Cleaning wheels
- Thread starter leeward
- Start date
Sprint said:Just regular wash n wax but a bit sad as I jack it up so as I can turn the wheels
Yep car plan car shampoo and I'm not so sad I don't jack just use a good alloy wheel brush -
the guys that supplied my alloys told me not to use alloy wheel cleaner ????? Just wash n wax ????
leeward, I've written my own guide to doing this if you're interested - it covers just about everything. The "short" version is you should use a ph balanced wheel cleaner in all cases - "normal" alloy wheel cleaner stuff that you can get at Halfrauds etc is often acidic - it WILL eat through the grime, but also your lacquer and finish on the wheels too. I'm with DumfriesDik on this one - just acquired some Dragon's Breath a few weeks back. If you haven't done a BIG clean on your wheels for a while, as I hadn't - i.e shedloads of built-up grime - use that DB to break down the majority of the grime - it is ph neutral so won't harm the finish of the wheels, despite the chemical reaction that happens. I've never used the bilberry stuff but understand it is similar in principle but I can only vouch for DB.
Ideally, for a big clean, you will want to take the wheels off because access is so much easier; you don't have to but visibility/access/manoeverability is so much reduced that you will miss spots - it depends how bothered you are. I have a thread which will show you what I did - I did go a bit over the top because i then polished the wheels with a DA and then sealed them too - the thread is here: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=68659 - did it about 10 days ago. Once I had the routine going, it takes about 90 mins per wheel but if I'd avoided the faf with the polisher, I think I could have done each wheel in just under an hour, including the jacking up and undoing the bolts etc
With respect to the 108 style wheels, whilst I don't have them myself (but I do love 'em), I'd suggest you get a wheel brush in a fairly small size so that you can get into the split in the rims and also the little star bolts around the wheel edge and also the wheel nut area. You could just sacrifice a small painting brush as an alternative, but that might be single-use - perfectly fine, however.
The fact is that once you've done a BIG clean, perhaps even sealed the wheels with some sort of protector, you can then do as others have suggested and do much quicker service washes for your wheels - car shampoo and a mitt is fine if you've nothing else. Put it this way, having cleaned my wheels as I did, I'm not expecting to take them off again until 2015 - and well into that year if I have anything to do with it!! I'm pretty confident that washing them with my usual cleaner, various brushes and a mitt should be all I need to do for the next 6-9 months all being well.
Even after I used the Dragon's Breath, I then washed with my "normal" ph balanced wheel cleaner - definitely buy yourself a conical (tapered) wheel brush - they tend to be about 8 inches long - that will allow you to get easy access between the spokes and also clean the vast majority of the inner wheel (the barrel I think they call it) during a service/regular wash. I'd strongly recommend getting a wheel-shine for the actual tyre edge too - it let's the good work down without that.
If you have spare time and can stand the annoying Americanisms from the presenter, this vid was useful for me - some use of different products (he's plugging his own obviously) but you get the principlese pretty quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gYre5Rn-YE&list=PLWLjv7NsMIEK0-7fVLm3l5wIhFS1a-Ehv&index=2
Hope that helps a bit, bit late to this party, sorry.
stevo
Ideally, for a big clean, you will want to take the wheels off because access is so much easier; you don't have to but visibility/access/manoeverability is so much reduced that you will miss spots - it depends how bothered you are. I have a thread which will show you what I did - I did go a bit over the top because i then polished the wheels with a DA and then sealed them too - the thread is here: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=68659 - did it about 10 days ago. Once I had the routine going, it takes about 90 mins per wheel but if I'd avoided the faf with the polisher, I think I could have done each wheel in just under an hour, including the jacking up and undoing the bolts etc
With respect to the 108 style wheels, whilst I don't have them myself (but I do love 'em), I'd suggest you get a wheel brush in a fairly small size so that you can get into the split in the rims and also the little star bolts around the wheel edge and also the wheel nut area. You could just sacrifice a small painting brush as an alternative, but that might be single-use - perfectly fine, however.
The fact is that once you've done a BIG clean, perhaps even sealed the wheels with some sort of protector, you can then do as others have suggested and do much quicker service washes for your wheels - car shampoo and a mitt is fine if you've nothing else. Put it this way, having cleaned my wheels as I did, I'm not expecting to take them off again until 2015 - and well into that year if I have anything to do with it!! I'm pretty confident that washing them with my usual cleaner, various brushes and a mitt should be all I need to do for the next 6-9 months all being well.
Even after I used the Dragon's Breath, I then washed with my "normal" ph balanced wheel cleaner - definitely buy yourself a conical (tapered) wheel brush - they tend to be about 8 inches long - that will allow you to get easy access between the spokes and also clean the vast majority of the inner wheel (the barrel I think they call it) during a service/regular wash. I'd strongly recommend getting a wheel-shine for the actual tyre edge too - it let's the good work down without that.
If you have spare time and can stand the annoying Americanisms from the presenter, this vid was useful for me - some use of different products (he's plugging his own obviously) but you get the principlese pretty quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gYre5Rn-YE&list=PLWLjv7NsMIEK0-7fVLm3l5wIhFS1a-Ehv&index=2
Hope that helps a bit, bit late to this party, sorry.
stevo
108's are the easiest wheels I've ever had to clean. I ensured they were kept topped up with poor boys wheel wax. All it took was a MF mitt with normal car shampoo. Oem pads and discs and they always came up spotless, even when it was my DD.
CSL's on my current zed get the same treatment, although I have to use wheel woollies instead of the mitt. Other than that same cleaning and protecting as above.
CSL's on my current zed get the same treatment, although I have to use wheel woollies instead of the mitt. Other than that same cleaning and protecting as above.