[niceguy]

I do not claer my 04 Camry for a long time, and now I find a lot of blake dust stick on the alloy wheel, and it is hard to clear now. Can anyone give me some advise how to clean it off fast without too much effort?

 

[lammydi]

You can just buy this product or similar products at any parts stores like Kragen, Autozone...
Just spray it on and hose it off. If it too dirty then you'll might have to use the wheel cleaner brush.

 

[Mike Gerber]

I have found one of the best cleaners to use on alloy wheels is simply dishwashing liquid and a terrycloth towel. If you stay on top of it, it does the job well and is not as abrasive as I have found most wheel cleaners to be.

Mike

 

[CamrySExxx]

Yeah wheel cleaners are really abrasive, make sure not to get that stuff on your paint. Anyways from my experience i loved the alloy wheels from toyota. They have the clear coat. So when its clean i just apply a nice coat of wax to it and in the future the brake dust wipe off easily.

Im going to try that dish soap on my accord tho since the previous owner just let the brake dust cake onto the rims

 

[Mike Gerber]

Yeah wheel cleaners are really abrasive, make sure not to get that stuff on your paint. Anyways from my experience i loved the alloy wheels from toyota. They have the clear coat. So when its clean i just apply a nice coat of wax to it and in the future the brake dust wipe off easily.

Im going to try that dish soap on my accord tho since the previous owner just let the brake dust cake onto the rims

The warmer the water used the better. If you don't want to wait until spring to do this, use a bucket of hot water when you do the scrubbing.

Mike

 

[CamrySExxx]

^ Thanks for the tip. Im going to wait until march break to try this out. Hopefully we can get some nice weather soon. *Knock on wood. too bad were having a snow storm tonight..

 

[tvsjr]

Mother's metal polish and the Powerball, plus a drill. Not very abrasive and works very well, even on the massive amount of brake dust generated by my truck.

 

[Alloy]

Oh..I just use regular car wash liquid and a foam to clean my wheels, works great for me

 

[slick07LE]

I like the eagle one wheel cleaner the best. Although I've been using the Meguiars a lot lately since it went on clearance at Target and I was able to pick up several bottles for $1 each.

 

[[email protected]]

Hey niceguy,

Have you tried using a De-Greaser for cleaning your wheels?

Thanks,

 

[ToyotaJimD.]

I do not claer my 04 Camry for a long time, and now I find a lot of blake dust stick on the alloy wheel, and it is hard to clear now. Can anyone give me some advise how to clean it off fast without too much effort?

If they are factory alloys either painted silver or clearcoated (one or the other, unless they're chrome), use a spray-on hose-off wheel cleaner like the Eagle One All Wheel & Tire or All Wheel or FX from Mothers. The Meg's Hot Rims really doesn't work as good for me.

Clean one wheel at a time and use a brake dust brush, sponge or mitt to get rid of the baked-on crud. Have a bucket of suds handy to rinse and repeat if necessary. Rinse thoroughly.


Metal polish is not appropriate for factory alloys, but you can use a plastic polish with the PowerBalls to polish them up once they're clean.

 

[niceguy]

You can just buy this product or similar products at any parts stores like Kragen, Autozone...
Just spray it on and hose it off. If it too dirty then you'll might have to use the wheel cleaner brush.

I used this one on my dirty tim, but it looks not working very well. Blake dust is still on the edge of the rim, even I use cloth & brush to clean it

 

[thoughthard]

On my g/f's 03 Civic EX coupe she had, I put a set of Satisfied Pro Ceramic pads. Brake dust galore. Very hard to remove also.

I used straight Simple Green and dollar store "Scotchbrite" style pads. These pads are not even remotely aggressive when compared to the real Scotchbrite pads. This combo took a while, but worked great :thumbup:

 

[Pb]

Mother's metal polish and the Powerball, plus a drill. Not very abrasive and works very well, even on the massive amount of brake dust generated by my truck.

On aluminum wheels that are regularly taken care of Mother's aluminum polish works good, but on wheels that have some oxidation Mother's just takes too much time and work.

This is the truth: Two days ago a buddy of mine stopped by with a set of real corroded aluminum wheels. He wanted to see if I could bring the wheels back to life. We both had PowerBall Mini's on 18v Makita drills. I was using Adam's Metal Polish #1, and my buddy was using Mother's Power Metal polish. After about 10 minutes we stopped and compared wheels. My wheels looked way better than his wheels. He had to work twice as hard and twice as long as I did. He also tried a can of expensive Mother's Billet polish, but he still didn't get the same results that I got. I don't know what is in Adams Metal polish that makes it work so good, but it's good stuff. I gave my buddy a sample of Adam's metal polishes to take home and use it to finish working on the rest of his wheels. I think he said he's going to throw away his Mothers polish and buy a big bottle of Adam's metal polish.

 

[dbs00]

If they are factory alloys either painted silver or clearcoated (one or the other, unless they're chrome)

ToyotaJimD, I have a 97 Rav4 with factory wheels. They are not chrome. You suggest above they are either clear coated or painted aluminum alloy. I can't really tell. The owner's manual says they are alloy.

The problem is they have dark spots or pits/chips that are darken by road grim brake dust or corrosion. I tried a brush and the water soap combo I wash the body with. It removed some but there remains some stubborn areas. Will these cleaners clear up these dark spots or am I stuck with these? Since it's aluminum it can't be iron oxide but I figure aluminum can still take on some pretty stuff stains.

I've never messed with wheel cleaners and almost bought the Meguiars. I'm glad I didn't.

 

[ToyotaJimD.]

ToyotaJimD, I have a 97 Rav4 with factory wheels. They are not chrome. You suggest above they are either clear coated or painted aluminum alloy. I can't really tell. The owner's manual says they are alloy.

The problem is they have dark spots or pits/chips that are darken by road grim brake dust or corrosion. I tried a brush and the water soap combo I wash the body with. It removed some but there remains some stubborn areas. Will these cleaners clear up these dark spots or am I stuck with these? Since it's aluminum it can't be iron oxide but I figure aluminum can still take on some pretty stuff stains.

I've never messed with wheel cleaners and almost bought the Meguiars. I'm glad I didn't.

dbs00,

Virtually all mass-produced factory alloy wheels for the past 25 years or so would be considered a coated alloy -- coated with a either a clearcoat or wheel-spec color coat and/or clear as a final coat. They're all cared for the same way.

The exceptions to the above are:

• Hardened chrome -- through a traditional plating process of nickel, copper and chrome over the aluminum alloy;
• Chrome clad -- which is basically a plastic hubcap over the aluminum alloy, so treat it as a chrome plastic hubcap. You'll primarily find these on some larger late model Dodge and Ford pickups and SUVs;
• Metallight -- a chrome-look coating most commonly in a traditional chrome or black chrome, and you treat it like a coated alloy -- these are very new and are an eco-friendly alternative to the chrome look, and offered on high-end Acura and Lexus vehicles, and most visibly on Jay Leno's C6RS, but expect to see them more in the future.

But in short, your wheels would be factory alloys and whether silver or clear over the aluminum alloy, the finish you are cleaning is still the same wheel-spec coating.

I'd recommend Eagle One All Wheel & Tire and use an appropriate wheel brush to work the hardened, baked-on crud. Follow the directions. Rinse & repeat if necessary.

Keep in mind you've certainly still got a coating on your wheel, even after 11 years, so you want to treat it as such.

Once you get them clean and if they still look a little dingy or need some shine and protection, use a PowerBall Mini and some Mothers Plastic Polish (or Power Plastic -- very similar) and that works real nice on the special wheel coatings. Then maintain them by washing regularly (use a separate wash bucket and mitt with a strong concentration of car wash). Once dried, use a spray wax to help keep dust from sticking -- only use a harsh cleaner when you have to, and be sure to polish/wax after.