Cleaning and rotating

[holland_patrick]

Well it's been a fun 7,000 miles and it was time for a little work on the old volt..


I can tell you this I wish I had the normal painted wheels...



Those little scratches will not come out.. and I used some pretty aggressive polish on my rotary and with a power ball.

the back's where not too dirty..



well i'm half way done two more to go

[BAZINGA]

My high polished wheels also have those swirls marks. I wonder how many other's have the same issue on their wheels?

[holland_patrick]

I've looked at other style wheels and the polished ones all have them.... it sucks..


I've had other nice wheels...

[zaxdude]

Count me in on having minor scratches. One of the rims had significant scratching as new; I made them replace it before accepting the car.

I didn't want the polished rims anyway. They were on the car and they wouldn't swap them out. Having the cyber gray color was more important to me than not having polished rims.

I've actually grown to like them more. I just hope the scratching doesn't get worse.

[ianjay]

I've done chrome like. I love it, but hate where it goes. I wanted painted wheels and luckily got them. I like waxing these. I don't like the little inside lip but generally find the design open and fairly easy to maintain. Haven't had them off the car yet but want to try it soon so that I can see if the space saver I found fits.

[BAZINGA]

Like the Nav I wish I had skipped the high polished wheels. I could have saved about $2500 skipping those 2 options. And I've found some really nice after market wheels for about $700 that I would rather have spent my $$$$ on.

[MrEnergyCzar]

You guys need to use a special car wash wool mitt or chamosis on the wheels.... here's the proper way to wash the Volt... note the wheels...

http://youtu.be/_WXqj384Zfo

MrEnergyCzar

[WopOnTour]

Nice work.
Just as a side note for people that are doing their own tire rotations,
Do yourself a favor and make a dated note of that in your warranty book's maintenance record.
That way, if you found yourself back at the dealership fighting a tire wear, tire order vibration, or alignment issue you have personal record that this imporatant service has been performed. (just dont forget to use a torque wrench on those lug nuts- 100lbft/ 140Nm)
There's no problem of course with doing it yourself, but by keeping records of it you can help yourself to preserve your peace of mind with repsect to your warranty coverage. The same advice goes for if you use a tire shop for these services, or DIY oil changes for that matter- save those receipts!

HTH
WopOnTour

[businesschef]

Just like swirl marks on black paint this is to be expected.

[C-Kwik]

Every Volt I saw on the lots with the polished wheels looked like that. Either it is a design feature, or GM didn't want to spend more to have a high luster polish performed. Aluminum is fairly soft though and would take to a metal polish pretty well. However, most aluminum wheels are clear coated to eliminate oxidation and make it easier to keep looking clean. If it is indeed clear coated, you would have to strip it first then use a metal polish. I might mention with all the materials OEMs have access to now its also possible they used a more specialized coating that is harder than clear coat. Not sure if anything is available for use on wheels, but if they have anything close to what they use on polycarbonate headlight lenses, be prepared to spend a lot of time on it.

If you want to check for a coating, take some metal polish and rub it on an inconspicuous area of the wheel with a cloth. If the cloth turns black, its bare aluminum. I doubt it will be. Aluminum oxide is ugly and hard to remove. OE's aren't going to want those kinds of complaints.