questions about Wheel care....

R

Riccar

New member
I am getting a new car next week ('03 VW Passat GLX) that comes with alloy wheels. What is recommended to care for them. I know to use non-corrosive wheel cleaners, but is there one that excels over others. Do you need to "wax" them? If so, again what is best? Did a search for cleaners and wheels, could not find much there. There is a lot of stuff about waxes and polishes, tho.



:wavey
 
Do some searches on Eagle A2Z wheel cleaner. That stuff works really well for me. I love it. Very safe on your rims.



There is special wax made for rims. You can buy that if you like. Normal car wax would break down way too quickly. I don't know if it would last a whole day. Something synthetic like a polymer sealant would be a better choice. I use Klasse on mine and it helps a great deal at keeping down the brake dust and road grime. My recommendation would be to skip the wheel wax and go right to the sealants. Klasse SG is a great choice.
 
I used wheel cleaners in the past but I found that my regular shampoo and a sponge or a brush make my wheels come out sparkling clean. I guess if you only washed your car once a month a wheel cleaner may be needed to cut through the brake dust, but I'm not sure you'd even need it then. For me wheel cleaners were just something else I had to buy and keep replenished and didn't work any better than shampoo.



While were're talking about the wheels don't forget your tires. Based on Redcar Guy's heads-up about EO Tire Cleaner being sold cheap at Sears last month, most likely all gone by now, I stocked up on this stuff. This does work way better than shampoo and gets your sidewalls really clean. You can also use it as a wheel cleaner as needed.
 
I use a polymer wax (every couple of months) on my wheels and just do a QD (Meguiar’s burgundy bottle) wipe down with a MF towel once or twice a week to keep them clean. I can clean all 4 wheels in like 5 to 10 minutes total.



I also changed my brake pads to AXXIS Metal Master brake pads which put out a white/gray brake dust which is less noticeable on my silver paint/clear coat rims with polished lip.



When it comes to wheels, preventative cleaning it the only way to go.
 
Once you have a good product protecting the paint, cleaning is easy. Once the wheels and tyres are done dont forget the wheel wells.



Steven
 
I went with Meguiars #20 Polymer Sealant and it seems to work great. Now all I need to do to clean the wheels is to use a soft brush and some soapy water (using Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo). I then dry them with a MF towel and hit'em with a shot of Eagle One QD and I am set.



I unfortuantely missed out on the Sears thing--went to the two Sears automotive stores around me (outside Philly) and they had sold off all their stuff some months ago. Course, I called first to one store who told me that they had Eagle One and I go to find out that they didn't. Not a happy camper!
 
For cleaning the wheels I like Griot's Wheel Cleaner. For protecting the wheels I like Klasse All In One. Not only does the AIO protect the wheels, it is a cleaner as well.



Cheers,

My BMW Site
 
I’ve never been big on wheel cleaners, because they just didn’t seem to get the job done for me; ended up having to use regular shampoo and clean them by hand anyway.



Saw Jngrbrdman give a good review to Eagle A2Z recently, so I picked up a bottle and just tried it yesterday on rims that were loaded with brake dust, dirt, and some grease. It was great – took everything off and I didn’t have to do any hand touchup.:up



I may never need to hand clean rims again:bounce
 
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