Just got my summer wheels back on (though I know its hardly even spring yet). And there was a very odd thing on the lip of all four wheels. There is a green/purplish tarnish like stuff on the lips. I tried Mother's mag polish on them...didn't get it out. Not sure what could've caused it or if its even possible to fix...any ideas?

 

Don't know exactly what caused it, but it's corrosion of some kind, which is defined by;

"Corrosion is the destructive attack to metal by a chemical or electrochemical reaction with its environment."

My only thought is pertaining to the environment the wheels were stored in, or the combination of the storage place and a certain chemical or ingredients in a chemical cleaner or protectant product on the wheels, or used near the wheels may have caused it. Just an educated guess though.

You might try a product like TARN X on it to chemically clean it. If that doesn't work then you'll have to resort to either polishing with something different such as;

http://www.heavymetalpolish.com/Products/Polishes/

It's VERY effective in medium range (the green bottle) on bad stuff.

Last resort; wetsanding with a super-fine grit. Start out with 3000, and only go to 2000 & 1500 etc. IF it isn't working. If you must wetsand with 1500, you'll have to follow that with 2000 and 3000 then some metal polish like Heavy Metal Polish Green & Blue.

-This is of course predicated upon those wheels being bare metal ( aluminum) and NOT having a clearcoat.
If you're afraid of DIY, look for a detailer or wheel polisher, it should't cost very much to fix that. Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the reply. They are clearcoated...and it has actually gotten worse now. I took it to a place where I normally get my car washed. This time around, they used a wheel cleaner...and it stained the clear coat really bad now. So it looks like I'll need to get the clear coat stripped and repolished now.