Help with Bare aluminum polished wheels

[RL...]

Hey I have a set of work VSXX wheels that have recently been refinished and the lips are now bare aluminum because they had to strip them down. What special things do I have to do to care/clean/maintain them now since there is no clear over the lips?

I washed my car today, it took about 30 minutes, and I noticed on one wheel after I wiped it dry there was a stain from water or soap or something in the polished finish on the lip and I was like WTF!? Does water permenantly stain bare aluminum, because I dont know what I did wrong, I tried using mothers aluminum mag polish to get rid of it, and it did a little bit, but an "outline" of the stain remains. I'm just scared because I just paid a lot of money for these wheels and dont want to ruin them....and considering it rains a good deal here...idk what to do. The water/soap only sat on the wheels for like 15min before I wiped them dry and it got stained that quick but IDK if it was from the water or the soap...or both?

[Sammich]

i had a plan every year to AT LEAST hit the wheel with a compound, but in 6months i hit it w/a compound, in the year i was planning to hit it w/ 2000 grit (wet sand) and compound it out again. but as far as washing it, etc...dont wash it in the sun because it stains worse than regular car paint..everytime i washed it i always hit it w/ a spray wax. helped alot w/ allowing it to maintain it's shine

[RL...]

I think im just going to have the lip re cleared. lol I maintain my car but I cant clean my wheels after every time it gets wet. lol

[Sammich]

only when you wash it...i've heard of the wheels yellowing after clear, so be careful

[GGPIS3]

you can get the water stain out, just takes time and alot of elbow grease. clearing the wheels is a good option, just make sure to use high temp clear as it will hold up better to the heat and will take longer to discolor.

[Sammich]

so high temp clear doesnt yellow?

[ZenMotors]

didn't say that.. just takes longer to yellow if enough heat is present

[Sammich]

gotcha. so basically stripping and repolishing would need to be done again?

[GGPIS3]

once it yellows, yes, would need to strip and reclear

[civicturbo10]

Sounds like you want factory like clear coated wheels. Since you bought baller wheels i'm going to assume your ready to spend a little. My Si rims still have the factory clearcoat on them and look great for it's age. Does it look yellow, hmmm. Not that i can tell. Factory like clear from the manufacturer. From what i can tell it's clear that mixed with a hardener, the same stuff that clears your paint job from the factory. Factory paint is somewhat durable and it's cleared to give it that deep wet look when dry. I'd shoot for that. Why would want to repolish your wheels when you can just wash them whenever? What if you own multi cars, polishing your wheels on top of waxing your car is just time consuming. Screw that and go factory like...

link -
Which Clearcoat Brand and Type is Best for Newly Painted Rims? - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum

I could research more but i have other stuff to work on....

And i bet that sponsor on here, that does painting on wheels can get you what u need. Kizuna? GL and let us know what you find on the OEM clear...

Owned these wheels for like a decade and they look decent to me. Look yellow, lol?

[Doppelgänger]

If you spend a bit of time to re-polish everything back out, remember that you will need to keep a nice coat of wax on the wheels. This means about every time you wash the car to hit them with a quick coating of wax.
If you decide to have them clearcoated, you need a UV resistant clear...not high temp or anything else, just UV resistant. Also remember that a sprayed on protectant (clear) will require further work to keep the perfectly smooth surface. The clear will need to be at minimum, compounded and smoothed down to reduce the texture, just like any paint application. As for the post above, those wheels are machined, big difference between polished and machined.