Cleaning tires and rims

[SANTA3013]

Looks nice . I’m guessing the wheel well cleaning is for people who just want it clean but doesn’t serve much purpose other then that?


Thanks. Yes, I just want to know it’s clean. It’s a low mileage 13 year old car and I just want it looking as nice as possible. This was the last step since the undercarriage, engine bay, interior, paint and trunk space have all been done. None of them were extremely dirty so it was easy compared to some I have done.

 

[BillE]

So when you rotating tires yourself which ones go where etc I think dealer forgets about tire change sometimes


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This along with various torque specs should all be in the owners manual. Maybe an 'on-line' group is out there for your car. This is usually a good way to get specific info.

Bill

 

[Paul A.]

I have directional tires on my BMW and therefore can't/don't rotate. The wife's get rotated every oil change at about 5000 miles.

I do a "wheels off" clean on mine once a year. I have found that a thorough wheel and well cleaning once a week keeps them looking pretty good when I wash the car. I'm finding that my wheel coatings are lasting about 8 months and that makes cleaning easier.

 

[Desertnate]

So when you rotating tires yourself which ones go where etc I think dealer forgets about tire change sometimes


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This depends on the type of vehicle, e.g. front wheel drive vs. rear wheel drive vs all wheel drive. A quick Google search on tire rotation pattern should give you a diagram from TireRack which shows the correct pattern when rotating the tires for your type of car.

Since I only drive about 10K miles a year, the 5K mile rotation point normally lands when I am swapping between sets of wheels. As I take of each wheel, I attach a Post-it Note in the barrel of each wheel indicating where it was mounted on the car. When the next swap out season rolls around I then use them as a guide to tell me where they are supposed to go.

 

[AaronE]

FYI, Craftsman (if you want a name brand) makes a digital and analog (cheaper and just as good a job) torque wrench that would work well. Unless your constantly swapping tires or torque to spec projects, any thing else is overkill IMHO.

As for cleaning, I deep clean the wheels on the family fleet with them on. The only thing I don't do is polish the barrels because...forget that . But doing it during a rotation wouldn't be a bad deal.

If you do choose to do this in your home garage, get a heavy duty floor jack and heavy duty jack stands that offer a wide base for stability. Jack the car with the floor jack (if the jack is too big and your car is too low, drive on ramps and Jack the car up from there). I have lifted all my cars I've owned on a frame piece centered on the car but do be careful because you can damage something if lifting in the wrong place. Then, place your stands on the specified jack stand points. Do not work without them and leave the hydraulic jack in place as added security. Please be safe!

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