Cleaning Rims

[Dave Medvic]

Hi,
I'm a little on the newer side and would appreciate some advice. I've noticed that rims have really taken off over the last 30 years, back in the 70's we would just see "Cragars" if a guy was changing out rims, I feel like Rip Van Winkle, cleaning wheels with the proper cleaner has gotten complicated. I've seen advice like"if they are factory rims you are safe to use a strong acid cleaner" or just start with an aluminum cleaner to play it safe, but how to escalate the attack on the tar,etc. without damaging the rim? Is there a way to recognize Anodized,Clear coated etc? And what are some safe but strong cleaners to use? I like the Meguiars line and usually stay within what they offer.What are popular cleaners amongst the everyday road warriors?
Thanks for any input!

[Mike Phillips]

Hi,
I'm a little on the newer side and would appreciate some advice.

Since this is your first post to our forum...

Welcome to Autogeek Online!

I've noticed that rims have really taken off over the last 30 years, back in the 70's we would just see "Cragars" if a guy was changing out rims,

I had a set of Cragers on a very rare 1973 2-wheel drive Blazer I owned a few years ago...

cleaning wheels with the proper cleaner has gotten complicated. I've seen advice like"if they are factory rims you are safe to use a strong acid cleaner" or just start with an aluminum cleaner to play it safe,

but how to escalate the attack on the tar,etc. without damaging the rim?

Is there a way to recognize Anodized,Clear coated etc? And what are some safe but strong cleaners to use?

I have an article on that...

How to determine what type of wheels you have?

Wheels are either made from a material and you're working directly on the material, examples include aluminum and magnesium. Or wheels are coated, so the wheels are either steel or aluminum and have been coated with another type of material and anytime you're working on this type of wheel you're working on the coating.


Magnet will tell you whether it's steel or aluminum, that's a pretty simple test that will tell you real fast the material the wheel is made out of. Below are some tips for testing to determine if there's a coating on a wheel.

Uncoated or Bare Aluminum Wheels - You'll quickly see black residue build up on your polishing cloth

Clearcoated Aluminum Wheels - You might see some dirt residue on your polishing cloth but it won't turn black like you'll see if it's bare aluminum.

Anodized Aluminum Wheels - Same as clearcoated aluminum, you will see a little colored residue come off, usually the color of the anodizing but it certainly won't be anything like what you'll see if you're working on bare aluminum.

Chrome Wheels - You shouldn't see any color coming off chrome except for any built-up roadgrime that didn't come off when you washed the wheel and this will tend to be kind of a dirt color, light brown. After you remove any roadgrime then you won't see any color come off the chrome at all.


Clearcoated Wheels - Since clear paint is clear, you should see no color or pigment coming off on your polishing cloth. If there's dirt or roadgrime built-up on the clearcoated wheel you'll see a little brown color coming off but that will stop once you have the roadgrime removed.


Painted Wheels - If you're wheels are painted a color and not clearcoated then if you rub a little polish onto the rim you'll see the color of the paint coming off onto your polishing cloth.

Testing an aluminum wheel
You can do this same type of test to any wheel using either a light polish, paint cleaner or metal polish. Always test in an inconspicuous area if you think the wheel might be painted, either clearcoated or pigmented paint.





Oxidized Aluminum Comes Off Black

Wolfgang MetallWerk™ Aluminum Polishing System


This is also a chapter in my e-book but the e-book has more info and more pictures.

I like the Meguiars line and usually stay within what they offer.

What are popular cleaners amongst the everyday road warriors?

Thanks for any input!

Meguiar's Hot Rims line offers some very good wheel cleaners and they are very safe as long as you choose and use the right wheel cleaner for you're wheel.

If you're unsure then their Meguiars Hot Rims® Aluminum Wheel Cleaner is a safe choice. This is especially true for uncoated aluminum wheels, uncoated polished aluminum wheels and anodized wheels as well as magnesium wheels.

There are wheel cleaners out now that dissolve brake dust and other iron particles that are also non-acid and safe for all wheels.

The Wolfgang Uber Wheel Cleaner is one of these types of products. Check out Nick's review and video here,



Video Review: Wolfgang Uber Wheel Cleaner - Wheel Cleaning Made Simple

[DaveT435]

I would have to say any tar remover that is designed to be used on paint would work great. I don't know who told you it was safe to use a strong acid cleaner on a factory wheel...but that is not true!!

[vegas911gts]

The only advice I can give is once you do clean your wheels, keep cleaning them weekly or biweekly so stuff doesn't build up and gets super hard to take off. And when you do get tar, remove it quickly. Once it dries its a pain to remove.

[Dave Medvic]

Thanks Mike, great advice and also a flashback for me with the shot of the Cragar. The great designs are timeless, I had them on a 68 Road Runner that I had mostly restored and when the wheels were shined, it looked like a show car!
DaveT435 :Thanks for the tip, I thought the factory wheels being able to take a strong acid cleaner was sound advice and I don't want to mess up anyone's car.
Vegas911gts: thanks, I keep my wheels up to spec, but our company said they may get rid of our division next year so I'm "practicing" for Mobile Detailing if it comes to it! I've gotten really good with the Meguiar's DA Buffer and the rest of it, time is important per car I can see and I don't want mistakes.