I might not be able to bring the wheels back, but I have some really baked in brake dust in the corners of the spokes. I tired elbow greas, then simple green, even some of that no tough stuff but to no avail there are these specks of built up break dust that seem to have melted the clear coat and stuck to it. You can feel the bumps with your finger. Anybody know what I can do to fix this?

Meg's Wheel brightener

http://www.meguiars.com/?detailer-wheel-cleaners/Wheel-Brightener

use strieght up on our clearcoated wheels.. and take a sof tooth brush to the stuck on stuff.,

you can pic this up pretty cheep at Auto-paint stores..


after that.. clay the wheels..,polish and seal...

P21s (or s100) will be your best bet (gel formula). I am sure you will need to use clay also from the sounds of it. You can use the two together for great results.

I had the same problem with my BBS's. I used everything to try to get the brake dust off. I know its going to sound harsh but what I used was some 0000super-fine steel wool and some household cleaner. Just soak the wheel with the cleaner (I used 409) and lightly rub the wheel with the steel wool. Just use the clearner as a lubricate for the steel wool. It was very tedious, mainly because I didn't want to go through the clearcoat. Afterwords, just wash them good and put a coat of wax on them. They came out great and no problems with the clearcoat.

Chris

I have the same problem. Dust/chips just fused on to the rim (Bought mine used and the previous owner didn't clean the wheels as often as he should have) P21S Gel does not work for this stuff. There was a thread a while back about using Prosoco 600 http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=929586&highlight=prosoco

I can't vouch for it (never tried) but it seems like people have gotten results. It does appear to be risky, as it is a pretty hardcore solution, which made me wary to try it.

I used Prosoco 600 for my wheels before i tried the steel wool, it didn't work at all for me.

Chris

muriatic acid + dobie nylon scrub pad worked for me. I got the INSIDES of my Rota's clean with this combination - and that was with 50% diluted acid. Be sure to wear thick rubber gloves and rinse well - & don't do it on top of your concrete floor

* I take no responsibility for anything you do to harm yourself, your vehicle, or anything else for that matter...

get some meguiars medium cut compound( if you cant get it out with this, there done, i've brought back some pretty bad wheels this way) and a nice rag and rub it out, i had bright silver supperleggaras and they would always get dirt in the extreme corners on the outer edges of the spokes, after you use the compound , i would use some polish on them and get some "wheel Wax" and keep up with them . if you love em you will. oh and a old bug sponge works really good to clean wheels, clean it out real nice and use that to clean your wheels from now on; it will clean off the dirt nicely.
Dan

Anyone tried those Mother's brand buff ball things that you slap on a drill?

acid , it works.

I just recently had this problem with my stockers. I used Meguiars mag polish and it worked great with a little elbow grease! ;)

I have the same problem. Dust/chips just fused on to the rim (Bought mine used and the previous owner didn't clean the wheels as often as he should have) P21S Gel does not work for this stuff.

Yes it does. I use it every day on some of the worst wheels I have seen (BMW). If it requires more aggitation than my horse hair brush I use clay and its a done deal.

bug and tar remover and a scotch bright pad. Removes it easily! ;)

Media blast them.
Have them powder coated in the color of your choice.
Re-mount your tires.
Put them back on the car,stand back nod slowly and say to yourself "yeah".

clean often, avoid this problem. -=)

clean often, avoid this problem. -=)
bingo!

muriatic acid + dobie nylon scrub pad worked for me. I got the INSIDES of my Rota's clean with this combination - and that was with 50% diluted acid. Be sure to wear thick rubber gloves and rinse well - & don't do it on top of your concrete floor

* I take no responsibility for anything you do to harm yourself, your vehicle, or anything else for that matter...

More info on this muriatic acid stuff please. How safe is this for the wheel's clear coat? Anything acid-based sounds harsh to me, but if it's safe and it works I'd give it a shot. I have some old stockers that I need to clean up.

More info on this muriatic acid stuff please. How safe is this for the wheel's clear coat? Anything acid-based sounds harsh to me, but if it's safe and it works I'd give it a shot. I have some old stockers that I need to clean up.

2nded, I've tried everything with no luck on mine. I can't seem to get the black specs off. It feels very rough under the finger tips.

if pitting and etching has taken place then it is no longer a cleaning issue, it is a repair issue.

i think it's tar

If you use acid make sure you wet the wheels first then apply the acid for 30 seconds then rince, reapply if needed

This isn't for the HORRIBLE baked on stuff, but for some of the mediocre stuff, I just use the same stuff I clean my hands with (Gojo) with an old microfibre, and some elbow grease...
picks up a lot of the stuff...

I'd consider it a good "Pre-warfare" cleaning before attacking that heavy baked stuff.

umm wish i took before pictures lol . each rim took from 5 to 6 hours of straight cleaning so i have around 20 to 24 hours cleaning a set of wheels with a 650 degree heat gun and paint cleaner . but they turned out great ...
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii81/viaburn26/For%20Sale/S3010486.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii81/viaburn26/For%20Sale/S3010485.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii81/viaburn26/For%20Sale/S3010484.jpg

where the before shots?

i got some meguirs alloy rim cleaner crap. anyway it works really well.

bug and tar remover and a scotch bright pad. Removes it easily! ;)


+1 on that.

My BBS wheels are always dirty from the brembos. There were larger goo spots near the center car that wouldn't even come off with wheel cleaner and a wheel brush. Bug and tar remover got it off just rubbing my finger on it. Also worked great on my debadging.

clean often, avoid this problem. -=)

+1 on that.

My BBS wheels are always dirty from the brembos. There were larger goo spots near the center car that wouldn't even come off with wheel cleaner and a wheel brush. Bug and tar remover got it off just rubbing my finger on it. Also worked great on my debadging.

In the past I haven't really had an issue like this, but my new 08 STI w/BBS wheels is the worst. I spent about 3 hours last night trying to get the 'specs' out. The particulate from the brake pads is amazingly sticky.

The tar remover worked well, and I'll be putting some kind of wax on the wheels now.

Curious what kind of wax most people use on wheels. I'm looking for protection more then shine.

Cheers,

Jeff Sponaugle

For those asking about muriatic acid - they sell it at lowes & home depot with the concrete cleaners (near the wood stain & "thompson's water seal"-type products). It's just dilute Hydrochloric acid (technically muriatic acid IS hydrochloric acid) so you have to be careful with it, but it will actually dissolve the baked on brake dust. I wouldn't just leave it sit on your wheels forever, & definitely rinse with PLENTY of water & just to be safe, follow up with a soap & water wash to make sure you have it all off.

It really depends on the finish of the wheels & brake pad compound as to what products work and what don't. On my 16" stockers I could just use regular carwash soap & a wash mitt & get all of the dust off, regardless of how long I let it go. When I had my '04 STi, the BBS would get so bad in ONE DAY that I was scrubbing with whatever cleaner I could get my hands on, so I'm guessing the finish on the BBS is nowhere near as durable as the finish on the stock WRX 16's My Rota's are somewhere inbetween, but they were pretty filthy when I bought them used, so I'm using the acid to get them clean both inside and out while I have my 16's/snow tires on the car for the winter.

BTW, I plasti-dip'd my 16's black so they are protected from salt/dust/etc over the winter when I rarely have a chance to wash the car. I can just peel the plasti-dip off in the spring if I want to have silver wheels again :)

Try a brillo pad...but you have to wet it down, dont rub to hard either you could scratch your rim. It should pull it right off.

i put regular meguiars car wax on my wheels, all i do now is hit it with wheel cleaner, and and it washes off easy with a powerwasher.

brick and stucco cleaner from Home depot loosens it very well and doesn't seem to harm the finish on my V7's. Once clean, it washes off with soap and water if you wash frequently (weekly).

I've never had any better success with wheel wax vs none.

I had HP+ brake dust burn onto my wrx calipers so badly I didn't even attempt to clean them more than 3 minutes. They were painted blue, but now they are black. I kinda like the look b/c it's not apparent they are painted in dust :lol:

For those asking about muriatic acid - they sell it at lowes & home depot with the concrete cleaners (near the wood stain & "thompson's water seal"-type products). It's just dilute Hydrochloric acid (technically muriatic acid IS hydrochloric acid) so you have to be careful with it, but it will actually dissolve the baked on brake dust. I wouldn't just leave it sit on your wheels forever, & definitely rinse with PLENTY of water & just to be safe, follow up with a soap & water wash to make sure you have it all off.

It really depends on the finish of the wheels & brake pad compound as to what products work and what don't. On my 16" stockers I could just use regular carwash soap & a wash mitt & get all of the dust off, regardless of how long I let it go. When I had my '04 STi, the BBS would get so bad in ONE DAY that I was scrubbing with whatever cleaner I could get my hands on, so I'm guessing the finish on the BBS is nowhere near as durable as the finish on the stock WRX 16's My Rota's are somewhere inbetween, but they were pretty filthy when I bought them used, so I'm using the acid to get them clean both inside and out while I have my 16's/snow tires on the car for the winter.

BTW, I plasti-dip'd my 16's black so they are protected from salt/dust/etc over the winter when I rarely have a chance to wash the car. I can just peel the plasti-dip off in the spring if I want to have silver wheels again :)

Would that damage the tires if they were mounted and you used the acid to clean the wheels?

Usually i would only ever use acid on bare aluminum wheels. Using acid on painted or powder coated wheels is no good its gonna dull the hell outta the paint and left on long enough will just eat the clear right off and the paint. I mean they do use acid as paint remover (aircraft coat remover). If your dealing with tar and brake dust. Using a med. rubbing compound will get them clean. You could always use lacquer thinner too on a rag to wipe off the bulk of it and then use compound; but even with that you need to be careful, because that too will go threw the paint. but it does take a long time. I did alot of jobs where ppl ran over freshly painted white/yellow lines and the way we fixed that problem was too soak rags in lacquer and scrub away. But i takes a long time to wipe threw clear , if the wheels arent cleared, the lacquer will wipe the paint right off(not powder coat though). I believe out of like 20 cars, i went threw the clear on one car in a real little spot. IT was a older model car and the clear is not as thick as it would be on a newer car.

Would that damage the tires if they were mounted and you used the acid to clean the wheels?

I guess if you left it on there long enough the acid might hurt the tires...but considering I used rubber gloves to protect my hands from the acid, the rubber tires should be pretty resistant to the acid. Regardless, you're going to need to rinse well & wash with soap & water afterward.

I can't believe people are using brillo pads to clean a painted surface...

the prosoco detergent worked wonders for me, it was that baked on stuff that is impossible to get off...but then i painted mine, so i no loner have to deal with that....hehe

...and guess what's in the Prosoco 600? Hydrochloric acid :)

I just got an sti and the front silver bbs wheels have an orange film baked on .

speaking of acid based cleaners, does anyone know if a diluted mixture of Acetone would work on removing the dust specs?

You know wat works real nice to clean rims is wd-40 dont spray it directly on the rim or else your not going to be able to stop but spray it on a rag first cleans ur rims up real nice

I know its an old thread bump, but it took me awhile to find the right combination to get a set of 04 Gold BBS's that I had that were TRASHED clean... These wheels had 60k on them, probably hadnt been cleaned for 15k before they sat for over a year... And in that last 15k had COUNTLESS 150+mph brake stops on them, so everything was BAKED AND CRUSTED onto these wheels...

Ardex Wheel Acid + 000 Steel Wool, and about 30-45 minutes per wheel and they look brand spanking new... I CANT BELIEVE how clean they came..

NOW... A WARNING.. THEY DID FADE THE FINISH A LITTLE BIT... But some Poorboys Polish & a good wax will have them SUPER bling.. And they are 1000000x better than how they looked with brake dust PITTED into the wheels.

+2 on the bug and tar stuff.

I originally got the Rain-X bug and tar prewash gel for (duh) bugs – but it actually didn’t do all that well at removing them. I then tried it on the wheels, and it works fantastic at removing brake dust, etc. Even better, it has something in it that seems to make it easier to clean every time I use it – kind of like a wax or something.

I know its going to sound harsh but what I used was some 0000super-fine steel wool and some household cleaner.

Doesn't sound harsh at all. I use #0000 Steel Wool on windows all the time. People see use steel wool on glass and are like :eek:

after some research i tried prosoco 600 detergent on my subaru 5 spoke pressure cast wheels. i also used it on my dad's chrome cadillac wheels.

a few things. this stuff works great for getting the little tiny untouchable specks out of the clearcoat. you need to use it in small quantities though. i dabbed a wet rag on the end of the bottle and worked on small areas at a time.

for the back of the wheel, i had some issues. i dont believe the subaru 5 spokes have a clear coat on the back portion of the rim. i came back the next day and noticed the wheel was starting to show some corrosion. i immediately sprayed tuner cleaner (electronic parts cleaner) to neutralize the acid.

the prosoco did get most of the crap of the back of the wheels, but i felt like it was too strong to safely remove the really stubborn parts in the insides of the wheels.

the safest solution i have found is by letting the wheel soak over night with plenty of p21s wheel gel. scrub away as much as you can and clay the tough parts. clay used with p21s as a lubricant is amazing. the little spots melt right away.

the stuff burns your throat for a while if you get a wif. it also eats the hell out of your asphalt driveway. i was being really careful too. i let the wheel sit out over night, and there was a nice shadow of the 5 spoke pattern burned into the driveway.. not cool

so yeah, if you are doing touch ups with the stuff, it works great. do NOT use large portions of this stuff. it eats alot of crap.

They work, we use them all the time.

http://www.epinions.com/images/opti/dc/d0/Scotch-Brite_Heavy_Duty_Scour_Pads-resized200.jpg

bug and tar remover and a scotch bright pad. Removes it easily! ;)


horrible advice, scotch brite pads REMOVE the paint of the wheels!! I used those pads from the hardware store to scuff the finish of the wheels before painting them!!!

So scotch- and engine- brite didn't take all the crap off my wheels, which I'm prepping for paint.

Next ideas?

acid , it works.

thank you waiting for someone to say that

So scotch- and engine- brite didn't take all the crap off my wheels, which I'm prepping for paint.

Next ideas?

Prepping for paint? sandblast em...

horrible advice, scotch brite pads REMOVE the paint of the wheels!! I used those pads from the hardware store to scuff the finish of the wheels before painting them!!!

:huh::huh:

I am not sure what pads you are using but there is no way the ones I use would be removing the paint off of the wheels. I have used them on a number of wheels, usually use them on ones with textured surfaces. Those pads are not that rough at all though.

I figure it would scratch the hell out of the wheel...

I was going to say clay bar for really hard to get rid of brake dust.

I have this German stuff that took the yellow tarnish crap and built up brake dust right off with hardly any effort. Just sprayed it on waited 2 minutes and the wheel looked as good as new. I have used P21 as well and prefer the German stuff over the P21. Its 20 bucks a bottle. If anyone wants to try some let me know. My wife has a paypal acct and I would only charge for the cost plus shipping. Im not a vendor and dont want to be. Just trying to share something with my fellow NABISCOERs.

Using Griot's clay on my wheels took A LOT of the caked on brake dust off.

Here are some pics I had snapped... Meant to get better ones, but didnt want to get the camera dirty...

http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs1.jpg
http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs2.jpg
http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs3.jpg
http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs4.jpg

Here are some pics I had snapped... Meant to get better ones, but didnt want to get the camera dirty...

http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs1.jpg
http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs2.jpg
http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs3.jpg
http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/sti/wheels/bbs4.jpg

looks good. what was your technique?

I have this German stuff that took the yellow tarnish crap and built up brake dust right off with hardly any effort. Just sprayed it on waited 2 minutes and the wheel looked as good as new. I have used P21 as well and prefer the German stuff over the P21. Its 20 bucks a bottle. If anyone wants to try some let me know. My wife has a paypal acct and I would only charge for the cost plus shipping. Im not a vendor and dont want to be. Just trying to share something with my fellow NABISCOERs.

whats it called?

1. P21S Total Auto Wash (http://www.detailedimage.com/P21S-M14/Total-Auto-Wash-P87/) presoak for however long you think is okay. I'd say at least 20 minutes.

If that fails...
2. P21S Wheel Gel (http://www.detailedimage.com/P21S-M14/Gel-Wheel-Cleaner-P86/) presoak for at least 30 minutes

3. Chemical Guys Grime Reaper (http://www.detailedimage.com/Chemical-Guys-M31/Grime-Reaper-P180/), I wouldn't leave this on very long because it is quite strong!

^ i usually let p21s wheel gel soak overnight if the wheel is in bad shape.

i may have t try that grime reaper stuff.. works good huh? what did u dilute it to?

looks good. what was your technique?

Slightly diluted Wheel Acid that a friend of mine got from the dealer he worked at, along with 000 Steel Wool.

And about 45 minutes per wheel. its not that bad... Just do what I did.. Lay some towels down on the kitchen table, grab some Sam Adams, turn on Top Gear, and go to town...

Although when I was inside, I was using Glass Cleaner, not the wheel acid.. i WOULD NOT recommend using that wheel acid indoors..

^ i usually let p21s wheel gel soak overnight if the wheel is in bad shape.

i may have t try that grime reaper stuff.. works good huh? what did u dilute it to?

I dilute it to 5:1 for engine bay detailing and 10:1 for wheels if i absolutely have to use it on wheels.

I dilute it to 5:1 for engine bay detailing and 10:1 for wheels if i absolutely have to use it on wheels.

hmm may have to try some.

Slightly diluted Wheel Acid that a friend of mine got from the dealer he worked at, along with 000 Steel Wool.



ahhh the thought of steel wool on my wheels makes me cringe!!!!

jdubya, are your tires wet in those pictures or did they come that clean, looks like they have tire shine all around.

wow..that's the first time i noticed the inner lip of the BBS's behind the spokes. Good job!

jdubya, are your tires wet in those pictures or did they come that clean, looks like they have tire shine all around.

those are not my pictures... i quoted someone elses post.

but anyways, they look wet.. putting tire shine on the tread surface of a tire is just about the dumbest thing you could ever think of doing.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=929586

here is a good thread of what someone else did