Cleaning aluminum slots

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340 Dart

340 Dart

I don't know ****.
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
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I have set of slots behind the house I am thinking about putting on my Duster. The problem is, they are so old they are grey and they have no center caps.
Does anyone know what I can clean these up with and where I can find some centercaps for them? They are for a daily driver, so I don't have to have them perfect, just better looking.8)
 
i took mine and used some 600 grit sandpaper and wet sanded them down took out the scuffs. Once that was done and i was satisfied with the scratches i took mothers and pollished the He!! out of them by hand. It took about five full polishes by hand but they look pretty damn good if i do say so myself ill try to take pics tomorrow during the day. I also painted the back and taped the fronts off to paint the slot part satin black after i polished them. The only better way i can think of is to have the sent out and polished up but i didnt want to spend any money on them i did all four wheels for about 10 bucks. P.S. The only reason i tried wet sanding them is because they were junk if they wouldnt have cleaned up they were sitting on a car in a field for 10 years and they were ugly. I had always wondered if my idea of sanding would work but didnt want to try it on nice wheels so i tried them on these and it worked great. Ill post pics tomorrow. Justin
 
These are pretty messed up also. If it doesn't work, it's no big loss. I would like to see the pics if you could post some.

If no one else has any ideas I will give it a try.
 
the more you sand them,and with course,to fine sand paper,the more they will shine.the centerlines on the yellow dart below,were extrmely oxidised,for sitting for many years.I started with 180 grit dry,then went to 320 wet,600,1000,1500,and finally 2000 grit wet.The power balls werent out yet,so i used my buddies electric buffer,and an old buffing pad with mothers aluminum wheel polish,but found it actually worked better by hand http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobysoldblue/1608004328/
 
here is a pic of the back wheel i did. I hope it helps like i said they were terrible before i started. I also agree with toby sort of. I dont know what grit you would start with but if that is what he says he may know better like i said i didnt start that low but anyway i do agree with him if you keep going with finer and finer sandpaper they will look better and better it all depends on how much work you are willing to put in. I plan on taking mine back off and working on them some more this summer. Good Luck Justin

slots 008.jpg
 
i think the wheels must have set out side for a very long time.The acid did make them look better,but they were so badly corroded,that i was about to go at them with 80 grit on my da sander to start with,but i decided to try 180 first,and it did pretty good,but still was a lot of work,it took 16 hours to make the wheels look like they do in the pics
 
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