81000 miles of wheel gunk

M

metload1

New member
hey,



I took off one of my wheels today to clean it on both sides and man that stuff on the inside won't come off for anything! what should I use?



I've tried:



-Mineral spirits

-clay

-engine degreaser

-bug and tar remover

-wd-40

-car wash

-kitchen soap



nothing works so far, it's a nasty orange coating.



thanks in advance
 
I used Poorboy's Spray and Rinse and 0000 steel wool when I did the insides on my GTP's rims. I then polished them out (barrels and faces) with Mother's Aluminum Polish on a rotary/4" pad.
 
Roll off is a great reasonably safe cleaner, but I don't think it stands a chance against that. Especially if an engine degreaser, bug and tar remover, and mineral spirits didn't touch it.
 
Spray some brake cleen on a rag( make sure not to get on outside part of rim) and wipe off all that gunk. Then polish with Mothers mag and aluminum polish. :waxing:
 
You might try aggressive overspray clay.



Using potent wheel cleaners as lube, I've resorted to abrasive measures that're even more drastic than the 0000 steel wool :o



Scotchbrite pads, and even "fiber bristle" (IIRC that's the name) brushes on a dremel. Yeah, such approaches cause marring that may/may not come out...and you do have to know when to say "good enough".
 
as far as abrasives though, aren't the wheels also clearcoated? Mine are polished aluminum. I thought they had to be clearcoated to keep from pitting in the winter.
 
I don't know what you're really asking here...is the gunk grease/dirt, or is it brake dust (or both)? You'll need a solvent or detergent type of product to remove the grease, and an acid to dissolve the metal (brake dust), unless you want to abrasively remove the contaminants.
 
I'm pretty sure I got all the brake dust off, what's left is an orange film. I should probably just get some pics of it. The other thing I was asking above is if it's safe to use heavy abrasives on my wheels as I thought they had a clear coat (and things like steel wool and such would take that off)
 
Yeah, heavy abrasives will remove/damage clear....if this is on the front part, where you can see damage, well :nixweiss But on the backside, they're usually not cleared, just painted.



That paint is usually pretty thin, so you might mess it up...I have a few times and it didn't get much worse over the years because I keep a lot of LSP on it. You could always repaint them with some wheel paint.





Orange usually means rust. I'd try some acidic cleaner, scrubbing with a Scotchbrite while it's dwelling.



And if it's just on the back, I'd ask myself how much I care ;) On the S8 it'd be "a lot" (I keep 'em perfect); on my wife's A8 it was "a bit" (I dremeled those and live with the damage), on the truck the answer was "not at all" (and I don't give 'em a secont thought).
 
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