Podguy

I have a set of stock Platinum polished wheels on a 86.5. These are not polished aluminum or chrome, but annodized wheels with the polished platinum finished.

The edges and the centers polish up nicely, but the area that goes by the brakes has tuned brown. It still polishes up ok, but there is a noticable discoloration. Is there any way to bleach out the darker color and get them back to the fine siliver finish?

Thanks.
Dan The Pod Guy

jheis

Dan:

Not sure what you are trying to accomplish here.

The platinum wheels have a kind of a bronze tint. If they are silver looking they've either badly sun faded, or the platinum anodization has been stripped/polished off.

Simichrome polish works pretty well to clean them up, but if the wheels have been run though commercial car washes, the caustic cleaners they use have probably etched the anodization. The only cure for that is refinishing.

By the way, thanks for the clutch pedal.

James

Podguy

James,

Glad I could get you back on the road with the clutch pedal, but in all fairness you did make me a offer I could not refuse.

Yes the older annodized wheels on the pre-87 cars were tinted. I have some of these. However I think starting with the 86.5 Porsche offered a platinum wheel that looks almost chrome when cleaned up, but is really annodized. The edges and centers of these are clear and bright. Where the brakes are behind the wheel the annodizng has turned a tan or brown color and the polish is not as bright. I think it is the heat from the brakes that caused the discoloration. It is noticable on all four wheels. I had another set of these wheels that had some mild discoloration, but not as severe. I tried polishing them and only managed to get them clean I am thinking of trying some bleach but hold out any hope of it helping.

The only other solution is to polish the entire wheel. Given that they are flats they are not worth the effort.

Thanks for the suggestions.