I am thinking of buying the Meguiar's Magic Ball to get my polished aluminum wheels looking new again. Has anyone tired it, and what did you think?

 

I personally have never used one but have heard good things.

 

I used the Mother's power ball, it worked great. I assume the Meguiar's ball will do the same.

 

Yeah. I was meaning to say mothers there, but my brain apparently quit on me there for a little bit.

 

What kind of wheels do you have and what have you been using to polish them?

 

I just got the wheels thursday used off this forum actualy. I was told they were chrome, but they look like polish alum. to me. I used some never dull that i had sitting around, but it just doesn't look as good as I would like. Still kinda dull.

 

Depending on the design, get either the PowerBall Mini or the original (larger) PowerBall. Some wheels will require one of each. While you can compress the large ball quite a bit, if you force it into too small a hole, you'll tear it.

If the wheels are bare aluminum (and not polished with a clearcoat), you'll want to use something like the PowerMetal liquid polish for aluminum, or use the Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish, but keep in mind you'll have to add a little water for lubrication. With either metal polish you should get a black film almost immediately, indicating you're dealing with bare aluminum.

If they're forged aluminum or billet aluminum, I'd try following with something like Mothers Billet Polish and they'll come out looking like a mirror (again, a sprinkle of water for lubrication). But some aluminums, especially on factory wheels that were originally clearcoated, may not necessarily respond appreciably to the Billet Polish -- there's lots of different aluminums out there.

If you've got a photo, that would be really helpful if you need more help.

 

I can get one tommorow if you wouldn't mind lookng at it. When Polishing with the Never Dull I was getting a black film as well if that helps any.

 

If you were getting "black" and it wasn't brake dust, then they're not chrome... so try some aluminum polish.

I don't think Nevr-Dull is the most abrasive polish out there (in fact, they say it's a chemical polish), so if you've got some "restoring" to do, I'd try the PowerBall (to save your arms) and some PowerMetal Polish liquid and/or Mag & Aluminum Polish paste -- you'll get the most cutting power with the paste, but having the liquid is handy too. You need liquid for lubrication to glide the ball across the surface and work-in the polish.

I've found that just about anything you'd normally polish by hand with a small applicator can be done much easier with the PowerBall... I really like those things.

 

I use the power ball on my chrome rims, I love it!!!, It takes sooo much work out of it, what used to take me a couple of hours now takes about 30 minutes