What material are 1987 v2500 hub caps made of?

[Matt Frediani]

Im going to polish my hubcaps on my GMC V2500 4X4. I would like to know if they are aluminum or stainless steel. They are factory hubcaps. Any help on what they are made of or the best product to use to polish them? do I clear coat after? Thanks Matt

 

[bucket]

They are anodized aluminum. To polish them, the anodizing needs to be stripped off first.

 

[AuroraGirl]

They are anodized aluminum. To polish them, the anodizing needs to be stripped off first.

I saw a company that advertises an anodizing with a chemical that gives you a very resiliant but textured/colored finish, so the science has definitely stepped up as to options

 

[bucket]

I saw a company that advertises an anodizing with a chemical that gives you a very resiliant but textured/colored finish, so the science has definitely stepped up as to options

I don't follow. Does it treat an existing anodized finish?

 

[AuroraGirl]

I don't follow. Does it treat an existing anodized finish?

No i dont think so, but if someone was worried about losing the color or look im sure it can be replicated or maybe even a new one they prefer. Idk what it looks like but some might fear making it not-original or changing the color, but there are options now that werent then that should make it a great idea

 

[Matt Frediani]

I just want to clean them up and have them not tarnish. Trying to keep my truck pretty much stock. I just buffed and polished the original paint on the body and it looks great. I have new 16x8 White steel wheel vintiques wheels and 32" tires so the hub caps need some work. Thanks for everyones input. Im not sure how to get the anodizing off of aluminum but I will figure it out

 

[AuroraGirl]

I dont or didnt think the surface under anodizing could go bad..? Maybe it wore off in parts?

 

[Vbb199]

I just want to clean them up and have them not tarnish. Trying to keep my truck pretty much stock. I just buffed and polished the original paint on the body and it looks great. I have new 16x8 White steel wheel vintiques wheels and 32" tires so the hub caps need some work. Thanks for everyones input. Im not sure how to get the anodizing off of aluminum but I will figure it out

Acetone and a medium grit scotch brite pad will desolve the clear coat with ease.

 

[Grit dog]

^Pretty sure they’re anodized and I’m certain they’re not clear coated.
Need sodium hydroxide to strip anodizing.
I “thought” I could remove it easily by sanding since it was on a flat surface. Not productive and virtually impossible to get entire surface due to the hardness of the anodizing.
You can polish and clean it up. But don ttry to remove it by mechanical means.

 

[Craig 85]

Not sure how far you want to go, but there are places that repair and anodize aluminum automotive parts. I'm sure it not cheap.

https://kingoftrim.com/services/#services-2

 

[RecklessWOT]

Unless the anodizing has worn off and they became corroded underneath, just polish them with whatever the hell you want, they'll be fine. Yeah you can have any color anodizing applied to aluminum you want, but unless it's bare aluminum you're kinda stuck with what you got. If they're all ****** just sandblast them then polish them and wax them, or if you really want have them re-anodized in any color you want. Or if not, just clean up what you got. I have literally seen dudes high speed buff surface rust to a ******* shine with polishing compound, it becomes like a tarnished silver color with a tan gradient outline that fades off to shiny rust brown color along the edges. Almost comes out looking like that faux patina ******** dudes to do trucks, but not ******* gey because it's actually real...

 

[Matt Frediani]

Thanks for all the info, I guess I will just clean them up with something. Then I will re-paint the black. Thanks guys.

 

[Raybo135]

Let me know what you end up using. I want to polish up the aluminum upper and lower body side molding to a shine. I have tried Rouge on a buffer wheel and that did some improvement, but I want it to look sparkling new.

 

[swilson143]

I did mine last month. Here's a before and after. I found the socket of the correct size that I could press onto the backside of the hub.

Using the socket I was able to attach the hub to the end of my drill. Then I was able to spin the hub and use a Scotch-Brite pad to take off the clear coat. I then use a finer scotch brite and then super fine stainless steel wool.

Finally I took some mother's billet polish for a final spin.

Not perfect, but way better than what I started with

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