E46 M3 Rims. Never came across rims in this condition. Questions/Pics inside

Hi all!

It has been sometime since I have posted by I recently acquired a 2003 Phoenix Yellow BMW E46 M3 that has a heck of a solid base but some minor issues here and there. Aesthetically the car has typical wear and tear of a 12 year old BMW but it is nothing I haven't tackled with clients cars in the past and expect from an exterior paint/interior standpoint it can and will be brought back to showroom condition.

The problem I have unfortunately is the rims. I have NEVER came across a set of rims on any car this trashed in my 10 plus years of detailing. Based on observations it looks as this may be paint/road tar mixed with oxidization. The question I have is has anyone came across a set of M3 rims of this style in similar shape and if so how did you tackle it? Are these rims salvageable? Or am I best to just break out the sandpaper and slowly work my way to polishing back to a new finish? I have attached three photos, one of the front, one of the rear, and a close up of what seems to be all over each wheel.

That first pic looks like a CV boot cracked and threw grease everywhere. That just takes a bunch of degreaser and towels. Use a plastic razor to scrap as much off the barrels before you get them wet, otherwise it will just start to smear everywhere.

The remainder don't look atypical of abused german wheels, baked-on thick brake dust. What have you tried so far?

Iron-X paste will help break that down. Even though it's a factory finish, I would not use a wheel acid on them.

Heavy duty clay or plastic razors may help as well.

I haven't tried anything just yet. I just had the car delivered yesterday so I haven't really tore into it yet. I wanted to be sure what precautions to take with this rim as I have never had this style come across my path before.

The CV throwing grease would make sense as service records indicate a CV replacement.

Are you scared to work on them? Just use your normal process and see what's left.

It's gonna be hard for us to feel the rim so to speak.

Good thing is those wheels are fairly cheap to buy so if you can't clean em up you can replace them.....or even powdercoat them.

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Originally Posted by d33p

Are you scared to work on them? Just use your normal process and see what's left.

It's gonna be hard for us to feel the rim so to speak.

Good thing is those wheels are fairly cheap to buy so if you can't clean em up you can replace them.....or even powdercoat them.

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The rim surface is relatively smooth. I don't see any bit of coating failure or anything along those lines. I guess as you said it would be best to follow my normal process and re-evaluate if I am not seeing much progress.

Not at all. I had not come across this particular set on E46's myself so I wanted to ask before I dove in. The rims are being replaced with CSL's but I wanted to clean these as well as possible and restore them to the best of my ability before storing them away.

From a BMW enthusiast standpoint, those rims aren't any thing special, nor are they cheapos. They are stock e46 rims I believe and aren't super prestigious among the community. Heck my friend picked up a set for 200 like a month ago, cleaned up to near perfect. So don't fret to much about them if your seriously concerned. Albeit they are not bad rims, their market value isn't the highest.

ZCP rims are :drool:

I originally looked for PY but IB won me over.

Start out with some DUB wheel cleaner since its available OTC and see how it works. Certainly some aggitation is in order, good to have various brushes on hand.

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