How deep does it go? I've done maybe ten minutes of metal polishing in my life, but if it's not too deep, some fine grit sandpaper and WD40 can get some out.

 

Basically, the process is as follows:

1. Strip the paint (either chemical paint stripper or sand blast)
2. Polish the surface
3. Clean thoroughly
4. Clear coat if you want a fairly maintenance free surface or leave it polished & polish religiously.

I would not put WD40 on it if you plan on painting it again as this will cause finish problems.

 

Long as the rim itself isn't bent, looks fine to me.

I am the minority in this though.

 

Are those rims painted? I was thinking they were just like polished aluminum.

Either way, my only experience is with aluminum and stainless steel, neither were getting painted, so I would definitely defer to Swartlkk on it!

 

That corrosion is under the clear coat that comes on the factory rims. It can be a royal pain to get that factory clear coat off as I believe it is a 2 part epoxy of some kind with how tough it actually is.

So I listed what should be done to restore them. I have two recommendations depending on the desired look & amount of money that can be spent on the endeavor.

Recommendation #1 is a labor intensive and not very expensive option that is less intensive than the strip, polish, & clear I stated previously. Start by cleaning all corrosion off of the rim, but do not clean away all of the clear coat. Spot fill the low spots with a high build primer to bring those areas back up consistent with the factory paint. Paint the rim silver, clear, and throw them back on.

Recommendation #2 costs more, but is almost zero labor involved. Simply buy an aftermarket or clean used set of rims & put them on.

Rims in general can be a pain to bring back to life especially when they are polished/painted and attacked by corrosion. If this is your first time attempting it and you feel up to the challenge, go ahead, but know that it will not be easy.

I speak from experience on this! I tried to restore a set of factory 1st gen Dodge Intrepid ES rims. Paint stripper wouldn't touch the paint on them and they had a machined face with gold painted inlays. After I sand blasted the rims, I ended up sanding/polishing the face of one rim and it didn't look anything like the factory machined surface. This was after I spent a solid 60 hours on getting the surface to a mirror finish. I then attempted to polish the entire rim and that didn't go well at all either. All of that for just one rim. Total time suck that went no where.

The rims on my work truck (2011 Sierra 2500HD) have very much the same corrosion as the rims shown above. I'm not even considering touching those rims, but I am keeping an eye out for a decent southern set of rims for an attractive price to swap onto it if the money is right.

The other thing to consider is the down time to the vehicle. While buying another set of rims is more expensive, it is the option with the lowest downtime which can be a consideration if you do not have other means of transportation.