Holy frustrated Batman... how do you gents keep your wheels clean???
 

I've had my 2009 A4 for 2 days now and have driven 130 miles. The wheels get amazingly dirty amazingly quick. Yikes! :eek:

I have the 10 spoke wheels which I will be changing out to a 5 or 6 spoke after market in the coming weeks. Is there any tips for keeping my wheels clean or at least, making them easier to clean?

Thanks in advance for the help! :)

There are good results reported with Armor All wheel protectant. I have a can to try, but I haven't gotten my wheels clean enough to give it a go yet :-). Others claim waxing, either with a regular wax/sealant or one made for wheels, makes the dust easier to remove. Only the AA stuff, however, is reported to prevent the dust from sticking in the first place.

Thank you. :)

I will pick up the AA and give it a go this weekend.

quick and easy wheel cleening

Meguiars Wheel brightner This is from the proffesional series. Stough is strong and needs to be diluted 1:4, however, I went 1:3. Cleaned the inside of the wheels too. Spray on, rinse off.

Do all yourselves a favor and buy Sonax Full Effect. I have never in my life seen such an effective cleaner. If you don't go a long time between cleanings, all you have to do is spray and hose. Goes on green and turns red as it binds to the sintered iron.

https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5147...84970f01_b.jpg

I tried Sonax, and it works pretty well, although after a full bottle (4 applications with soaking and agitation) my i30 wheels still had some spots that were only removed with Meguiar's All Wheel and Tire Cleaner. Given that the Meg's is 1/3 the cost of Sonax, I'm sticking with it as my go-to cleaner.

I did try the Armor All Wheel Protectant after using the Meg's and, while not perfect, it works pretty well. I posted pics here:
http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?t=2824273

This was after 340 miles. I now have 1600 miles on the wheels, and other than inadvertently removing the AAWP two washes ago, it has worked great. I reapplied it after the last wash, and have driven 700 miles with just minor smudges of brake dust on the face. A HUGE improvement over no coating. The Meg's strips the AAWP, so I still need to find a way to clean the wheels without having to reapply the AAWP.

I haven't tried waxing these wheels, but will stick with the AAWP for the time being.

Interesting - I actually stopped using Meg's Wheel and Tire Cleaner for the Sonax because I found it worked better. What kind of pads do you run, ceramic or metallic?

The Sonax works ok (and the permanganate action going from green to red is pretty cool), but I guess after all the rave reviews here and other places I expected too much. The car I tested it on was a '96 i30, and its stock wheels have a lot of spokes, and the problem was baked-on dust between the spokes. I'm guessing the Infiniti has ceramic pads, because it really doesn't generate much dust at all. I don't know when the last time they had been really cleaned (the car had gone to the car wash regularly, but hadn't been detailed in a couple years). The Sonax took care of most of the baked-on brake dust, but not all of it, and it took 4 applications plus agitation plus another round with Meg's.

My car is a brand new A7. Not sure what kind of brake pads it has, but based on the amount of dust generated I'm assuming they're metallic. I haven't actually tried the Sonax on my car, since I ran out using it on the Infiniti, but the Meg's works well on it. Plus I've been washing it every couple weeks at least, so there hasn't been time for the brake dust to really get baked on.

I've added some pics of the wheels 300 miles after treatment. Even though the AAWP significantly reduced the brake dust that stuck to the wheels, the stuff that stuck did not come off with a hose (first pic). I'm going to try a good wheel wax on the winter wheels before I put them on followed by the AAWP to see I can't get the best of both worlds.

Armor All Wheel Protectant after 1250 miles
 

Here are a couple photos of my A7 wheels after about 1250 miles. They were washed at 350 miles on the odometer and treated with AAWP. I haven't touched them since. The odometer's currently at about 1600 miles.

Man, the AAWP seems to do the trick.

good post

Just a quick update. My car now has 3200 miles. I continue to use the AAWP and it works very well. Depending on conditions I seem to get about 1k miles (~4 washes and 4 weeks) before I need to strip the AAWP and reapply.

Tips:I just picked up a set of new OEM wheels for winter, and will be trying a different approach on them. I've applied one coat of Collinite 845 sealant/wax, and will apply a second coat in a few weeks before I get my winter tires. Hopefully that will provide a nice, slick base either by itself, or under the AAWP as a 1-2 punch.

Wheel help
 

Hey every one!!

I am new here and I had the same issue with my new Q5. I talked to a buddy who details on the side and he recommends Klasse to use on the rims. It acts like a seal so that all the grime rinses away. My self I use Chemical guys sticky orange wheel cleaner and then I apply wheel wax brand wax. I can literally rinse with water and the grime comes off no problem. The coating lasts and you won't have to apply everytime you wash.

Hope this helps.

Beautiful picture of the car. Any recommendations for cleaners on the Audi Titanium wheels? (New to the forum also) I've tried the Armorall protectant, but the RS4 brake dust seems to stick to everything. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

My 2000 A4 Avant 2.8Q now has 174K miles on it. I got it off a lease with 50K miles on it. This is my second Avant, and they enjoy mild CA weather. My Ronal wheels are painted silver. German cars (Audi, VW, Mercedes, BMW...) seem to come with soft brake pads that make a lot of black dust and get dirty within two days driving. First thing I did was to switch to Porterfield R4-S Sport/ street pads. They make no dust, stop better and long-lived. (174K-50K= 124K miles on pads with safe material remaining). I wipe light dust every week or two. Every 5-7K miles I rotate wheels front-rear. While I'm at it I wash the wheels and wax them (inner portion too) with a good wax (I like Rain Dance); check, clean and wax suspension components. I wash wheels and wells with soapy water and long-handled dish mop to get to inner wheel and calipers. A micro-fiber cloth with a spray RV care product called Protect-All (carnauba) keeps everything shiny.