Inner Wheel Cleaning

SA Detailer

New member
Many of you are P.M. me on how I get inner wheel so clean. (Hopefully I'm killing alot of birds with one stone.) Many of you ask do I remove wheel to clean them. No I don't, I spray them down with 1 part SimpleGreen & 3 parts water. Spray it with pressure to knock off loose brake dust, then wipe with a cool dash board brush from Target. It really gets the crap off, then apply Auto Magic's SuperDressIt and has no sling. You ask if I do this on regular washes or on full details only, I do it on any kind of wash.


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How will that process work for rims that have quite alot of brake dust build up on the inside????

Also how did you mix the simple green???? More details please..sorry!!!

Great looking work though.
 
To mix it, I have a one gallon jug that has the messurements on the side. I pour in 1 quart S.G. and 3 quarts water. As you can see, it works great stuborn brake crap, Martin

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No doubt those wheels look completely awesome, I wish I could get mine to look that good. But, isn't simple green a little too strong for painted rims?
 
No, I have been doing this on my personal vehicle since new(Sept, 2002) and they still look new. Here a pic of our car, Benz C230 KOMPRESSOR Sport

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WOW!!! those look amazing! But, with that one brush you are able to remove that much dust from the inside of the rim? Do you use any other brushers to get around the back of the faces? How much time would you say it takes per wheel? It takes me forever to do one wheel with a number of brushes and what not. Thanks again- I cant wait to make mine look like that!

And also, the areas between the brake disc and the wheel where the clearence is very low how do you get in there?

Andrew
 
Very nice work, very impressive ill be doing that this weekend....


The only problem is that my wheel gaps are small in my rims so I hope I can get it real good!!! I need to get my pressure washer working.
 
CBlakeNS said:
Very nice work, very impressive ill be doing that this weekend....


The only problem is that my wheel gaps are small in my rims so I hope I can get it real good!!! I need to get my pressure washer working.


check out this thread, http://www.detailcity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14737 this topic was discussed a week or so ago, use these style of brushes shown and you will have no problems. the brake dust in the pics above are not major build up so you can get away with a garden hose pressure with a good apc and scrubing a little. i find you only need a power washer when the brake dust is caked on (orange tinge on the rim) and using rim acid.
 
SA Detailer said:
I do this day in and day out and this is the only brush I use.

i do it all day long also, and sometimes you need other brushes. on well maintained wheels like you showd, you don't need anything stronger on REAL dirty rims you do.
 
Martin,

Thanks for sharing your procedures and pics. However, I'm not entirely convinced that this method will work in many circumstances. You stated in another post that all of your clients have their cars washed on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. With such frequent washing, dust buildup and the like will be minimal, so I can see where your method would work great in these instances. On the other hand, it seems I come in contact with many cars that haven't been detailed or washed for that matter in months or even years, therefore, the condition of the wheels is far worse and set in than that shown in the pics above. Many times I've had to resort to using diluted wheel acid to cut through this stuff. I also notice you say you spray the solution on the wheel first, then pw off, then wipe with dash tool. Couple questions, do you spray the solution on the wheels dry or prime with water first? If so, have you ever had a problem with them staining or discoloring? Lastly, how long do you let the simple green dwell on the wheels before pw, and do you use the brush on them while the solution is still dwelling or are you using it after everything has been pw off? Sorry for the long post, just had a few questions that arised after reading your post.

Thanks.

Matt Williams
Silver Lining Detail
 
Very nice work guys....

It's really pretty easy to keep inner wheels, brakes, etc. clean if the spokes are thin and the openings are large. I just reach my washmitt through the spoke-holes and wash just as I do the rest of the car.

For Quick Detailing, I spray the MF with QD and wipe down the inner wheel, caliper and rotor.

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(BTW.... If I can't "reach" through the openings with my hand..... I fully agree with the brush method described above!).....


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The wheels look nice, i have a post here asking this same question on dust removal. i spent several days a few hrs here and there and i ended using acid full strength and many hrs of scrubbing. i can see this process work on a weekly basis to maintain the wheels.

Martin,
would the diluted simple green strip the polish and pb sealer from my wheels if i use this process to maintain them weekly?
 
Nice job on those Porsche wheels!!!! Just a word of warning to some out there though: If you have your wheel weights on the inside of the wheel, be careful with the high psi pressure washer. I'm going to pull my wheels off this weekend. SAdetailer, you really have those wheels looking like you took them off and cleaned them. I'd do it the same way, but I'm scared of knocking my wheel weights off, and I have uncoated polished wheels that dont see anything stronger than wash soap.
 
I know I stated that I wash alot if vehicles weekly but when I first started the business, I had to make atleast $35 an hour to survive and I was charging $15 for any size vehicle to get my foot in the door. I was washing some of the nastiest cars you could image. At $15 a car, even the plain Jane secretary or a burger flipper could afford a car wash. A proffessional detailer from my hometown of Lubbock, TX gave me this tip to help me save time and keep me at the pay level I needed. Don't tell me this stuff doesn't work because I have done cars that haven't been washed in years with caked wheels.

You talk like I started the business and VIOLA, the luxury & exotics vehicles just fell into my lap. I paid my dues and the first couple of years, I thought we were not going to make it, but we hung in there and now I got the creme puff vehicles that everybody wish they could detail.

Newbies: next time you hear someone say, "That doesn't work for us because you wash expensive cars of people with lots of MONEY and they have them washed weekly". Remember, we started at the same place you did, AT THE BOTTOM.


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By the way, the Porsche wheel was a first time client. She was amazed at the finished product, now she is in my back pocket for LIFE.
 
Martin

Your work is always very impressive and some of your methods are different from what I have read and mine....On the older cars that have more baked on brake dust, high to low end cars...Your SG and Target brush I do believe would not work to conpletely remove all the brake dust on some...I've used allot of brake dust removers from non to acid based, have tons of different brushes for various rims.....but I yet to see just one method as a fix all....On my rims that get a weekly cleaning I don't even need APC for that matter...My TB and wash soap is enough...Again your work is impressive and you have built yourself a good customer base.
 
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