Most aggressive wheel cleaner for brake dust

[Tommie38]

I ve got a ring of brake dust baked into the front wheels of my car, which I have had for around 18 months. Almost like somebody ran the pads all the way down and the discs were touching the backing plates.

I ve used quite a few of the various iron out type wheel cleaners with no joy and it s been through plenty of scratch and shine car washes (sorry, it s a daily ) but it is still there. I ve even tried Wonder Wheels Classic which is an acidic cleaner, with no joy.

At this point I m very close to a refurb but other than the ring of brake dust, the wheels are OK.

My question is, is there anything more hardcore that I can try? Most likely outcome is a refurb so I m not *that* worried and wouldn t mind taking a gamble.

Edited by Tommie38 on Saturday 24th January 10:04

[Glassman]

Killer Brands, aka Winners Detailing Products.

Stumbled upon the shop when it was based in Hainault and took an instant liking to Colin, the owner. They've since relocated the business to Poole, Dorset but a very good mail order system to deliver.

Wheel products:

https://www.killerbrands.co.uk/search?type=product...

I buy all my detailing products from them.

[paul_c123]

I bought a product called "Extreme Acid Wheel Cleaner" from "House of Shine", off eBay. Christ knows how they managed to send it through the post, I am convinced that stuff is a tightly controlled substance. It could kill a medium sized horse. I wear thick rubber gloves and stay upwind when applying it, and do only one wheel at a time, having a bucket of water and a hosepipe ready. Literally if I don't rinse it thoroughly within about 20 secs, it takes the paint off or leaves permanent stains in painted alloys. I am half way through the bottle and onto my 2nd pair of thick rubber gloves.

I did have a car where even that wasn't doing anything. Claybar did a nice (and much safer) job of removing the remaining stubborn patches of tan/brown on the silver wheel.

[Frimley111R]

My daily is like that, I assumed a refurb was the only way to ever return them back to normal.

[Tommie38]

Just now I went out and gave the wheel a good scratch with my fingernail. Interestingly some of it came off.

I suspect it has had plenty of chemicals but not the mechanical hard work.

It s a 2014 M135i and the wheel has a bit of an inner lip and that is where the residual material/dust is. It looks to be quite difficult to get behind the spokes on that inner lip but I am wondering whether some clay would pull it off in the first instance.



Library pic to be clear!

Edited by Tommie38 on Saturday 24th January 12:33

[Lincsls1]

https://bilthamber.com/product/auto-wheel/

Usually a well recommended product in these types of discussion.
And one I can personally vouch for.

[Tommie38]

paul_c123 said:

I bought a product called "Extreme Acid Wheel Cleaner" from "House of Shine", off eBay. Christ knows how they managed to send it through the post, I am convinced that stuff is a tightly controlled substance. It could kill a medium sized horse. I wear thick rubber gloves and stay upwind when applying it, and do only one wheel at a time, having a bucket of water and a hosepipe ready. Literally if I don't rinse it thoroughly within about 20 secs, it takes the paint off or leaves permanent stains in painted alloys. I am half way through the bottle and onto my 2nd pair of thick rubber gloves.

I did have a car where even that wasn't doing anything. Claybar did a nice (and much safer) job of removing the remaining stubborn patches of tan/brown on the silver wheel.

Honestly using this is so tempting…

[Tommie38]

Frimley111R said:

My daily is like that, I assumed a refurb was the only way to ever return them back to normal.

Will let you know how I get on.

[Wills2]

I'd take the wheels off and use a fall out remover like iron X and a mildly abrasive pad or non marring plastic scraper if needed some times you need to abrade the surface a little to clean it when this stuff is baked on.

I did that on a set of winter wheels for my old 911 when I sold them on, took a lot of elbow grease as well but they came up like new.

[Tommie38]

Lincsls1 said:

https://bilthamber.com/product/auto-wheel/

Usually a well recommended product in these types of discussion.
And one I can personally vouch for.

I’ve used BH before. To be honest it is a very samey product from my perspective, very similar to the other iron out products on the market but more expensive and smells awful.

For this type of product I use Wonder Wheels (the iron out version, not the classic). It can still be bought cheaply if you shop around.

[Tommie38]

Wills2 said:

I'd take the wheels off and use a fall out remover like iron X and a mildly abrasive pad or non marring plastic scraper if needed some times you need to abrade the surface a little to clean it when this stuff is baked on.

I did that on a set of winter wheels for my old 911 when I sold them on, took a lot of elbow grease as well but they came up like new.

It s had loads of fallout remover in the last 18m but not much agitation. It s a bit of an annoying wheel style if you look at the pic but I do suspect this is an option.

To be honest I am also not falling over myself to spend hours scrubbing. Will have a crack and see how I get on.

[Belle427]

KKD Devils juice is one of the best, good old fashioned wonder wheels does a good job too if you wanted something you could buy from halfords..
The KKD is often recommended as the best acidic cleaner, it was difficult to get hold of for a while.
Products like Bilt Hamber are good but wont shift stubborn baked on dust so don`t waste your time and product trying it.

[Smint]

Valet Pro Bilberry Wheel Cleaner from Amazon.

Dilutable depending on how bad the staining is, one of wifey's friend's wheels were minging with months of baked on filth they came up line new, obviously some agitation with a proper soft wheelbrush helps.

[Tommie38]

Thanks for the suggestion guys. This is definitely beyond a standard acidic or iron out product.

I’ve ordered some of the House of Shone stuff on eBay and will give that a go. It sounded suitably dangerous from the post above….

[fooman]

Let us know how you get on, if you still have fingers to type with!

One of the best alloys I had was coloured dark on the inside and silver on the face. It did a good job of hiding the effect of brake dust!

[remedy]

Have you tried a clay bar? The brake dust is sitting on the surface and this is exactly what a clay bar is intended to remove.
Just loosen it with normal wheel cleaner and keep the clay bar lubricated and it'll take it all off. Fiddly and time consuming but it'll do it in the safest and most effective way.

[Tommie38]

remedy said:

Have you tried a clay bar? The brake dust is sitting on the surface and this is exactly what a clay bar is intended to remove.
Just loosen it with normal wheel cleaner and keep the clay bar lubricated and it'll take it all off. Fiddly and time consuming but it'll do it in the safest and most effective way.

Clay would be an option for a different type of wheel but this one has an area behind the spokes that is a bit fiddly. I think if it were going to take as long as I think it would, I would probably rather go straight for the refurb.

[LM240]

Annoying to have let this happen on one of the cars.

Literally working on it now and came to forum to ask for solutions.

Tried usual decent products and then wd40, white spirits. From above, clay also not doing a thing.

Will look at some of the other suggestions. Really frustrated, as hate dirty wheels and not sure how they’ve gone this bad.

[Smint]

aargh, my ocd is kicking in seeing that rust on the unswept parts of the disc

Road tanker trailers get arched lines of rust on the lower sections of the tanker body itself, its rust thrown up over hundreds of thousands of miles from the exposed drum brakes (many new artic trailers have returned to drum brakes, more reliable/durable), over time it can become so ingrained in the paint it can't be removed, that may be what's happened in the pic, it does look like rust.

[LM240]

Just to make the day harder bloody Karcher hose has just split.

Ordered some of the KKD to try out.

Edited by LM240 on Monday 26th January 14:11