Just bought the car a few weeks ago andas you can seethe previous owner did a pretty poor job of maintaining the wheels. Corrosion aside, I rather like the wheels though. Short of having the wheels re-turned is there anything that can be done? I'm debating just trying some steel wool and elbow grease. Any other suggestions?


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strong wheel cleaner should be fine, if not i think some carb/tb cleaner should work also

 

Thanks Cincy. I've actually tried using Armor All wheel cleaner already. It did a good job with the dust itself, but did nothing with the metal corrosion. What you see is what the wheel cleaner left behind.

Haven't tried carb cleaner...

 

Getting the lips turned should be very cheap... I wouldn't pay more than 40-50 a wheel.
The painted surface should come up like nearly new with some elbow grease. But yeah... raw aluminum when neglected is an awful thing. Just get them turned... they'll look brand new. Then either get them clear coated, or take very good care of them.

 

Try scrubbing the wheels with a brush and some straight simple green.
or
Try some brake parts cleaner and let it soak in, and then clean it off with simple green.
If that doesnt do it, I would try some steel wool like you suggested. or maybe a super fine wet sandpaper.

 

What kind of brake pads do you have on the car? I have a huge problem with brake dust. I pressure washed my wheels the other day and later that day they were covered again. Try getting some ceramic or kevlar pads. I plan on it as soon as I get some extra money.

 

This will fix your problem

 

I personally wouldnt use anything like brake/carb cleaner on an alloy wheel. There is a clear coat/sealer on your wheels that could get destroyed by such harch chemicals. I would just use some soap and water and steel wool (very lightly.)

 

i can see that its starting to eat through the clear coat. i can also guarentee the pads were matalic and since the wheels werent cleaned often theres going to be pitting and stuff. try citrus degreaser, many wheel cleaners ive noticed are actually for cleaning concrete not all but many. i use citrus dreaser and some elbow grease. steel wool will also leave scratches.

 

so you say scratch the **** out of them....? The sprays will desolve the crap almost instantly and then rinsed off wont harm anything