So I've got a set of these Gemballa Racing Wheels, pg 7 on this pdf: http://www.gemballa.com/media/cat201...s_2010_web.pdf

One of them was damaged and the lip was replaced and spokes were repainted back to new and they looked great. Fast forward a few months, and the lip was getting more and more cloudy looking to the point where it's absolutely hideous. I've been taking the car to the same car washing place forever, and the other wheels are just fine.

Help!

 

Is the finish on the repaired wheel different (i.e. clear coated) from the others?

Polished Aluminium Lips

They can be either a clear coated, anodized, or bare polished aluminium (using a metal polish will turn the cloth black if the metal is not coated) in which case different types of polishes are needed for each.

1. Bare (uncoated) aluminium; remove any grease with a d-limonene (citrus) based cleaner P21S® Total Auto Wash.
• To remove tough stains such as oxidation and acid rain water spots, use a cutting polish (Wenol Original (Red tube) or a fine metal polish (Auto Wenol Blue tube) to remove rain water spotting and produce a bright shine (follow Wenol Original with Auto Wenol) apply products with a 100% DFT cotton micro towel
• Magnesium or aluminium wheels can be polished with a water-soluble polish (Happich Semichrome Polish, ECP Showman Polish or Autosol)
• For difficult to reach places use a felt polishing buffer on an electric drill (Dremal or Griot’s Felt PolishingCone Set)

2. Clear coated; Wash surface with P21S® Total Auto Wash, remove any brake dust / tar and then use a polymer sealant

3. Apply surface protection (Optimum Polymer Technologies Opti-Seal™)

 

It looks like the repaired wheel wasn't clearcoated and an aggressive product was used on the bare metal. It can either be polished again, or will need to be refinished and clearcoated. Either way, from your pictures, it needs to be clearcoated to match other wheels.