Polishing Toyota SR5 Wheels

(or any other wheel with a clearcoat.)

So why would you want to do this?  Well, it looks good!  Clearcoated wheels that spend a lot of time out in the sun deteriorate with time.  The clearcoat peels away and allows parts of the wheel to oxidize.  Rough off-road use can mar the clearcoat too, but anyone who has done that kind of damage could probably care less what their wheels look like any ways.  My wheels were in good shape when I started, so I polished my wheels for aesthetical reasons.  Follow the steps below to make your wheels look like this, or much better if you choose. [Click on the picture for a full-screen image]

I chose to do one wheel at a time because I knew ahead of time how much sanding was involved.  I spent about an hour-and-a-half each evening for about a week to complete all four wheels.  The sanding stage is murder on your hands, so I recommend doing one wheel at a time to give your hands a break. I sanded my wheels by hand because I was a poor college student, so you could probably save hours by investing in a small electric sander.

Step #1

• Remove one wheel.
   

Step #2

• Apply a thick, gel-based paint remover to the wheel using an old toothbrush (preferably) to remove the clearcoat.  (I used KS-3 brand stripper.)  The clearcoat will instantly shatter and can be wiped off with the excess paint remover.  Gel-based is easier because you can keep it from splashing all over the tires.  Reapply the paint remover to areas where the clearcoat was stubborn in coming off.  This step is very easy, just be careful not to get the paint remover on yourself or the tires. 

I chose to only polish the outer-most surface of the wheel; therefore, I tried to keep the paint stripper away from the squares at the end of the wheel spokes and away from the grey 'inset' of the wheel.

Step #3

• Beginning with a fairly rough sandpaper (180-240 grit), wet sand the wheel until you can no longer see the factory machining grooves in the aluminum.  The factory SR5 wheels have very obvious grooves spun into them, they almost look like a record.  Sanding these off allow the entire surface of the wheel to be polished; otherwise, you will only be polishing the ridges of these "record grooves."

Note:  This step is hard on the hands and time consuming!

Step #4

• After the "record grooves" are sanded smooth so you can't see them, use progressively finer grades of sandpaper to sand the surface even smoother.  After initially sanding with 180-240 grit sandpaper, work up to 320, 400, then 600-grit sandpaper.  

I had much better luck with '3M' brand sandpaper than any other brand.  3M's special adhesive keeps the sand attached to the paper, rather than falling apart like the Norton brand does.

 

Step #5

• I purchased a hard cotton (~7 inch diameter and 1/2 inch thick) wheel that attached to my drill.  I also purchased a 4-pack of different polishing rouges that should be available at Home Depot or somewhere similar.  This 4-pack had a black "iron cutter" rouge all the way down to a white (or red) jeweler's rouge.  I used the "iron cutter" rouge (the coarsest) first.  Spin the rouge onto the cotton wheel and buff until you remove the scratches from the sanding.  If the "iron cutter" rouge isn't removing the scratches, it means that you need to go back and use a finer grade of sandpaper before continuing on.  The "iron cutter" should noticeably shine the wheels.  I had to go back and re-sand some spots that were a little rough before using the rouges.

The "iron cutter" rouge was fine enough to remove the scratches from the sanding.  Surprisingly enough, this "iron cutter" rouge polished my wheels to the degree I wanted them.  If you did a careful job when sanding and you continued on to using the finer rouges, I guarantee you that your aluminum wheels would shine like chrome.  I didn't want mine that shiny.  This step is fairly easy since the drill is doing all of the work.

Step #6

• Stand back and enjoy!  You're done!  Now you've only got 3 more to do!
   

Care and Maintenance:

• I chose not to re-apply a clearcoat because it reduces the shininess and I feared aftermarket clearcoats would easily flake-off.  With no clearcoat, the aluminum is exposed to the air, which means it will oxidize with time.  I use Mother's Aluminum Wheel Polish once every six months when I wax the truck.  The wheels always look very shiny, even after the six months before I apply the polish.

I hope this has been helpful.  If you need anymore information, just email me and I'll see what I can do. Let me know if you have any suggestions for making this any easier (besides paying someone to do it.)