Wheel Cleaning?

[eklipsis]

As you can see from the pic below my wheels are nasty(at least the fronts). Any ideas on how to clean them up or good cleaning products to use. I usually just wipe them clean (prior vehicles) when i wash but these are pretty bad. Any help/ideas are appreciated

[soonercruiser]

Winter is about the only time I use the coin-op car washes! Any time of year, I spray down the wheels, inside & out, with Simple Green, let them soak while I wash the rest of the car....then do the wheel with several types of brushes that reach different areas.
Otherwise - I'd go with ceramic brake pads as soon as possible - that's where most of the dirt comes from on the front wheels.

[quicksilverdon]

Agree w/Soonercruiser. It's the stock pads - notice your rears aren't as filthy -
Ceramic pads throw less dust.
I swear the stock pads are made from compressed dust..

[PT_Cuda]

You are pretty much screwed until it dries out from the snow and rain. Its just almost impossible to keep them clean in these conditions.

Do remember to use not abrasive brushes, they make wheel/tire brushes I recomend you get one. Spray down with a simple green start at the bottom of the wheel(so you don't get run marks is why you start at the bottom) then scrub remember to rinse brush and wheel. May need a couple of passes when clean rinse well with water - let dry.

Remember any towels/brushes you use on wheels do NOT touch paint, I use a finger brush or a rag wrapped around my fingers to get into tight spots, constantly changing for cleaner towel as I go. Dunking and rinsing as go along.

Then remember to wax the wheels as you would the paint, it really does help the brake dust slide off. You just have to have a regular wash schedule for this to work well.

And swap your brake pads over to a full %100 ceramic or a high end blend(Hawk HPS is a blend but a really good one) that will throw a more grey dust than the bright red stuff that the OEM pads do.

Of you can do like I did with one car, do the Ceramix(napa pads) and then install a set of full face smoothies.. No dust ever.. No holes for it go through.. Ok before I did that, it wouldn't be a week between cleaning the front wheels with OEM pads they would be so nasty, swap to Ceramix went to two weeks before you noticed the front wheels had changed colors three to before you knew you had to clean them.

[eklipsis]

Thx for the comments It seems the wheels in general are in pretty bad condition (even the rears). Wheels are oxidizing so i may repaint or replace. Anyone know off hand what bolt pattern i think its 5x100 but i could be wrong? Also and good wheel paints?

[PT_Cuda]

Originally Posted by eklipsis

Thx for the comments It seems the wheels in general are in pretty bad condition (even the rears). Wheels are oxidizing so i may repaint or replace. Anyone know off hand what bolt pattern i think its 5x100 but i could be wrong? Also and good wheel paints?

You are correct 5x100 and I would keep the ugly ones for winter wheels and just get some decent winter tires for them. Swap spring/fall.. What I might be doing this next year. It was so bad that I was running snow chains here for almost a full week. It would have been two weeks if I had not been out of town for a one week.

Duplicolor makes some wheel paints, but I have not used them so I couldn't tell ya how well they work. But prep is key for any paint project. Spend $10 worth of time in prep you get back $20 in finish