Wheel Cleaning Question / Beef
 

Performed a wash and wax this past weekend and thought I would vent on a wheel cleaning beef I have. Lets see how you guys deal with it. Problem is:

- Wash car and wheels including inside the wheels best I can by reaching inside with a mit. Gets rid of all that road grime that collects in there.

- After wash you get that thin coating of rotor rust.

- Drive the car a bit to get rid of the rotor rust and the wheel (both exterior and inside) look like crap because of the rust dust. Wheels then need another wipe down inside and out. Grrrr...

How do you guys deal with this? As you can tell I'm getting the itch to talk Porsche and drive. Northeast winter has been long! Boxster is not DD for me, just get it out every 2 weeks during the winter.

I blow dry the wheels with a leaf blower. This is most helpful in removing the dirty water dump I used to get, after the wheels were clean. Gets all of the dirty water out of the cross drilled holes.

Well you could try to dry the rotors after you wash them to lessen the rust effect.

I'm going to assume you don't have mesh wheels, which is its own ordeal.
If they are spoked painted alloys, have you tried waxing your wheels?

I don't mess with the wash mitt on wheels, too messy. Instead, I have two brushes, a Meguiar's Gold Class wheel face brush for the outside of the wheel, and their spoke brush for the inside barrel. Its not my fave part of the cleaning but I can do each wheel in minutes and its a 1000% improvement.

Another thing I do is fill a bucket with water and add a couple of ounces of Optimum No Rinse. I wiped down the paint first (in the direction of the wind) and then I use the left over water to clean the wheels with the brushes. After drying with the waffle weave, I spray down paint, dash, glass and wheels with FK1 425, its like teflon and cuts down on cleaning.

I second the waxing recommendation....I use "Wheel Wax" but any kind of wax will help reduce the amount of brake dust that sticks to the wheels.

I like the RejeX wax for the wheels.

I do in fact use Rejex on the wheels - I'm going to try to apply it to the inner wheel area as well to make it easier to clean.

like Bill said, i also use leaf blower, and its soooo easy.
before that i used that wax-as-you-dry stuff, and it worked great, now they came out with a spraycan kind, so u just spray that stuff on and wipe them down. then after doing that after couple of washes, washing gets easier, so so does water spotting, and drying.

Good tips. Cleaning wheels is such B*.

+1 on the Wheel Wax

Wheel wax, eh? I didn't know such a thing existed. I'm going to go find some because cleaning the wheels takes as long as the rest of the car put together.

+1 on wheelwax.
you can pick some up at discount tire for 11 bux,
i got mine at a lexus dealer for 13 bux.
great product, realllly shines up the wheels, and protects them, and repells brake dust like no other (really good when u have a lip on your wheels)

give it a try

i'm going to be the descenting opinion on Wheel Wax. I found it to be a bit of a pain in the arse to buff out, well compared to other waxes which come off with zero residue and not much elbow grease. Actually come to think of it any old "over the counter" wax from a reputable name like Meguiars, Mothers, Eagle One, etc will work well on wheels. having an ultra durable wax on your wheels is uncessary because unlike your paint, you want to frequently strip the wheels with a thorough cleaning to lift brake dust before it bakes into the wheel paint during the summer months. Brake dust easily bites through any wax. Me thinks a product like FK1 1000P High Temp wax might be the best solution, you can get a 1Lb. tin for $15.
Chemicalguys.com also sells bulk quantities at cheap prices for excellent quality.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'll pick some up when I get back from Mexico.

To revive an old thread...

Anybody try Poorboys Wheel Sealant before? (See: http://www.autogeek.net/pbws.html).

Just curious.

I think whatever you use your wheels will get dirty and brake dust will eventually get on it. Using wax/sealants just minimize the effect but you will have to clean it regardless.

I use Simoniz Wheel & Tire Mitt and P21S Wheel Cleaner and works great cleaning off dirt & brake dust. After drying I use my bare hands to put on Meguirs Gold Wax.

go to lexus dealer and get some of their WheelWax, best thing ever.
take wheels off, wash, clean and wax.
after than, just a quick whipe when washing the car, and leaf blowed, since they are so protected now water jsut sheers off.
takes no more than a minute per wheel.
i usually put like 2-3 coats on, and in the winter its nice too couse all the salt cant get to them, and jsut a quick hose down helps.

give that a try

How funny...I thought I was the only retardo out there that used my toro leaf blower to dry them...I might need to try some wheel wax though.

As another measure to get rid of the thin layer of rotor rust, after washing, I always back up to the end of my driveway, then coast down down a couple times applying the brakes just enough to get rid of the surface rust and return them to normal.

Then after the wheels are blown off, and the car is dried completely, I go over the wheels again with a microfiber towel.

Car looks sharp then!!