BBS Wheels Get a Serious Cleaning

[LegacyGT]

BBS Wheels Get a Serious Cleaning - February 2012

I was contacted by one of our local Subaru Owners Club members to clean up some BBS 'goldies' which are a bit infamous in the Subaru circles. Original OEM rims sold on the STi, they are in very high demand. After working up close and personal with these wheels, I want a pair. They are very high quality, light and the balance is perfect.

The job was to swap wheels off of an STi and get them cleaned up to look like new. The wheels had about 36k of driving on them, never with an intensive cleanup, and that showed when I got started.

The insides of the wheels were filthy:




The face were better, but still had some serious work to do:



The clean up -

After a very through wash with Optimum Car Wash Concentrate, I found that the majority of the filth in the barrels was not dirt, it was tar This was going to be a long detail.

I broke out the chemical supply stash and got to work. Once I had my process for clean up down, it took about 1.5hr / wheel to get these things back into presentable condition.

Wash with OCWC
Soak in OPC 3:1
Rinse
Tar-X and brush (the majority of the time spent here)
Wash
Iron-X paste Gel & brush
Rinse
Iron-X Spray (bleeding was impressive)
Wash
Goo-Gone to remove old wheel Weight Residue
Clay (found this cleans up wheel weights turned green from Iron-X nicely)
Wash
Dry
Car-pro eraser

Here are a few shots of the wheels cleaned up:








Before / After on a different wheel:







Now that the wheels were cleaned up, it was time to give them some good protection that would prevent them from getting this dirty again. The product that fit the bill was Optimum Opti-Coat 2.0 It was applied heavy to ensure total coverage then touched up gently with a MF to take out any high spots. I found the Wolfgang Finger Pockets worked very well for application on these intricate wheels.

They ended up looking super glossy, and in a lot of ways better than new. Tires were treated with a swipe of Black Fire Eclipse Tire Gel before delivering them back to the owner (and sitting in my car during the day, I ended up with a nice fruity smell for about a day).

The finished product:









The owner is now torn on wanting to keep the wheels on display because they are so pretty, or put them back on a car. I am hoping to see them mounted up on a Subaru soon

[dad07]

Bill, Awsome turnaround on the wheels..........I agree they need to be back on the car!

[sparty]

They look like new. Great work after all that labor.

-Sparty

[tw33k2514]

Those wheels were gross.

I feel bad for your hands after that mess. I can't imagine spending 1.5 hours per wheel.

They look awesome now though!

[rider9195]

Those look better than new! Awesome clean up Bill. I am sure the member is extremely happy!

[Ted S.]

Hey Bill, do you happen to have a good picture of the entire other side (face) before you cleaned these up?

Awesome flip, by the way!

[oldmodman]

Good as new!

You even got the little specks of dirt out of the lug nut holes.

You should have a customer for life.

[LegacyGT]

Hey Bill, do you happen to have a good picture of the entire other side (face) before you cleaned these up?

Awesome flip, by the way!

These are the closest I have of the entire face side before clean up:

[Ted S.]

Awesome Bill! Sorry for the request, I'm a bit OCD...

That Tar looks like it was a PITA to fix.

[LegacyGT]

Good as new!

You even got the little specks of dirt out of the lug nut holes.

You should have a customer for life.

Those lug nut holes were a major PITA to get clean, but I think you are right

Those look better than new! Awesome clean up Bill. I am sure the member is extremely happy!

Thanks, very happy indeed, they came out a lot better than they were expecting.

Those wheels were gross.

I feel bad for your hands after that mess. I can't imagine spending 1.5 hours per wheel.

They look awesome now though!

I agree, I had a hard time giving them back, I kinda wanted to keep them and put them on my car

They look like new. Great work after all that labor.

-Sparty

That was the goal, they turned out fantastic, and should stay looking this way for a long while.

Bill, Awsome turnaround on the wheels..........I agree they need to be back on the car!

I think they will end up on a dark red wagon, I will post pictures when I see them next.