# Wheel cleaner for very stubborn marks



## dj.freddo01 (Jul 29, 2015)

Right guys hope everyone is keeping well,

we do a lot of work for trade clients and there cars are shall we say 'heaps' there alloys are making me struggle.

i can get 80% of alloys cleaned using my usual routine.

1) snow foam & clean tyre with g101 diluted 5-1 scrubbed and rinsed
2) Smartwheels diluted 1-1 ( on bad wheels ) then dwell couple of mins, agitated with stiff wheel brush and the envy brush
3) rinse
4) Autosmart red 7 dwell, agitate then rinse

but sometimes im still left with a yellow / orange marks over some parts of the alloy and i sometimes still have large black deposits of brake dust.

now as you can understand i hate handing a car back unclean 

ive been looking at adding a wheel acid for just the occasional use

what would you reccomend ?

help needed ASAP


----------



## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

If you are an AutoSmart fan then get some AliShine if it's AutoGlym the trade acid wheel cleaner. Either or are absolutely fine to use a will only cause damage if you are a complete numpty and donor follow the directions. I have been using the AutoGlym acid wheel cleaner for years and never had any issues. Have also used AliShine before I switched over to AutoGlym and that was fine too. 

Neither product needs diluting and both will shift burnt on crap with ease 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## DrEskimo (Jan 7, 2016)

Yellow/orange marks sounds like tar to me. Obviously pretty common on the wheels.

You tried to add a tar remover into your regime? Spray, leave for a good 10mins, wipe with a MF then rinse.


----------



## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

I've read about Malco Brake Off shifting very stubborn marks, but haven't used it myself. It's supposed to be seriously strong stuff though. The yellow/orange marks are simply baked on brake dust. Some of the stronger wheel cleaners will remove this with relative ease. 

Cooks

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk


----------



## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

A few hits with red7 would help. 
Meguires wheel brightner is an excellent acid cleaner that can be diluted to your choice. 

Gonz.


----------



## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

Also sometimes I have found wheels to far gone and just need a refurb. 

Gonz.


----------



## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

great gonzo said:


> Also sometimes I have found wheels to far gone and just need a refurb.
> 
> Gonz.


The only time they are far too gone as you put it is when there are corrosion blisters and paint flaking off.

I will see if I can dig out some photos of the wheels that came off my 200k mile 405Mi16 that I had they all cleaned up a treat after simply using an acid based wheel cleaner and a variety if brushes.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Here you go.....208k Peugeot Mi16 wheels....

Before:



After:


Using the right chemicals/products first off gets the job done.

Result was from using a mixture of a non branded trade acidic wheel cleaner for a couple of hits...the AutoSmart AliShine for a further 2-3 hits with a variety of stiff brushes and leaving the products to dwell....every one harks on about how evil acid wheel cleaners are...its all a load of tosh used correctly they are absolutely fine.


----------



## Chris Donaldson (Jun 26, 2016)

I did the inlaws car last week. The wheels were terrible but they came up like new. There was a lot of work but you get out of it what you put in. I followed a simple routine of:

AF imperial, dwell for 5 mins then agitate with a brush
Pressure wash
Snow foam, dwell for 5 mins 
Pressure wash
AG Tar remover, splash on then use a MF to get most/all of the brake dust off
Pressure wash 
AF iron out
Pressure wash
Snow foam
Wash 
Then have a beer!

It sounds more work than it was but it did the job. Quite a lot of that work was being done as I was doing the rest of the car so it wasn't a case of taking an hour to just do the wheels.


----------



## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

It still amazes me the number of people using Tar removers to clean wheel and removing brake deposits with it....WAhhhhhhhhhhttttttt???


----------



## FallenAngel (Oct 24, 2015)

Iron X pastw for the stuborn iron deposits, and few hits with acid based wheel cleaner like meguiars wheel brightnes will shift anything.


----------



## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Chris Donaldson said:


> I did the inlaws car last week. The wheels were terrible but they came up like new. There was a lot of work but you get out of it what you put in. I followed a simple routine of:
> 
> AF imperial, dwell for 5 mins then agitate with a brush
> Pressure wash
> ...


Making a lot of work for yourself there though....you could halve the number of steps and products and still get the end result of shifting the **** and having a clean wheel.


----------



## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

Think Devils Juice from KKD would really help you out here. Acidic wheel cleaner, just keep it away from center caps or any plastic at it will stain it white. 

Any black left behind after that will likely be tar spots.


----------



## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

The results you get with malco brake off really impressed me
Yes it really harsh (alkaline in this case) but it doesn't half work

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=373700&highlight=malco+brake+off&page=2


----------



## Chris Donaldson (Jun 26, 2016)

nick_mcuk said:


> Making a lot of work for yourself there though....you could halve the number of steps and products and still get the end result of shifting the **** and having a clean wheel.


You're right but it wasn't just a case of cleaning the wheels. The whole car was done so the snow foaming and some of the pressure washing was done with the rest of the car. Tar remover takes off brake dust really well and when you're already using it on the car then why not just use a little on the wheels if it makes it easier.


----------



## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Chris Donaldson said:


> You're right but it wasn't just a case of cleaning the wheels. The whole car was done so the snow foaming and some of the pressure washing was done with the rest of the car. Tar remover takes off brake dust really well and when you're already using it on the car then why not just use a little on the wheels if it makes it easier.


Guess what I was hinting at is right product for the right job here Tar remover isn not designed to remove brake dust per say...tbh Meths or White Spirit would probably remove it too if it was normal driving dust not so on the hard baked on crap.

Also surprises me the number of people applying Tardus etc to wet surfaces...again not so clever as these products are petroleum distillate based and they don't mix with water and wont work as they should.


----------



## Mikesphotaes (Jul 24, 2016)

nick_mcuk said:


> It still amazes me the number of people using Tar removers to clean wheel and removing brake deposits with it....WAhhhhhhhhhhttttttt???


There was most certainly tar on all four of my wheels, so what else should I do except reach for the Tardis?

It even took off the old sticky stuff from the lead weights!

In fact, seeing that Peugot wheel, I think a lot more of my diluted Bilberry


----------



## Mikesphotaes (Jul 24, 2016)

nick_mcuk said:


> ............
> 
> Also surprises me the number of people applying Tardus etc to wet surfaces...again not so clever as these products are petroleum distillate based and they don't mix with water and wont work as they should.


Aye, but you will always get folk that never read the instructions


----------



## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

nick_mcuk said:


> Guess what I was hinting at is right product for the right job here Tar remover isn not designed to remove brake dust per say...tbh Meths or White Spirit would probably remove it too if it was normal driving dust not so on the hard baked on crap.
> 
> Also surprises me the number of people applying Tardus etc to wet surfaces...again not so clever as these products are petroleum distillate based and they don't mix with water and wont work as they should.


When I used Tardis, I applied it straight after rinsing off my shampoo, no drying towel used and worked perfectly. Car wasn't dripping wet but was still some water sitting on the panels. I would apply via spray to all the lower sections of the car/wheels.

I see people advising the car has to be rinsed & dried with each step of a decontamination but I have never done it. Think it just makes a decontamination a longer process for no apparent reason as far as I can see.

Still see the tar bleeding down the car panels and still see the red bleeding of the fall out remover. (For me personally)


----------



## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Brian1612 said:


> When I used Tardis, I applied it straight after rinsing off my shampoo, no drying towel used and worked perfectly. Car wasn't dripping wet but was still some water sitting on the panels. I would apply via spray to all the lower sections of the car/wheels.
> 
> I see people advising the car has to be rinsed & dried with each step of a decontamination but I have never done it. Think it just makes a decontamination a longer process for no apparent reason as far as I can see.
> 
> Still see the tar bleeding down the car panels and still see the red bleeding of the fall out remover. (For me personally)


Oh I never said it wont work but trust me its about 90% more effective on a dry surface


----------

