My first Post + help removing rust from alloy wheels

[BklynRX7]

Hello everyone, Autopia has been my go to site for questions like this for quite some time but I finally felt the need to post and ask for advice since searching couldn't answer a couple questions. First of all im curious if you pro's have any advice on my current washing method.



Recently I have been foaming the car down with a garden-sprayer with foaming tip before even touching it, salt is a problem here in the winter (not this winter) and bird droppings seem to be a year-round problem, but they get brutal in the summer. I was using MGC until I recently switched to P21s Shampoo, Im not sure if its really worth the price so I may considering switching back when my supply runs out. After a rinse I then wash the car using the 2 bucket method with a sheepswool mitt for the hood, roof, and truck and a MF mitt for the bumpers and doors. I have a seperate MF mitt for the wheels alone. I only use a wheel cleaner when necessary. Once Ive gone over the car I spray it down then allow the water to flow over it and allow the sheeting to carry water away. I then use a short napped MF towel to dab up most of the water, followed by a long napped MF to wipe the final drops up. So far I have not sealed the car, I have been waxing it with P21s when the weather permitted and I plan to use KAIO+KSG once it gets nicer out, I also have Rejex for the wheels and glass. Is there anything Im leaving out or doing wrong?



Now onto my current dilema, shortly after purchasing the car I was about 2 hours from home when the rear breaks started grinding, the pads were gone and it was just the backing plate grinding the rotor on the rear passenger side. Long story short, I didnt have time to clean them for a while and now there is rust caked into the crevices of one of my wheels. The bulk of it came off with P21s wheel gel and a brush,its not too hard to remove with my fingernail but I cant get it out of the tight areas of the wheel without some sort of chemical help. Im afraid to try anything harsher than the p21s because I dont want to damage the wheels. Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.



I wanted to post pics but I can't because, Im new. For reference the car is a '07 Audi A6 in Daytona Grey Pearl Effect

 

[Accumulator]

Hello everyone, Autopia has been my go to site for questions like this for quite some time but I finally felt the need to post and ask for advice since searching couldn't answer a couple questions....

Welcome to Autopia!

First of all im curious if you pro's have any advice on my current washing method.

I'm not a Pro, but I do know from washing Audis



-Are you happy with your current wash regimen? If not, why? My point is that you don't need to fix something that's not broken, and/but if something's not right we need to know what's wrong before recommending a fix.

-Are you marring the paint? I.e., are there any swirls/etc.? If so, then something's wrong.

-FWIW, I use the same wash media for the whole exterior of the car, as opposed to MF for one area and sheepskin for another.

-I find that better shampoos (I use Griot's exclusively) can make a huge diff with regard to wash-induced marring, and can also have an impact on how long my LSP (Last Step Product, i.e., wax or sealant) lasts.

-Wheels might need something a bit more aggressive than a MF mitt.

-Layered KSG is *very* good as a protective LSP, but wax can be OK too (I use wax on a year-round daily driver with no problems).

-Speaking of KSG, I've been able to ignore bird-bombs with zero issues (no etching, etc.) when I had six or more layers of KSG on the vehicle (no, I'm not recommending that ).

Now onto my current dilema...there is rust caked into the crevices of one of my wheels. The bulk of it came off with P21s wheel gel and a brush,its not too hard to remove with my fingernail but I cant get it out of the tight areas of the wheel without some sort of chemical help. Im afraid to try anything harsher than the p21s because I dont want to damage the wheels. Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated..

Since you can get it off with your fingernail, maybe a carefly mechanical approach would work. How about clay and either APC or a more potent wheel cleaner? Using the APC/wheel cleaner as lube with the clay will kill the clay pretty fast (so have plenty), but that's worked well for me when things weren't all that bad.



Or..just get some really potent wheel cleaner, something acidic, and use it properly.



I'd sure get on this sooner rather than later, it'll get harder to resolve over time.

 

[WetLookinPaint]

WD-40? Loosy Goosey?

 

[BklynRX7]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry it took me so long to get back. Ive picked up some Sonax Full Effect and Flash Brown Royal to try on the wheels before I try to fingernail it all off. I tried a toothbrush with P21S gel and it didnt work. If I cant get it all off I think I'm going to have the wheels refinished since there is a small amount of rash there anyway.



I use MF for the bottom of the car because it gets a lot dirtier and I feel like the MF does a better job of carrying the dirt away than the sheepskin. I may be wrong but it feels better, if that makes sense.

 

[usdm]

Hey Bklynrx7!



Never used Brown Royal, but Ive used Sonax, Iron X, and recently Wolfs Deionizer gel. All will do a pretty good job of knocking down the brake dust. IronX is works great in tackling metal shavings, but thats all it will do, while Sonax and Wolfs have better all around cleaning ability. The upside to Wolfs over the others is that it has a lot longer dwell time, so you can let the solution settle in the problem areas, and then power-rinse later on. Not having seen the wheels, its probably would be best to do multiple applications to insure you get as much of the shavings off before going to something more agressive (hopefully it wont come down to that).



Just curious, what kind of alloys do you have?

 

[BklynRX7]

They're just factory 18's like this