this is a pic of my trucks front wheels with like 100K of brake dust on em. i tried soap and water and nothing came off.. any ideas what i can do to these rims to clean em enough to look kinda respectable?
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get new wheels......that stuff aint comin off....

 

acid based product, might sound bad but i did this today for a customer (with a LR3) in the same shoes as u are. take them off and put some on the wheels, scrap hard with a wheel brush, DO NOT LET THE ACID SOAK! just start scrubbin right away then hose right off. it will come off.

i work for MAG and we do this on Land Rovers, Audi, VW, BMW and Saabs. since noboby ever cleans there wheels here!

 

yep I am not sure but I have seen the metal polish i sell take off stuff that looks almost as bad, might be worth a shot
http://www.waterlesscarwashproducts....on=show_detail
then top off with this to help them from getting bad again
http://www.waterlesscarwashproducts....on=show_detail

 

^^never heard of that stuff, i wil have to try it

 

i always use weslies Bleach White on my tires and rims and it does a good job at takeing it off. try it out its strong bleach and it never hurt any rims i have done and i have tryed them all so u have nothing ot loose and its at any auto place. i also use just a dish sponge and use the green side lightly untill it comes off enoufgh then swap to the yellow side(if it does ever some off lol)

 

I dunno what it is but I see a lot of these "nice" cars and man the owners don't take care of them...I saw a M3 while back looked like it had been out in the desert... so sad...

 

we get some nasty *** cars in the shop, a yellow beetle came in yesterday covered in tar, i spent about 40min on just the front end, HAAH

ive seen it all haha

 

not trying to be stupid here but what kind of acid are ya talking about?Ive never tried to clean this kind of stuff before..

 

i tried the wesleys in the red white and blue pump bottle.. i was afraid to do bleach thought it would damage the chrome lol someone i know said oven cleaner but that id be more afraid of
my wife is the one who wants to clean the truck up lol me i could care less as long as it runs ok lol

 

Just use an SOS pad. Sure, it may scratch your wheel a little, but it will look 100% better than that. I've taken off worse dust than that with an SOS pad. If you don't like that, try one of those Mr. Clean magic erasers, seems to work well. Just make sure if you use either, the wheels is wet, works better that way.

 

your deff right i should of went into depth

theres two diff types of cleaning supplies. acid and non-acid. be sure to reconize what wheel u have to start with, i use acid based products on wheels with no clear coat. polished wheels only. not chrome

i will reccomend this to try first. it can be used on ANY wheel out there. this is the basic kind of wheel cleaner we use at the shop.

http://store.jaxwax.com/Jax-Wax-Supe...eaner-p/sc.htm

i will find out the name of the acid-based product we use,check back tomorrow!

to be honest, THATS HORRIBLE looking. looks like the brake dust is eating through it, might never come off!

 

that wheel is chrome so no acid i guess ill try the jax wax or the stuff waterless car wash

 

Well I guess not being able to really look at it...I would try Mcguires hot wheel cleaner. Spray on let it sit, spray off. It has worked great for me on every car. Well there is always Sno-Bowl toilet cleaner. But like above that might have some odd reactions.

 

use purple power or greased lightning you can get pp from Advanced Auto and it wont hurt the rims

 

just to update i tried straight bleach and it didnt work even with a scrungee sponge
brake cleaner didnt do a thing so im going to order that stuff next week and try that i was sure id find something in the house to do it but lol i guess not

 

If you really want to take the chance of messing up your wheels permantly, then use oven cleaner.

 

soap and water and a sponge takes mine off

 

Not to state the obvious, but... That junks caked on there, man. We have this stuff where I work that we spray on the wheels and it eats that crap off. Come in, we'll hook ya up. We call it Green Tip. Blue Tip helps, but it aint as strong.

...bottom line. Go to a car wash that has it. If you're worried enough to get it off, a few times through may help out A LOT. Depends on how long it's been sittin'.

 

Try simple green & a scrub brush... If that doesn't work, go with an acid based wheel cleaner like they stated above...

 

stay away from acidic based cleaners... for grime that WONT come off this method works EVERYTIME.

take some OB 205 commercial cleaner. You need to find and go to a soap store to get this stuff cause it is a commercial cleaner, home depot, and regular consumer stores including autozone do NOT carry it and people will look at you funny if u ask them about it. We but it by the 5 gallon bucket which costs about $25. per pail.

now. spray some full strength on your wheels,. and let it soak, keep adding soap as it dries. let it soak for about 10 minutes. then take a nylon stiff brush and scrub. rinse with power washer and repeat.

safety precautions:

If you get OB in your eyes, call 911.
if you get ob on ANY finished metal, like your fender wash off with water immediatly.

Under NO circumstances do you allow it to get on ANY glass surface or it will etch the glass.
It WILL eat clear coat.
if u get it in a cut or abrasion it will sting like a ****. wear rubber gloves if your paws are chewed up a bit.

cleans like no other and makes simple green look like a joke.

 

sand blaster and a chrome shop

might try some steel wool and maybe some wd-40

maybe some brake cleaner too

 

You might want to invest into some brake dust shields. Will save you a lot of work from doing this next time.
http://stopbrakedust.com/homepage.htm

This link is for Fords specifically:
http://stopbrakedust.com/kw-ford.htm

 

For $149 plus shipping?! are you CRAZY??!?!?! thats stamped plastic, or steel. at MOST those things are worth MAYBE $10

 

brake dust shields are for people that are care-free about there vehicles!

just wash the wheels every couple weeks AT LEAST. i reccomment once a week.