How to Sand Aluminum Rims
- 1). Wash the rims with water a mild detergent. Scrub off the surface dirt and grime with a stiff bristled brush. Allow the rims to air-dry.
- 2). Remove the top teflon coating with paint thinner. Apply the paint thinner to the rims with a rag. Allow the thinner to sit on the rims for five minutes. Scrub the rims with an abrasive pad to remove the top coat. Wipe the rims with a rag to remove the last traces of the top coat.
- 3). Sand the rims with 200-grit sandpaper. Concentrate on the major scuff marks, bumps and stains.
- 4). Wipe the rim with a clean cloth and denatured alcohol.
- 5). Wet-sand the rim with increasingly fine sandpaper. (The advantage of wet-sanding is that you avoid dust.) Fill a spray bottle with water and spray the rim as you are sanding it. Start with 400-grit and continue with 600-, 800-, and 1,000-grit sandpaper. Rinse the rim before changing the sandpaper grit. Each finer grit will remove the marks left by the previous sanding.
- 6). Buff and polish the rims with a metal polish and cloth. Apply the metal polish and allow it to harden. Buff is with a soft cloth until the shine is restored to the rims.
