Anything else I can do to save these wheels?

georgez

georgez

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I'm starting to clean a used car I recently acquired. It has been sitting around for the last 5 years without a wash. The wheels are OEM and were very brown from the years of sitting. I first attacked it with some ONR but it wasn't working fast enough.

I then hit it with some OPC at 10:1 and let it sit before scrubbing with a meguiars wheel brush. It did ok.

Finally I brought out the Sonax and let that dwell for about a minute before agitating it some more with the wheel brush and a microfiber towel.

Overall, the look has been greatly improved. My question is, there are a lot of brown stains which I can't seem to get out.

Is there anything else I can do? Step up to 3:1 OPC? Get an acidic wheel cleaner?

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Meguiars Wheel Brightener (assuming they're alloys) diluted down to either 4:1, 2:1 or maybe even 1:1, or IronX would be my first two suggestions.
 
Yeah, they are aluminum alloys according to the manufacturer. I guess its time to look into the wheel brightener. Hoping I can find it in smaller quantities. A gallon is too much.
 
Before you buy Wheel Brightener, surely try OPC at 3:1, or even full strength (don't let it dry). 10:1 is way too wimpy for wheels. Also, letting the Sonax (FE?) dwell for only 1 minute isn't long enough. As Jarred said, Iron X is going to be much more effective than Sonax FE.
 
since you already have the Sonax let it dwell for a longer time, just do not let it dry . Iron X does works well and might be your next step if the stronger APC or Sonax does not give you the results you want.
 
Instead of spending more, try Sonax while wheel is dry, let dwell longer, scrub. Otherwise, Megs Wheel Brightener like previously mentioned.
 
Considering the curb rash that you won't be able to clean off, I'd say your best bet is to paint them. You won't have the true shiny aluminum look, but you can get them pretty close and they'll look new again. They might even look better than they did originally.

I'm in the process of painting my summer wheels. The prep work is a bit time consuming (nothing unusual for our type, tho). But it only takes a few days to do.
 
You probably could find a local car dealer in your area that has a guy that comes every week and paints the wheels on their used cars. The one that come to my dealership charges 75.00 to do a complete refinish and them you would have to try to clean them. You could get 4 wheels done for the price of 1 new wheel.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. This car is going to be my daily driver so I'm not trying to spend any money refinishing or repainting the wheels.

The poor boys sounds interesting but it mentions not being safe to use on unfinished wheels. Will the curb rash be a problem?

In the meanwhile I will give the OPC 3:1 a shot and if that doesn't work let the Sonax sit on it with a dry application.
 
Sonax with a brush and power washer is as pretty burly combo. You could always try claying the crud too.
 
You can paint all 4 wheels for about $60 if you do it yourself. And seriously, they can look brand new. However, they'll need to be off the car for a few days.
 
Wanted to give a big thanks to jarred767 for letting me sample some wheel brightener. It's been raining for the past few days but as soon as it stops I'll try it out and post results. This community is awesome!
 
Just wanted to provide an update. I cleaned 2 wheels today with OPC at 3:1 and 2 with meguiar's wheel brightener at 4:1 ratio. Overall, the OPC did an impressive job and was able to get rid of more than just the sonax the last time I washed the wheels.

While the wheel was cleaner, with OPC I still had some brown spots that didn't come out. I went over them again with wheel brightener and they got most of the stuff in the corners out. I'm happy with the condition the wheels are in now and will continue to use OPC for regular wheel cleaning. I don't plan on letting them get into the state they were before. Wheel brightener really impressed me though and it's good to know that the stronger option exists if needed.

Thanks again to Jarred for hooking me up with a sample to try.


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