Stubborn rims, do I need an iron remover?

**Don M** · 11-02-2019, 05:26 PM

My Mother in Law has a 2010 Ford Edge. She only gets it washed once, MAYBE twice a year, by me. I have no problems correcting and restoring any other part of the car, except for the wheels. I think they are a type of a chromed plastic cap, bonded to a steel wheel. On to my issue. On the inside edges of the spokes, there is a brownish discoloration that no APC, no matter what strength applied will touch - except once, years ago when I used steel wool.

On my most recent detail of the car last month, I noticed the build up had gotten much worse. I tried every cleaner I had, with brushes, older microfibers etc, but nothing would touch it and to be honest, knowing I had a two-step correction, including a lot of ladder work to do the roof, I didn't want to spend at least an hour with each rim with questionable results.

On to my question. Is this the kind of gunk that iron removers were designed to tackle? I already figure that with the severity of the build up, there is most likely going to be multiple applications of iron remover combined with manual scrubbing with a stiff brush, IF it's iron remover I need.

What do you all think?

This is a picture of the car after the detail was complete. For obvious reasons, I didn't take any close ups of the wheels (they looked horrid), but you can see how many spokes I have to deal with and why I'm not overly enthusiastic about having to do a lot of heavy scrubbing with products that aren't going to work.

**Eldorado2k** · 11-02-2019, 05:32 PM

Iron removers won’t do it. IMO and experience with them they’re rather mild at attacking heavy duty baked on brake dust.

**Don M** · 11-02-2019, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by Eldorado2k

Iron removers won’t do it. IMO and experience with them they’re rather mild at attacking heavy duty baked on brake dust.

What would you suggest?

**Eldorado2k** · 11-02-2019, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Don M

What would you suggest?

Some stuff called Brown Royal. Straight undiluted. It will do it.

**Don M** · 11-02-2019, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Eldorado2k

Some stuff called Brown Royal. Straight undiluted. It will do it.

Just looked it up on Amazon, I'll give it a try, THANKS!

**AaronE** · 11-02-2019, 09:27 PM

I have a 2010 Ford Edge with the same wheels and similar environment (BG, Oh). I used Meguiars Hot Rims agitated with my wheel brush then immediately rinsed off with my Pressure Washer to remove any remaining acid then followed up by the Meguiars Non Acid wheel and tire cleaner and that got rid of all the discoloration and it hasn't returned since with maintenance cleaning a breeze.

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