels as your "winter" wheels...
Dan

 

[NotQuik]

I had the same problem last winter! The winter chemicals ate up the polished lip on my Cobras I tried several different polishes, compounds, really fine steel wool and none of it worked well enough for me. I ended up sanding the lips down by hand with fine emory cloth and coating the lip with several coats of metal polish. That took way too many hours I haven't had them out in the weather yet since, so I don't know how well they are protected. Next step will be powder coating the entire wheel if not new wheels.

The up keep won't be fun once they start seeing the weather.

 

[DarkFireGT]

I had the 18x8 all around. Should I got wider in teh rear? If so - could I reuse my Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season tires? I spent ALOT of them

I would go 18x9 all around. Gives you a bit more traction and meaty look.

If you get new wheels you might want to keep the old wheels as your "winter" wheels...
Dan

Exactly. Keep the All Seasons on those for the winter.

 

[walter]

I personally like staggered setups. Yes they can't be rotated but if you tune your car's suspension for a more aggressive oversteer setup having wider rears will balance the handling out and it looks killer.

 

[NotQuik]

can't go wrong with the staggered look IMO

 

[kooldawg6]

can't go wrong with the staggered look IMO

+1!
Esp when it nearly eliminates the entire rear fender gap

NotQuik

The up keep won't be fun once they start seeing the weather.

I will be checking into powder coating very soon just as preliminary backup

 

[SlideWRX]

I run the stock 17's as my winter wheels with winter tires on them, and bring out the aftermarket for the summer only.

I'm guessing stones & whatnot chipped the clearcoat a little, and the oxidation is spreading underneath it, ever so slightly. That's probably why it has no texture. Or, it's just clear coat scratches that aren't very deep, just visible, and you could buff it out.

 

[xxrequiemxx]

Sorry guys - I had a typo. I have 18x9 all around currently.

Dark - I notice you said to stay at this size. Wouldnt I get better traction if I went a little wider in the back?

I sold off my stock wheels like 2 weeks ago... before I noticed this issue. I'll be holding onto these wheels for winter use.