I recently moved into an apartment where theres no area to wash my truck, so i havent been washing it as frequently, it takes a long time to save up quarters in my piggy bank. so the brake dust has stuck to my rims. theyre all black, and not the good kind, the gross kind. any suggestions on what to use to clean them. ive tried everything, wheel cleaners, dawn dish soap, CLR, simple green, short of tackling it with steel wool, which i dont want to do. Ive almost decided to rough them up and paint them or have them powder coated. any suggestions?

 

Autozone purple power, 409. comet

 

ooooh, i never thought of comet. thats some powerful stuff, ill try that thanks.

 

use acid based cleaners but be very careful about how long you let it sit on the wheel it could eat it up, spray it on let it sit for a minute then wash it with all purpose its a base so it will neutralize the acid then rinse it off repeat if necessary

 

When you say all purpose you mean just an all purpose cleaner? any examples? and whats a good type of acid based cleaner. these things are baaaad lol.

 

those polished alum wheels





If so look up my how to on polishing them...

 

If they're aluminum use 000 steel wool and then some alum rim polish and they'll be good as new.

 

Are they clearcoated or not? That looks like a Procomp center cap to me, so they are probably cleared.

 

Ever tried MR. Clean Magic Eraser?

 

purple power

 

Yeah theyre pro comps. and yeah theyre clear coated. polishing will ruin that right?

 

yes it will...

if there clear coated get some white rubbing compound and get to work...


go buy some new brake pads

 

I took my rims off and took a closer look, theyre not cleared, so I went at it with everything I could find. Turns out what worked the best is dawn dish soap, and hard bristled brush, then after I got the majority of it off I went with an SOS steel wool pad, then the aluminum polish. After 8 hours, theyre close to 100% better. The rears are spotless, but the fronts could use some more. But my arms about to fall off, so next time I wash Ill scrub them some more. I rotated my tires at the same time so I guess its the rears now that need more.