Noel Larkins runs CJ's Master Formula, the family business behind the jewelers' rouge metal polish that has been mixed and bottled in the USA since 1972. He packs orders, answers customer emails himself, and has spent years listening to what actually works from detailers, restorers, boat owners and people bringing a set of wheels back on a Saturday afternoon. That feedback shapes both the products and the guides published here, including the parts that tell you what polish cannot fix.
Most foggy headlights are fixable in under an hour. But test whether the haze is inside or outside first, and seal the lens afterwards or it comes back within weeks.
Before you touch a wheel with polish or sandpaper, work out which of the three types you have. Getting it wrong is how people ruin a set of wheels in an afternoon.
Cleaner removes what is on the metal. Polish removes what has happened to the metal. Using them in the wrong order is how people scratch aluminum and chrome.
Polish removes rust that sits on the surface and does nothing for rust that has eaten in. Here is the 30-second test that tells you which one you are dealing with.
Chrome plating is thin, so scratches cannot be polished out later. Here is how to prep, which products to avoid, and the technique that keeps bumpers swirl free.
Aluminum turns grey and chalky because of a layer of oxide, not damage. Here is how to remove it by hand, which surfaces give the most trouble, and how to stop it coming back.