Wheel Details!!! for detailing the wheels

**Da Fats** · 08-28-2009, 01:04 AM

I am pretty new to the detail sceen and only do friends/family as side jobs but I have stumbled upon something I am ignorant of! How do you tell the difference between the material/finish of a wheel and what cleaners/chemicals you can use. I find myself running into the same scenario... Neglect of the wheels when people wash. I done 2 cars with chrome wheels that had terribly baked on brake dust mixed with rust spots or pitting and a few (what i believe to be) aluminum wheels that after clean the outside of still have small plack residue spots I can not remove.

Could you please do a walk through on identifying wheels, selecting cleaners/chemicals to use, and clean techniques to remove the mroe difficult stuff. Every guide I see shows spotless wheels to start with that have a minimum of break dust.

Many thanks in advance for any feed back on this topic

Chris

Mike Phillips · 08-28-2009, 07:54 AM

Great questions! Especially when you consider how expensive some wheels are these days and if you ruin someone else's wheels then that's not going to be any fun replacing them or having them repaired or even telling your customer.

When it comes to working on wheels you're either going to work on a material or a coating, by this I mean if you're working on an aluminum wheel it will either be bare aluminum or it can be clear coated. If it's bare aluminum you're working on a material, if it's clear coated you're working on a coating.

So first thing to do is to find out what you're working on, a material or a coating. Once you find this out you can match a wheel cleaner that is specific to the material or coating.

The problem with built-up brake dust and road grime is that the wheel cleaners that dissolve this kind of build-up the best contain acid and the acid can harm/dull some materials and some coatings, so that's where it gets complicated.

The first thing you can do is to ask the customer if they know what kind of wheels they have, chances are the average person won't know, especially if it's just their daily driver.

Next thing you can do is inspect yourself and try to identify what the wheel is made out of or coated with and let that guide your decision for a wheel cleaner.

More later, have to get on top of another project that just flew into my in-box...

**CTS-Veo** · 08-28-2009, 08:03 AM

I don't know if this is sound advise or not, so please don't take this as a suggestion...

Cant you work a small amount of metal polish on the wheel, and if it's metal it will start to turn black, if it doesn't start to blacken; then it's coated? Or will working even a small amount of metal polish on a coated wheel damage the coating?

Mike Phillips · 08-28-2009, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by CTS-Veo

I don't know if this is sound advise or not, so please don't take this as a suggestion...

Cant you work a small amount of metal polish on the wheel, and if it's metal it will start to turn black, if it doesn't start to blacken; then it's coated? Or will working even a small amount of metal polish on a coated wheel damage the coating?

Just depends upon what's in the polish.

The idea is sound though. A non-abrasive cleaner/wax or paint cleaner with a white cloth would and should be safe, just test to a small area.

**Da Fats** · 08-29-2009, 04:12 AM

I know My RX8 had clear coated aluminum... I have no clue what my 04 tacoma prerunner is... It does not seem to be coated but mothers aluminum polish creates no black residue... so i am wrong or missing something here... This is one issue that is preventing me from confidently taking on new clients that I don't have a "they wont sue me" relationship with.

**ScottB** · 08-29-2009, 06:32 AM

Alot of high dollar racing or light-weight wheels (HRE/IForged) are uncoated aluminum and can scar and etch rather quickly and easily with the wrong cleaner. I stick to a safe wheel cleaner (P21S or Griots) on all wheels just to be safe. Some agitation with a sponge is needed. No harmful acids or lye in those formulas. Might cost a little more initially but saves in the long run IMO.

**Da Fats** · 08-31-2009, 11:16 AM

Well I gave up and went to the store to buy mothers chrome/wire wheel cleaner to get the crap off my friend'd jag's wheels. Nothing else would budge it and If I had only started with that very caustic acid I would have saved 2 - 3 hours of work that was fruitless. I know I can not use this type of cleaner regularly or on anything but chrome. How would you deal with severely neglected rims with such a gentle cleaner? 2 -3 hours of scrubbing on 2 rims got me almost now where.

Mike Phillips · 08-31-2009, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by Da Fats

How would you deal with severely neglected rims with such a gentle cleaner? 2 -3 hours of scrubbing on 2 rims got me almost now where.

If the rims are chrome then by all means get a chrome wheel cleaner and the acid in this cleaner will work really well to remove the bulk of any brake-dust and road grim off the wheel. Just wear the appropriate safety gear to protect you eyes, lungs and skin.

If the wheels are really dirty, as in baked on road grime and brake dust then show them to the customer, explain how long it will take and let them know that you're happy to clean the wheels but due to their excessive neglect that you'll have to charge by the hour or make it or make it it's own dedicated project, not part of the rest of the detail.

Maybe at that point they'll just say, just wash them and do the best you can and let it go at that.

Point all this about before taking the job. Most people know if they have wheels that are grossly neglected and if they're hiring a detailer to do the work they're hoping to get the wheels cleaned along with the rest of the car usually for a cheap price, but as soon as you bring them up and explain how long it will take to safely clean them then let them decide how they want to handle it.

The last thing you want to do is offer to do a complete inside and outside detail job for say $150.00 and then spend half the day or longer just cleaning the wheels because they're so dirty.

And like you said, trying to find a quick an easy way to clean a wheel is a recipe for you buying them a new set of wheels.

Sometimes you have to know when to pass on a job if the customer can't be realistic about the project, time and money.

**Jimmie** · 08-31-2009, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by killrwheels@autogeek

Alot of high dollar racing or light-weight wheels (HRE/IForged) are uncoated aluminum and can scar and etch rather quickly and easily with the wrong cleaner. I stick to a safe wheel cleaner (P21S or Griots) on all wheels just to be safe. Some agitation with a sponge is needed. No harmful acids or lye in those formulas. Might cost a little more initially but saves in the long run IMO.

. You can let P21S dwell for quite awhile. I've seen two apps, agitate, dwell clean some pretty nasty ones on here.