# Worse than I thought



## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

You know it's been a productive day off work when you spend almost 8 hours cleaning one wheel of your car. It was slightly worse than I thought it'd be. I'd say the wheels have never once been off the car for a deep clean in the ten years it's been on the road. Only three more to go :-(


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## Nico1970 (May 15, 2014)

Any pics?


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Unfortunately I've no pics from when I took the wheel off. Just one from halfway through.






. Before this I had soaked it in g101 about 3 times, let it dwell then power washed it off. Once dry I used copious amounts of tardis and a rag which did absolutely nothing useful. I wound up having to flat it down with 2000 and hand polish it with g3 then srp. I'll get an after pic tomorrow


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

That looks more like brake dust that has baked on for years. Tardis won't touch it. I would say a strong hit of Ali would have that off in a few minutes.


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Actually I just went up and took one there now. Unbelievably I ran out of time and could only flat and polish the front so still have to finish the back! Anyhoo, here it is now


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Dunno why it appeared twice, it's the same pic :-o


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Ali? Sorry I'm not up to scratch on a lot of detailing products. Well whatever it was it was a nightmare but luckily I started with the worse wheel of the lot


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

Autosmart Ali, one of their stronger, acid based wheel cleaners.

That came up brilliantly, a lot of effort though.


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Ah OK I'll give it a try with the rest. And thank you


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## The Doctor (Sep 11, 2007)

I struggled for a while with some black spots on one of my cars just like that. Nothing seemed to take it off quickly. At a later date I removed the wheels to do the brakes and there was an old wheel weight that was oxidised so badly it was black and the black spots on the wheel face where off that. They just look like tar to look at them.


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

I've never encountered black spots on a wheel as bad as these before. It's like they were bloody welded on


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Does anyone here clay their wheels? Thinking of attempting to remove this welded on brake dust with clay with the remaining 3 alloys


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## ffrs1444 (Jun 7, 2008)

Alway clay my wheels before I seal them , that's when there of the car


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## Gixxer6 (Apr 5, 2014)

I've clayed my wheels before I sealed them but I also had a few black spots of embedded brake dust that just would not shift. I used AF tough prep, obliTARate, clay. The products helped but never eliminated a few black spots.


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

8 hours to do one wheel....dude seriously you have to be using the wrong products if it took you that amount of time!

I did all 4 on my old MI16 that had over 200k miles worth of baked on crud and tar In a couple of hours!

When they are that gammy break out the acid wheel cleaner and get to work!


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Yeah I tried the acid cleaner and it did nowt! It was really just through trial and error that it took so long. Didn't help they'd never seen a coat of polish. I now know how to do it so it'll be quicker next time. Plus just got some pb wheel sealant delivered today so that'll be getting put to use for some nice glossy alloys :-D


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## James Bagguley (Jul 13, 2013)

Cant really advise on products or methods, but still a great result in the end :thumb:


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Been at it again. This is the state I found the nsf wheel in when I finally managed to find time to do it this morning. Not pleasant.


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

After a few hours with some g101, a pressure washer and about 5 gallons of Tardis (and almost a hammer and chisel) I got it cleaned up, polished and sealed thankfully. Did the back one too which wasn't nearly as bad. Happy bunny now 💜


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## BigJimmyBovine (Jan 23, 2012)

Great results so far. I love the look of the Cupra wheels once they're cleaned up, need to do all 4 of mine again though.


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Cheers mate. It took me about four flippin weeks (on and off) to get all four of mine done! The perils of having a baby coupled with wheels that have never been off for cleaning. Takes a while but worth it.


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Easy seen worse where are you based?


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## Obsessed Merc (Apr 10, 2011)

Clueless.1 said:


> Been at it again. This is the state I found the nsf wheel in when I finally managed to find time to do it this morning. Not pleasant.
> View attachment 38783
> View attachment 38784


Looks like somebody used the rims for BBQ'ing.

Did you manage to get any kinda finish on the insides ?

I take my hat off to you for sheer perseverance.


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

suspal said:


> Easy seen worse where are you based?


I hate to think! I'm in Northern Ireland mate


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Obsessed Merc said:


> Looks like somebody used the rims for BBQ'ing.
> 
> Did you manage to get any kinda finish on the insides ?
> 
> I take my hat off to you for sheer perseverance.


Thanks man. It was a lot of work for such a small area. Yeah the insides looked a lot better. I actually had to flatten some down with 2000 and polish by hand from there. Great fun... The only thing I couldn't do anything about of course was all the wee stone chips inside the wheel. Just didn't want to have to paint them


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

Clueless.1 said:


> I hate to think! I'm in Northern Ireland mate


Snap :thumb:


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Ah really? I'm in Dromore, down. Where abouts do you hail from?


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

Down the road in Tandragee :wave:


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## Scotty B (Jul 1, 2009)

My wheels weren't quite as bad as that when I first cleaned them.

IronX, Tardis, Wonder Wheels (acid) and a toilet brush took 80% of the gunk off.


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## Clueless.1 (Jul 30, 2014)

On the first wheel I tried the AG wheel acid qnd I might as well have been pouring milk on it for all the effect it had


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