What to use when cleaning inside of wheel

S

Smitty2001

New member
Thats right, the baked on gunk when you pull the wheel off. Whats something i can use on a honda wheel that will get that baked on stuff off?
 
just the back side of the rims? Any rim cleaner should work. You will just need to let it pre soak for a little bit and agitate the gunk off.



P21 Wheel Gel

CG Sticky Wheel Gel

Miguiars Wheel Brightner



just to name a few will all work.
 
Yea the inside of the rim. Buying a used car and they have never been cleaned so i've never needed a cleaner for my wheels because i keep mine spotless. I think i'm leaning towards the P21s gel. Thanks man
 
Smitty2001 said:
Yea the inside of the rim. Buying a used car and they have never been cleaned so i've never needed a cleaner for my wheels because i keep mine spotless. I think i'm leaning towards the P21s gel. Thanks man
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no problem. If the wheels are really that bad you will need something a little stronger then that.



Right now for stubborn wheels that have been neglected i usually use Meguiars Wheel Brightner and then go over it with a diluted APC.



P21s Wheel Gel does work but is more for medium dirty wheels that are a little more on the maintained side.
 
I use a lot of Meg's Wheel Brightener with plenty of dwell time plus stiff-bristle scrubbing plus hand scrubbing with the rough green side of a sponge and the tough stuff still remains. I usually follow it with some APC+ which helps a little, but not much honestly.



Both of these chemicals work great when doing routine work, but I find them to be unsuccessful on those customers whose cars haven't really been detailed before, and the inside wheel dish has 1+ years of caked-on brake dust :bawling:.



For this situation, I usually tell the client that the remaining stains inside the wheel dish will require a second cleaning a few months down the road when they want another cleanup or something...



Gotta pick up some P21S wheel stuff and see how that works.
 
IMO P21s gel is still too mild, and I dunno about the P21s Red version either. Nasty wheels call for something really potent (and be careful with stuff like Wheel Brightener).



In some (many?) cases, some pretty serious mechanical agitation can be required.



I sometimes scrub with very aggressive clay, using APC as the lube. Yeah, that dissolves the clay pretty fast.



The mildest of the Scotchbrite pads can work if the honeycomb-style wheel scrubbing stuff (and/or bug sponges) aren't aggressive enough. But you are gonna have to scrub with *something* IMO.



In really bad cases, I've used the bristle brushes made for Dremels (the black plastic ones, not the metal bristle type). But be careful as the Dremel can do some damage if you overdo things.



Note that all such things can leave marring and that the finish on the back sides of wheels is often very thin/fragile.
 
Smitty2001 said:
Hmm Megs is cheaper too. Looks like i'll get that. Gallon size too. Thanks!
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Smitty, be sure to read up on the health concerns when using a product like this and similar.
 
i did a BMW X5 the other day and it had never been detailed before. It was a newer model 4.8i which i would say had some brake dust on there from at least a year ago.



I did one round of wheel brightner and i usually dilute mine pretty good some where along the lines of 5:1



came back around a sprayed them a second time and let it soak for about 30 seconds



followed up with some Megs APC and a terry towel and the rims came out pretty spotless. I dedicated about the first 1.5hrs to the wheels and i was glad i did.
 
Wheel Brightener is some serious stuff, DO NOT let it dwell for a long time otherwise it will dull and/or leave drip marks on your wheels. Do multiple applications with some aggitation.
 
How about something like Purple Power APC diluted. What kind of rims are they? Chrome, Alum., clear coated?
 
purple power is ok for the money for the grunt work type stuff. I believe from what i have read it is not safe for paint like Meguiars APC.



I usually use Purple Power for stuff like:



tires

rubber trims

wheel wells



and that day i had trouble with the rims i used some on only the back side of the rim but i dilute mine heavily.



Other then that Meguiars APC for most other things.
 
Hmm, back of the wheel? On my beater I used SOS pads, lol.



I would like to know as well. Like my DD with 10 years of brake dust on the backs of the wheels.
 
I just did a 04 Mercedes S500 that I'm sure had never had the back side of the rims cleaned. I used a re-labled version of Megs Wheel Brite at 4:1, process was:

spray with water

spray on WB

scrub with brushes - various ones even down to the old tooth brush

rinse

repeat!

follow up with an APC to counter the acid from WB



glasses or goggles recommended!
 
I've done OK on the back sides of old wheels that'd *never* been properly cleaned, and the strongest stuff I used was the TOL Wheel Wash (mildly acidic). I did use the Dremel with that bristle brush for the toughest spots though.



Perhaps it's a matter of unrealistic expectations regarding how much time this can take. Each wheel can take quite a few hours. Using Wheel Brightener would probably speed things up quite a bit, but even mild stuff like the Wheel Wash can cause damage if it dwells on bare aluminum (or even just compromised paint/finishes) for too long.
 
So.... after removal, is there a procedure to protect the inside of the wheels, or allow for easy cleaning? Like a chemical, protectant, sealant, etc, or will the inside being "clean" just be easy to keep clean as long as you regularly wash them.
 
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