help with painted or powder coated wheels?

[tuscarora dave]

Some time ago I made the mistake of spraying some degreaser that i bought at Harbor Freight on the factory wheels of my Buick Park Avenue Ultra. I guess the mistake really was not diluteing it enough because the end result was run marks that resemble etching on the face of the wheel. I rubbed some collinite IW on the wheels and it looks a little better but I want to polish them out and not by hand. My delemma here is what tool to use to do this with as I believe my cyclo is a bit bulky to hit all of the wheel. Can any of you please give some of your experiences with whatever tools you might use for polishing rims and perhaps what products and or process you use? thanks in advance, Dave

[Troy@DetailCity]

I am betting that the wheels are ruined. Use a drill with a power ball or flitz attachment. Concentrate on one small area and see if you are getting improvement. Chances are you have permanently stained the wheel though.

[CharlesW]

You might try one place by hand and see if you can do anything with it.
A piece of terry cloth seems to give quite a bit of "bite" when using products by hand. Depending on the product, it is possible to rub through some paints so don't get too carried away. It doesn't have to be an aggressive product either. The terry cloth is that much more aggressive than a foam applicator.
I would try a chemical cleaner and see what it does.
Poorboy's Pro Polish is pretty strong stuff, but won't damage the paint.
Klasse AIO works good, but may not be strong enough to do you any good. Duragloss #501 is also a strong cleaner.
Unfortunately, I think Troy maybe right as to the extent of the damage.

If you find you do need to replace the wheels and want OEM wheels again, find a custom wheel store and see if they have any OEM takeoffs you could make a deal for. The guy I deal with has hundreds of them and I have bought a couple of sets well worth the money.