Wheel cleaner vs. APC

**Desertnate** · 08-17-2017, 08:10 AM

I almost hate to ask, but if the barrels were that bad, what did the front of the wheels look like? In all fairness, those wheels look like they'd be really hard to clean even if you had a good set of brushes.

**RippyD** · 08-19-2017, 12:59 PM

Will get some pics of the front. Some scratches but largely in pretty good shape on the front. Some curb rash on the lip of the rims I'l need to grind off.

I tried one more thing: scotch brite pad + carburetor cleaner. It takes car of that tar really quickly, but is very hard on the paint. Too much scrubbing will go through paint quickly and it leaves them looking terrible - they'll need to be sanded and polished. So it's faster for sure, but can be more damaging. Carb cleaner is very volatile so the working time is short. So you have to get the sludge off quickly. And I inhaled more VOCs than I would like.

**Rsurfer** · 08-19-2017, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by RippyD

Will get some pics of the front. Some scratches but largely in pretty good shape on the front. Some curb rash on the lip of the rims I'l need to grind off.

I tried one more thing: scotch brite pad + carburetor cleaner. It takes car of that tar really quickly, but is very hard on the paint. Too much scrubbing will go through paint quickly and it leaves them looking terrible - they'll need to be sanded and polished. So it's faster for sure, but can be more damaging. Carb cleaner is very volatile so the working time is short. So you have to get the sludge off quickly. And I inhaled more VOCs than I would like.

Clean the barrels the best you can and move on. Is anyone besides you that is going to inspect the back of your wheels?

**RippyD** · 08-19-2017, 04:45 PM

Of course nobody else is going to see them that closely. My goal is to coat them. Can't do that with grime on them.

**Rsurfer** · 08-19-2017, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by RippyD

Of course nobody else is going to see them that closely. My goal is to coat them. Can't do that with grime on them.

In that case, use a wheel acid (Megs Wheel Brightner) to get it squeaky clean.

**RippyD** · 08-19-2017, 05:20 PM

I'm sanding and polishing. I can't imagine the wheel cleaner will matter that much. We had a recent discussion about Megs Wheel Brightener on the forum. I wouldn't use it even if it were free. Potential problems from exposure are worth the risk and other cleaners are as effective. (FYI, it contains ammonium bifluoride. If might never cause an issue, but too much potential to cause harm. Certainly don't want it around my house where teenagers could decide to use barefoot and unaware of the hazards.)

**Rsurfer** · 08-19-2017, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by RippyD

I'm sanding and polishing. I can't imagine the wheel cleaner will matter that much. We had a recent discussion about Megs Wheel Brightener on the forum. I wouldn't use it even if it were free. Potential problems from exposure are worth the risk and other cleaners are as effective. (FYI, it contains ammonium bifluoride. If might never cause an issue, but too much potential to cause harm. Certainly don't want it around my house where teenagers could decide to use barefoot and unaware of the hazards.)

Been using w/b for years with no problems. Just need to use some common sense.

**RippyD** · 08-20-2017, 05:18 PM

Another update: Tried a very stuff plastic brush with a strong cleaner. Opt Power Clean undiluted or orange cleaner seem to work the best. Still a lot of elbow grease but better than sanding. I am able to get 90% of the grime off. There are still dark areas and some staining. Will try a polish or compound to see if those work to clean it up. If not I'll have to sand these too.

The brush and cleaner are less effort and have much less potential to remove paint.

**surly73** · 08-21-2017, 08:06 AM

Didn't see any mention of a specific iron decon test - try IronX or anything yet? Any notion on how much of the remaining "gunk" might be embedded iron from the pads?

**RippyD** · 08-21-2017, 09:51 AM

Good question, but I don't think so. I cleaned them heavily with APC and DG Wheel cleaner before using anything with iron color indicator and never saw any color change. Will try again in case there's iron below all those other layers.

It look more like staining from tar than brake dust. Hard to believe how much tar splatter the barrels had on them. Back of the spokes toward the barrels seemed to have more grease than tar as it came off easily with orange cleaner and APC.