Chrome wire wheel cleaning

[Dbest92]

Hi all,

I have a mgb with chrome wire wheels which are slightly pitted in places on the inside and I was wondering if anybody has any recommendations on what's best to clean them with?

I have some chrome polish which is probably best used on clean wheels, but I have seen various products on the marked such as meguires hot rims and something called bilberry juice, thought I'd ask to see what others use or think is best?

I know there's no substitute for time and elbow grease, but the car is used quite often so doing this every few weeks does get tedious!

Cheers

[v8250]

There are many cleaning products on the market that claim to do all sorts of super-dooper things and are often just marketing hype. For chrome wires with pitting, the trick is not to aggravate the pitted chrome as this will induce more pitting.

A very simple and effective method is to remove the wheels, spray with Jizer or Gunk...go inside and make a mug of tea together with your favourite biscuits...don't rush the pleasure of dunking your favourite biscuits into the tea...finishing the refreshing quaffing experienced from your mug of tea, then return to the wheels.

Wash off Jizer or Gunk with hot soapy water. Dry with clean old tea towel and then spray a transparent was lacquer/wax over the wheels. The lacquer/wax acts as a barrier to road dirt and brake dust, but also to stops the pitting being exposed to air. You may like giving the inner spokes a double coating? I know some guys who use the old proven method of rubbing in Vaseline on their wire wheels, which genuinely does a great job!

Whilst wheels are off, degrease and clean the hub and wheels splines, then coat with copper slip. Re-fit wheel and spinners; job done

[nta16]

wire wheels on a frequently used car

and in chrome

[nta16]

v8250 said:

Whilst wheels are off, degrease and clean the hub and wheels splines, then coat with copper slip

or grease or similar

be very careful putting wheels and spinners back on, follow instructions in Driver's Handbook - not too tight not too loose - check DH for checking wheels are tight still after some use

[460dave]

Don’t spray any paint or coating on the wheels, a wax or something like that is fine but not any paint based products. All any paint product will cover the spokes etc. and alloy water and moisture to get under the paint/lacquer finish to slowly corrode even more.

I am afraid if they are rusting then nothing is going to stop this, only slow it down. 35 years restoring classics and cleaning feckin wire wheels is too much for one man to bear, that’s why our apprentices used top get the jobbie.

As some of the lads said, degrease and clean. There are many claims to all sorts of polishes and cr@p out there, but do you really think these are going to stand up to the ravages of road grit, spray, rain, sometimes constant immersion in water while you are driving in a storm. A good pressure washer, take the wheels off, soak in a non-solvent cleaner, hot pressure wash is best, but if you don’t have this then domestic jobbie, then hot soapy water, then you favorite wax/polish etc, cost won’t make any difference.

Waxes and sealants (polish types) will slow the process but won’t stop it. Now if you are very rich as one of our customers was you get a set of good oe wheels, strip them down, get good English chrome done form a good chrome plater and then get them reassembled, however you have to be very rich.
Or as we did for quite a few customers was a set of chrome wheels for summer with period tyres and then a set of wet weather tyres and painted wires for the wet months.

And to be a chrome wire wheel cleaning expert you look for an apprentice with an unusually long index finger, knuckle joints that have a rotation of 360 degrees, but so tough and hard on the end that the constant bashing against the spoke when cleaning doesn’t affect them.

[Dbest92]

Thanks for advice , the wheels will have to come off anyway soon to do some undersealing, so will have a go with a degreaser and polish them after, they're not too bad pitting wise, just a bit on the rim behind the spokes, good few years left in them yet hopefully, the prices of replacements are actually scary!
Funnily enough no-one else at home seems keen to help, and last time around it does bash up your fingers a bit!
Haha Nigel, they are a nightmare! They do look lovely but most certainly keep you busy!

[lowdrag]

To clean an E-type wheel properly, using any old degresant product and a toothbrush. takes two hours a wheel, and frankly I gave up on it years back. I spray or paint with Gunk, have the obligatory tea and biscuits, and then use the high pressure washer to clean them off. But finally, after 100,00 miles and 25 years of all weathers they were tatty to the extent I was worried about a failure so I replaced them and went but this time for painted wheels. So much cheaper and easier to clean! Mind you, the new MWS chrome wheels have stainless spokes in their favour.

[nta16]

Dbest92 said:

Haha Nigel, they are a nightmare!

nnoo, really(?)

when you were younger did you never have a bike and have to clean the wheels, repair the punctures, get the inner tubes back in, tighten the spokes whilst still trying to keep the wheel true, etc

if the only disadvantages of wire wheels was cleaning that would be bad enough for a regularly used car but there are other mechanical disadvantages and additional problems with having them fitted to the car - that's why I refer you to read and reference and follow the information in the 'good book' about them and their requirements

[XplusYplusZ]

This guy has a great set of cleaning vids, as well as a pretty serious amount of ocd. Some wire wheel tips below:

12:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTWL_MrCdc8

17:40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52gqO0BAVe0

[DBSV8]

Dbest92 said:

Hi all,

I have a mgb with chrome wire wheels which are slightly pitted in places on the inside and I was wondering if anybody has any recommendations on what's best to clean them with?

I have some chrome polish which is probably best used on clean wheels, but I have seen various products on the marked such as meguires hot rims and something called bilberry juice, thought I'd ask to see what others use or think is best?

I know there's no substitute for time and elbow grease, but the car is used quite often so doing this every few weeks does get tedious!

Cheers

on the e type i use meguires Hot Rims All Wheel & Tyre Cleaner, spray on leave for 10 mins , then pressure wash off

then use

Endurance High Gloss Tyre Gel on the tyres
quick simple and gives good results ,