Wheel acid/alloy wheel cleaner for really dirty wheels

[hman]

My E60 alloys are in a bad way, on the outside there are black specks galore which wonder wheels wont shift and they feel rough to the touch.

On the inside of the wheels the blackness is baaaaad, again wonder wheels didnt even touch it.

When I had ot detailled last year I was not impressed when the insides of the wheels came back black-I quizzed the guy about it and he just said - sorry, but my stuff wouldnt get any better result.

Reccomendations please (apart form not using the same company for detailling again?)...

[belleair302]

Tardis and a decent clay plus lube. Then to wash I would use either Car Pro Iron X or Valet Pro Bilberry Wheel Cleaner. Finally protect with a quality sealant. Or just get them refurbished for around £70 per wheel.

Edited by belleair302 on Monday 28th January 18:49

[kds keltec]

firstly

have the wheels been refurbed in the past?

I do mean refurbed by dealer or smart repaired?

As we do get to see lots of wheels that have had the curbing removed on the edges with colour in small area (smart repair) , with the whole wheel being lacquered(including the dirt/brake dust)so sealing in the black dirt forever, until the wheels are fully striped and refurbed properly

Just a thought, and could be why last guy could not remove all the dirt.

HTH Kelly

[hman]

He made the outsides look great but the insides not so.

Dont think the wheels have been refurbed.

[B17NNS]

Acid wheel cleaners will do your wheels no favours in the long term.

I use this (it stinks to high heaven)...

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/r222-wheel...

Follow by a few coats of this...

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/poorboys-w...

Once properly cleaned and sealed a soapy wheel brush brings them back good as new.

They are obviously in a bit of a state now so throw everything and anything (TFR, Tardis, APC, clay, elbow grease etc) at them to get them clean, then seal and wash regularly.

If the grime has been laquered in then nothing short of a refurb with fix them unfortunately.

[hman]

Well the wheels are off the at and shortly going up for sale so I will have the chance to give them a really good clean before they get sold hopefully.

The dirt isn't under the laquer so there's hope for a solution yet!

[Miracle]

hman said:

Well the wheels are off the at and shortly going up for sale so I will have the chance to give them a really good clean before they get sold hopefully.

The dirt isn't under the laquer so there's hope for a solution yet!

Try some iron x, that should shift it!

Kind Regards
Paul

[domster]

TFRs tend to be caustic, so 'non-acid' in a wheel cleaner sense often means 'hugely alkaline' and it can cause just as many unfortunate side effects to sensitive finishes.

So don't be sucked into acid vs non-acid. The strong ones need a more cautious approach but work faster/better. It's always a compromise. There ARE properly mild cleaners out there for anodised rims etc but for powdercoated/clearcoated wheels (as most are) the acid/non-acid (rather than pH neutral) ones tend to be fine.

Note that many black specks are actually tar spots, not brake residues, and therefore need solvent to remove them, rather than strong acids/alkalis.

[kds keltec]

hman said:

He made the outsides look great but the insides not so.

Dont think the wheels have been refurbed.

A bit late i know , but this is the problem , smart repairing wheels means the front face (the part to be repaired and painted) gets fully stripped back so all contaminants get removed , this is sometimes even done on the car (yes its true we have a black car coming that got silver wheels and now silver wheel arch lips, silver wheel arch liners and silver brakes).

Many times the inside of the wheels wont get anything but a quick wipe over at the most , leaving all the brake dust still there , the small area OR maybe the whole front face will get silver and then larger area gets top coat lacquer which in turn covers over the inside of the wheel hence sealing in for ever the dirt.

why i asked if they had been repaired ? , they could well be as 90% of the cars we process have got at least one wheel like this without the owner even knowing.

Had many Audi RS and BMW M models with all 4 wheels in the wrong shade and colour as bodyshops and smart repair guys cant powder coat in the same as OEM, again without owners knowing

kelly