how do i tell if something is anodized?

[rancidnsx]

I am polishing car wheels and am 50/50 for sure if the lip is anodized. I am thinking about just trying to polish the wheel, and if it doesnt work, then the lip is anodized.
I tried to test conductivity, and I get intermittent results.

Lets say, if a solid bar is anodized, will it be conductive?
Are there easier ways to tell if something is anodized?

[scocklin]

If you do not get a direct short or all zeros to read on your ohm meter chances are the wheels are anodized.

Anodized aluminum builds up a ceramic coating over the conductive aluminum making the surface where the coating grew non-conductive. The metal under the coating is still conductive.

Polishing it depending on the type of polishing compounds and buffing wheel used will eventually remove that coating.

If you haven’t yet visited the polishing section of this forum you may want to do to do so now (Metal Polishing Questions). Try a search on polishing anodized aluminum.