How do you best protect brushed wheels?

Reg_Dunlop

New member
Hello Autopia. I'm a new member to the board, but have been lurking for some time now. I have a question concerning how best to protect high-end wheels with "brushed" finishes. Same question for wheels with anodized finishes. I've always protected my wheels with AIO + SG, but my wheels have always had painted finishes. I've never detailed brushed or anodized wheels before. Just curious if such finishes require different approaches (either in product or in process). Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Welcome to Autopia!



The "machined look" wheels on my wife's A8 are like that- I just treat them like any other wheels. Unless the texture is *very* coarse, I'd just use the Klasse twins on them. And even if it *is* really textured, I'd probably just do the same thing, applying very thin and using w-o-w-o so you don't get a build up of excess product in the texture.



I never had any problem treating my anodized HREs that way, just be gentle with stuff like AIO as some anodizing is pretty fragile. I kept them very well sealed and washed them gently with car wash shampoo. Worked fine and that car (Mallett C5) made a lot of brake dust. I used soft BHBs to clean them but you might try sheepskins. Just watch that they don't trap some abrasive grit.
 
Don't be afraid to use an abrasive wheel polish on these wheels. More than likely you will see a TON of black crap (oxidation) come off them when you polish them. WENOL makes a great wheel polish for this application.



Use a sealant as a final step after you get them looking great for protection.
 
Just make sure they aren't coated with something before using those abrasives ;) Some wheels that *look* like bare aluminum aren't.
 
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