# Cleaning old wheels?



## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

Hey guys,

I have been tasked with cleaning some old Mercedes wheels from a 420SL, including the inside. I have tried all tried all of my wheel cleaners undiluted on the insides but the baked on brake dust isn't moving! i have been agitating with a brush and pressure washing off and its removing a small amount at a time so not sure if im missing a trick here. I have all 4 to do so hoping theres a product or something i can use to speed things up 

Cheers guys!


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## Will-S (Jun 5, 2007)

Is one of your four products Wonder Wheels?


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## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

Will-S said:


> Is one of your four products Wonder Wheels?


No mate, Bilberry and Autobrite very cherry.


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## Will-S (Jun 5, 2007)

It can take a few hits with the products you have if wheels are bad. 
Wonder wheels is acid based and is aggressive on damaged wheels, but it is effective at cleaning, and competitively priced


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## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

Will-S said:


> It can take a few hits with the products you have if wheels are bad.
> Wonder wheels is acid based and can be aggressive on damaged wheels, but it is effective at cleaning, and competitively priced


Wheels are awful honestly, although not suprising as i doubt they have even been cleaned in 20+ years.

is this the one you're talking about? if so ill grab some tomorrow and hope it does the trick. Should i agitate it much?

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/wheel-tyre-cleaning/wonder-wheels-500ml


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

As above a good few hits or something stronger required - I’ve used the original wonder wheels previously and it’s removed a lot of stuff more normal everyday stuff won’t. 

A good hit with a fallout remover could be worth a try...


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

JunglistJed said:


> Wheels are awful honestly, although not suprising as i doubt they have even been cleaned in 20+ years.
> 
> is this the one you're talking about? if so ill grab some tomorrow and hope it does the trick. Should i agitate it much?
> 
> https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/wheel-tyre-cleaning/wonder-wheels-500ml


Yes that's the stuff...


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## Will-S (Jun 5, 2007)

That’s the stuff. If wheels are knackered and lacquer cracked, this will get right under it and make them worse down the line.
It will work, but can affect damaged wheels.
I spray on, leave for a couple of minutes then agitate. Rinse with on open hose to remove all product

Do one wheels at a time and do not allow it to dry out. If you do it can leave white marks on the alloys.


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## alfajim (May 4, 2011)

Best stuff I've used on wheels is bh korrosol. I tend to move it about with my wheel brush, as it doesn't spray that well.


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## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

Anyone know if theres a heavy duty gel or something that i can leave on? there are some crevices on the inner wheel which i can't scrub that well so hoping i can leave some product on them so i can agitate less.


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## JwilliamsM (Dec 20, 2011)

Malco brake off, incredible wheel cleaner. I only use it on very very very dirty wheels that haven't been sealed


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## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

JwilliamsM said:


> Malco brake off, incredible wheel cleaner. I only use it on very very very dirty wheels that haven't been sealed


They are 30 years old mate and doubt they've ever been cleaned! do you use the non acidic version?


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## Coachman (Mar 8, 2015)

If they are that bad something like kkd devils juice or meguires wheel brighter would prob work well.


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

Brick acid aound a fiver for 5l just be very careful 

Sounds like a joke but it will work


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## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

Rian said:


> Brick acid aound a fiver for 5l just be very careful
> 
> Sounds like a joke but it will work


I think i might actually have some of this somewhere, any recommendations on leaving time/agitation etc?


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## percymon (Jun 27, 2007)

Malco brake off if you don;t want to go the the extreme of brick acid - member okcharlie did many a thread resurrecting neglected motors, his go to was always the Malco product... https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=343170

With any strong wheel cleaner, apply, agitate/brush and observe (including surrounding clean areas) - do not leave for longer than needed , wash off with plenty of water. If you are having run off issues then soaking a cloth or sponge in the product and laying it in an affected area with reduce the run off / increase work time.


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

If you have a DA and a old spot pad that your ready for binning, On my recently acquired 11 year old, one owner fiesta it was safe to say the insides of the wheels had never been cleaned. Did do a good job once id gotten the worst off with Tar and Fallout remover and left me to do the back of the spokes by hand, was easier on the arms thats for sure


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## alex_carroll99 (Oct 13, 2014)

Any photos of the wheels in question and what your trying to remove from them? Usually if i want to get wheels as bad as you have described as clean as possible i will use 4 different products:

Alkaline wheel cleaner (KKD, Autosmart or Reflect Autocare)
Acid wheel cleaner (KKD devils juice)
Tar remover (KKD, Nielsen or Autosmart)
Fallout remover (KKD or Reflect Autocare)

Firstly pre rinse as much dirt as you can from the wheel with a pressure washer, then if the wheels look really bad, spray on alkaline wheel cleaner neat and allow to dwell for a few moments then rinse again with a pressure washer. Reapply the wheel cleaner and agitate with various brushes and wash mitt and rinse again.

Next I will remove the centre caps and apply KKD devils juice diluted 2:1 to the wheel and allow to dwell for a few moments and rinse. reapply devils juice, agitate and rinse.

Then using a tar remover, spray on and allow to dwell for a few moments and gently wipe away any tar and rinse.

Lastly apply some fallout remover and allow to dwell then agitate with various brushes and rinse.


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## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

Here are some photos mate, the wheels started off pure black and have hours of elbow grease and tonnes of product on them. I think ill be getting them refurbished inside and out but the guy who does it for me is retired so doesn't have any of the fancy machinery so trying to get them ready for him. The hole pictures i can't aggitate that well and the break dust just isn't budging!


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Can you live without them on the car? i.e axle stands or spare set of wheels. If your refurbishing then you could attack with sandpaper and but it’s a long process of sanding. Using filler on imperfections and then they need sanding smooth and level before thinking about applying paint. I’ve done it once and that was enough for me. Could be worth getting them stripped (not sure how they do it whether it’s a chemical strip or sand blasting type treatment, I never asked when I got a set refurb’d). It took a me month or so just to get to the point I could paint them which then only takes a few days. But done with the equipment the alloy places have took a few days but is bit more expensive


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## JunglistJed (Oct 26, 2012)

Christian6984 said:


> Can you live without them on the car? i.e axle stands or spare set of wheels. If your refurbishing then you could attack with sandpaper and but it's a long process of sanding. Using filler on imperfections and then they need sanding smooth and level before thinking about applying paint. I've done it once and that was enough for me. Could be worth getting them stripped (not sure how they do it whether it's a chemical strip or sand blasting type treatment, I never asked when I got a set refurb'd). It took a me month or so just to get to the point I could paint them which then only takes a few days. But done with the equipment the alloy places have took a few days but is bit more expensive


The car is currently on axle stands mate but the guy will want to get on with the wheels soon. Only shop that does wheels around here charges something like £100 a wheel which is ridiculous really! The guy whos doing my car for me will sand and fill the wheels etc but i don't want him spending hours cleaning break dust off as thats how long its taken me and im not even close to being done! Yeah id assume a wheel shop would strip them chemically? which wouldn't take long but doubt they would do it for me for a fair price.


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Maybe speak to the guy doing the refurb, see if he has any suggestions. If they are getting painted inside out then you can probably forget about a to careful approach


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