Aluminum or Alloy

[radioactive]

I am wondering how to tell between aluminum wheels and alloy wheels. I just polished a set of 15" wheels for a guy and couldn't figure out how come I couldn't get the centers of the wheels to mirror out I had a good reflection but there was a haze to them. The guy came over and said the were like eagle rims I asked if he thought the centers were alloy and he said yes. I could not tell by looking at them so is there a way to tell the difference? Also is there any recommendations on how to polish this type of wheel?

Thank you,
Radioactive

[mcaswell]

Some metals just haze. Try to buff them with a canton flannel wheel and
blue compound.
Have you considered lacquering them? Use VHT CLear Lacquer.

Very tough to determine exactly which alloy is which.

[radioactive]

I just noticed the error in my question from what I understand all aluminum has alloy in it. From talking to some machinists there are a ton of different grades of aluminum and the cheaper aluminum has more impurities in causing the haze. I have not tried clear coating i tried the canton buff with red. I have not tried the blue. Thank you for the reply and for this forum It is a new polishers dream site or at least mine.


thank you,
Radioactive