Product Review: PBL Wheel Coating w/ 6month update

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PBL Wheel Coating
Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Wheel Coating


Warning! Massive thread

Please hold of to comment.

We all know of the durability coatings can provide compared to their sealant and wax counterparts. The durability of a coating is unmatched with its clear shell that that encompasses the surface. For protecting wheels a coating is a no brainer and the obvious choice. After all your wheels and tires are in contact with the road surface and suffer the greatest degree of filth.

Here in Germany it is required to have at least an all season tire with the snowflake on the sidewall, although a dedicated winter tire is best. When you have a second set of wheels/tires you are free to change between summers/winters as the seasons dictate. Having a second set of wheels for use allows you to clean up and experiment with various products at your convenience.

Ok enough of that. With the PBL Wheel Coating it requires the same prep steps as a paint coating to include a through decon via clay. If you want to take a coating to maximum potential and durability more intensive decon steps are required such as and iron and tar remover. If you are really anal you can polish most OEM wheels just as you would the paint as the wheels are clear coated as well. But you all knew that.

Now this begs the question. What’s the difference between the paint coating vs. the wheel coating? I don’t know for sure but perhaps the wheel coating is a more potent version of the paint coating? Can they be used interchangeably between surfaces? Looking forward to the comments on this topic.

Now for the wheel coating itself. With the proper decon steps taken prior to application of the PBL Wheel Coating, it is advised to use the PBL Surface Cleansing Polish to prep the surface for receipt of the wheel coating. On paint this is no problem as you are using a large pad and machine. Wheels are round with very complex angles and the only way to really use the polish is to apply by hand. I personally decided to use an IPA mixture set at 20% to remove any foreign matter on the wheels. This will also be interesting to discuss below.

With the wheels stripped with two rounds of IPA wipe downs it was time to apply the coating. As mentioned before it is extremely easy to put down a layer of the coating as it applies just like a paint coating. The looks are the same as coated paint as well. The real aspect of this product is its incredible durability in a harsh environment.

Prep Steps;
Wheel/Tires cleaned with Meguiar’s Non Acid Wheel and Tire Cleaner
Tires cleaned again with Meguiar’s Green APC
Wheels cleaned again with Wheel Brightener
Further cleaned with Super Degreaser
First decon step with Car Pro Trix
Second step with Car Pro Iron-X paste
Third step with Iron-X spray to ensure all is removed
Thorough rinse down and re washed with Hyper wash
Wheels clayed w/ Meguiar’s last touch w/ professional blue clay
Faces polished with PE14, SF4000, 3” tangerine hydro pad
Two rounds 20% IPA wipedowns
Two coats PBL Wheel Coating w/ 24 hour cure time between
Tires dressed w/ BlackFire Total Eclipse Tire Gel


Winter wheels/tires were mounted last October in preparation for winter duty. I did not keep an exact mileage count (guessing 2K miles). I live and work on base so my commute is 1.2 miles one way. There have been a few blasts down the Autobahn and traveling to various locations while hitting 155 and a few good brake applications to dust up the wheels. It must be mentioned my BMW is notorious for BMW brake dust. Hitting the brakes at 155 guarantees to make clean wheels black.

Now having the wheels coated compared to just using a sealant I have noticed that even driving through rain, most of the brake dust is washed off whereas using a wheel sealant does not make much difference when driving through rain. Sometimes driving through a rain shower just makes more of a mess on sealed wheels rather than help clean them.


Here we are starting the cleaning process as these wheels were in storage for quite some with years of filth on them. This is why my process was so intensive trying to get them clean.

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YUCK!!!!

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Starting cleansing process

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Now its time to polish the faces of the wheels with the PE14, SF4000, and 3" Tangerine Hydro tech pads.

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Wheel 50/50

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All polished and ready for the coating

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Look at that gloss!!! On silver wheels no less

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These caps were also cleaned and coated

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Black roundel overlays

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Now we fast forward from October last year until mid January to see how everything is holding up. The wheels faired much better than the paint.

My apologies, I do not have any installed pics from last year.

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Not bad at all after a few months of nasty weather

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Man oh man is that paint filthy!

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After I pressure washed the car off I drove home and only performed a water/rinseless wash. No wheels cleaners were used at this point.

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My neighbors dirty paint

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Now lets see how dirty these wheel really are with Wolfgang Über wheel cleaner. This was the first weekend of March.

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Not bad at all as for iron contamination. Keep in mind This is the first iron wash since being coated.

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Man thats clean!

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Well thats it so far. In the last few pics the paint has not been washed. Only the wheels were cleaned. I did finish the car but do not have pictures of that. Will update later on with a finished product.

Thoughts:

A wheel coating such as this one is the only way to go in protecting your wheels. Sure a paint sealant will work but they usually do not have the durability of a coating. If they do have the durability they DO NOT posses the ability to clean themselves and rid the filth like a coating can.

This product is no exception and is well complemented by its brother the paint coating. Well Done PBMG. A coating that possess durability while providing insane gloss.

Hope you enjoyed. Looking forward to discussion. Comment away.
 
Great review Mike!


How much salt gets put down over there? Wonder how that would effect the coating.
 
Excellent job Mike on the wheels, the review, and the photography :dblthumb2:
 
Very nice write up and review sir.
May I know what rinseless wash you using and what dilution? Thanks
 
Great review Mike!


How much salt gets put down over there? Wonder how that would effect the coating.

Thank you sir!

On the base, they salt quite a bit actually. More often than needed. I would say the salt is pretty harsh on teh coating provided there is moisture present. If there is no moisture I would imagine the salt is not very harmful. There is no reactions taking place.

Excellent job Mike on the wheels, the review, and the photography :dblthumb2:

Thanks Frank! :dblthumb2:

Very nice write up and review sir.
May I know what rinseless wash you using and what dilution? Thanks

Thank you sir.

I am doing a combination rinsless/waterless method. First I pre soak the panel with with the waterless wash, Meguiar's Rinse Free Express wash and wax 4:1. In the wash bucket I have my Chinchillas soaking in Meguiar's Rinse Free Express wash 2:1, and when ready, I grab a chinchilla and make my passes. The dirty towel gets discarded and a new one is used. I often apply Meguiar's synthetic spray wax as protection. It may be overkill but the results are outstanding.
 
Great review. I just applied this recently to my aftermarket 19in wheels on my GTO as well as the paint and glass coatings and have noticed how easy it is to clean the wheels now. Soap and water.

Going to be using the PBL paint, glass and wheel coatings in the next 2 weeks on a customers 04 Azure Blue Mach 1. Glad to see the durability is holding up.
 
Meguiars D114 using 2:1? Does it streak?
So you using chinchilla to wash and microfiber cloth?
I'm very interested in your wash process, mind share in details?
Thank You

Regards
 
Great review. I just applied this recently to my aftermarket 19in wheels on my GTO as well as the paint and glass coatings and have noticed how easy it is to clean the wheels now. Soap and water.

Going to be using the PBL paint, glass and wheel coatings in the next 2 weeks on a customers 04 Azure Blue Mach 1. Glad to see the durability is holding up.

Thanks Smoke! I need to perform the same coating to my 19" summer wheels as well.

Make sure to make a thread on that if you can.

Meguiars D114 using 2:1? Does it streak?
So you using chinchilla to wash and microfiber cloth?
I'm very interested in your wash process, mind share in details?
Thank You

Regards

I will make a separate thread to showcase what I am doing.

You lost me with the black roundel overlays...what were they for?

They are just stickers to cover the blue portion of the roundel. So instead of the traditional blue and white, it is black and white now. Goes better with a black car.
 
Excellent write up, Mike! You are hands down the king of wheel prep! ;)

I completely agree with you on wheel coatings vs sealants - especially on BMW's. Coatings make ceaning off brake dust a total breeze.

Currently I have DP's wheel coating on my E93 but will switch it up to PBL this spring. I hadn't even thought about polishing my rims but after seeing the gloss on yours I just may have to!

Question on the second coating of PBL WC - is this recommended? Or something you decided to do for good measure? I haven't noticed this step before so just wanted to ask/ get your thoughts on added durability a second application provides.

Again, excellent review! Thanks for sharing it :props:
 
Hi Mike...

What an excellent Wheel Cleaning/Coating tutorial
you have documented and presented for our viewing pleasure...This should be a "Sticky"!!




Bob
 
Nice job! Did the wheel cleaner strip the coating? Wash there still evidence of protection?
 
Outstanding write up MIKE! Your work is one of a kind my friend, wheels and car look fantastic buddy:)
 
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