Detailing hack saves the day

[Eldorado2k]

Saved the day? That’s a bold statement, and I dunno about you, but when I have my goals set for a vehicle that I’m about to detail, failure is not an option.

Failure is not an option.

So when this Nissan Armada was dropped off to me I spoke with the owner and he just bought it to replace another Armada that was hit in a car accident. So this is going to be his family vehicle and of course I want to do a good job on it.

1 of my main areas I was set to make a difference on was wheels & tires. I took 1 look and said “I’m going to make those look like new”

But when I started cleaning them I ran into quite a surprise. I started cleaning them at about 9pm. in order to get a headstart on the SUV for the next morning, and I wasn’t sure if I just couldn’t see or if they weren’t coming clean. After 2 rounds of Meguiars D143 I grabbed my flashlight and they weren’t coming clean. So I reached for the big gun, Brown Royal undiluted.

Holy crap, this has almost never happened.. This is what they still looked like the next morning.[I didn’t get any pictures of how they looked before the 1st round, as I didn’t expect this to turn into a notable situation]

So at this point my whole day is ruined because this is just unacceptable in my book. If something like this happens it’s nothing less than a complete fail and I don’t have it in me to charge someone if I give them back their vehicle looking like this. At the very least I knew this would cut about half of what I was going to charge for this job because how can you deliver a vehicle back with dirty wheels? Especially chrome, which the whole point of them is to shine like a mirror.

So I started thinking about what else could possibly be done when I thought about what we’ve all come across while watching videos.. I remembered about those crazy vids people post talking about Coca Cola and aluminum foil somehow cleaning rust off chrome and somehow leaving them shiny, polished, and scratch free.

And just by coincidence a old friend had stopped by my house a few days prior and brought me something to eat and also a couple of 2 liter bottles of soda, 1 of them Coca Cola. Keep in mind I don’t even drink Coke, so if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have had it in my fridge. So I said what the heck, lets try this, what’s the worst that can happen. I did a little test area… Holy crap, it worked!lol. I can’t believe it actually worked!!!

After the little bit of foil I tested got used up I decided to try it with the last bit of steel wool that I had left and it worked even better than the aluminum foil! So I got in my car and went on a mission to retrieve another bottle of Coca Cola and some steel wool…

Lets rock! Coca Cola, straight undiluted. Lol.
00 Steel wool.

It still takes a little bit of time, about the same time you’d spend hand polishing a wheel if not a bit more, but relatively speaking the baked on brake dust that nothing else would budge came off like hot butter. This nearly blew my mind.

Before: [btw these tires were insane as well. Brake dust like I’ve never seen. Just crazy]

After:

Before:

After:

Off label use, hacks, crazy stuff that nobody believes would possibly work even though there’s video proof… I don’t discount any information. It doesn’t hurt to take a mental note, because you never know when it might just save your day. It feels so good to have gotten these wheels polished. The great feeling of actually earning it!

Thanks for reading.


P.S. Desertnate, this is why I asked if your wheels were chrome.

 

[Bill D]

Coca Cola is incredible stuff. It's also quite nasty to your body. But people injest it by the millions every day. If it can do that to wheels, imagine what it can do to *you*.

I'm glad I quit soda in general years ago. My teeth and the rest of my body thank me for it.

 

[2black1s]

I drink Coca Cola at least once, and usually more, every day. If I run out at home I'll start having cravings. If I go 2 or 3 days with no Coke's in the house I'm going crazy LOL.

Moral of the Story... If I ever need to try out this hack I'll be pretty sure I have the stuff on hand to do it.

And those wheels look great!

Did the 00 steel wool leave any scratches? I would have gone for 0000. And even 0000 is something I'll typically stay away from on chrome. I have had too many bad experiences with steel wool and chrome.

 

[oneheadlite]

Coca Cola is incredible stuff. It's also quite nasty to your body. But people injest it by the millions every day. If it can do that to wheels, imagine what it can do to *you*.

I'm glad I quit soda in general years ago. My teeth and the rest of my body thank me for it.

We had a customer at our shop that used to always come in with 2 silo cans of Monster Energy Drink. Until he stopped. One of the guys asked why no Monster - Turns out one day going into the gas station he saw a big spot etched into the sidewalk. He asked the cashier, they said one of the cases of Monster was leaking when it was delivered and it didn't get cleaned up right away...

 

[Bill D]

Yikes! I’m glad he saw that and realized what it could do to him!

 

[Kamakaz1961]

WOW WAY COOL! Coca Cola is also good for draining pipes too! LOL It's also great for eating your intestines!....LOL Thank you for this information! Well done! KEEP ON ROCKING!

 

[JDGolden]

Big improvement!

Count me as one that was addicted to drinking that crap. I had my last one on Christmas day 2020 when I stopped on the scale due to how I was feeling. Not a DROP since. That and Dr. Pepper were my "treat" of choice. I've since cut all soda out.

 

[Desertnate]

I would never have even thought about using Coke! Genius. What a great turn around and improvement.

Years ago when one of my daughters was learning about bases and acids in science class I brought up the topic of Coke's acidity. Neither of my girls nor my wife believed me, so I found a really nasty penny in our household change jar. It was dark brown/green with oxidation and covered in other gunk. I dropped it in a small cup of Coke and told them to leave it over night. The next day the penny was so clean and shiny it looked like it was just released from the mint!

It also works great as a jewelry cleaner as well! Since the "penny incident" my wife has used Coke to clean rings, earrings, pendants, etc.

 

[noorth]

Best post of the month maybe year.

Cool story man.

I always enjoy stories from guys like yourself that do this everyday. Not us keyboard warriors. :laughing::laughing:

 

[ducksfan]

You know Coke is a gateway drug. Later today, don't be surprised to see him clutching a tube of toothpaste and eyeballing those headlights.

 

[tcope]

Coca Cola is incredible stuff. It's also quite nasty to your body. But people injest it by the millions every day. If it can do that to wheels, imagine what it can do to *you*.

I'm glad I quit soda in general years ago. My teeth and the rest of my body thank me for it.

Every used a citric cleaner? Think about what fruit does to you. Truth is, your body can _easily_ handle both. On a scale of 0-7, battery acid is at 0 and stomach acid is at 1. The caustic part of Coca Cola is not going to hurt you in any way.

BTW - Coca cola on the ph scale is at 2.7, right next to fruit juice's.

In this instance, the OP could have used a citrus cleaner with the same results. In both cases an "acid" (on the ph scale) would have been used.

 

[waddell64]

Nice turn around. Hopefully, they don't change the formula and come out with a "New Coke". I hope I didn't age myself too badly there.

 

[PaulMys]

If someone from Coke sees this, they will slap a new label on a 32oz bottle and charge $24.99 for it. :laughing:

 

[Sizzle Chest]

Well color me impressed...and surprised! What a difference!

 

[Eldorado2k]

Did the 00 steel wool leave any scratches? I would have gone for 0000. And even 0000 is something I'll typically stay away from on chrome. I have had too many bad experiences with steel wool and chrome.

Nope no scratches.
I picked up some 0000 steel wool as well, but as is the case 9/10 the 00 did a much better job.

Fun fact: I went through 3 sprayers in a matter of minutes. 1st sprayer that came with that bottle from the dollar store burst into a half dozen pieces within the 1st 10 sprays. I guess it wasn’t built for the vigorous use involved with spraying wheel cleaner. Lol.

The 2nd sprayer I believe came from a bottle of LATA, also from the dollar store. The sprayer was new, but the trigger quickly lost its ability to spring back after pumping it, so I quickly became frustrated with that and finally stole a Tolco Chemical Resistant Sprayer from another bottle and finally a proper sprayer.

Thanks to everyone that replied.

I drink Pepsi. Only time I need Coke Cola is when I mix with cognac or clean some really dirty wheels. Lol.

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

Nope no scratches.
I picked up some 0000 steel wool as well, but as is the case 9/10 the 00 did a much better job.

Fun fact: I went through 3 sprayers in a matter of minutes. 1st sprayer that came with that bottle from the dollar store burst into a half dozen pieces within the 1st 10 sprays. I guess it wasn’t built for the vigorous use involved with spraying wheel cleaner. Lol.

The 2nd sprayer I believe came from a bottle of LATA, also from the dollar store. The sprayer was new, but the trigger quickly lost its ability to spring back after pumping it, so I quickly became frustrated with that and finally stole a Tolco Chemical Resistant Sprayer from another bottle and finally a proper sprayer.

Thanks to everyone that replied.

I drink Pepsi. Only time I need Coke Cola is when I mix with cognac or clean some really dirty wheels. Lol.

Wonder if Pepsi woulda did the same?


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[opie2]

I drink Pepsi. Only time I need Coke Cola is when I mix with cognac or clean some really dirty wheels. Lol.

Nice turn around! And quick thinkin macgyver:laughing:

Yep drinkin a whiskey/bourbon is the only time i drink pop.....yes i said pop lol. Soda sounds weird to me

 

[Klasse Act]

Great save Ric!

I'm a Coca-Cola guy all the way and it's not even close! I hate when people say Coke and Pepsi are the same When I go to a restaurant and ask "Coke or Pepsi" and they say "Pepsi" I say iced tea with lemon immediately. I had 1 waitress say "yeah, I'm a Coke person too!". Like with politics I think it's ironic that you've got RED and BLUE states, just like Coke and Pepsi and think they fall inline there too

All that said, I do like RC and Nurse Salt too

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[JDGolden]

Great save Ric!

I'm a Coca-Cola guy all the way and it's not even close! I hate when people say Coke and Pepsi are the same When I go to a restaurant and ask "Coke or Pepsi" and they say "Pepsi" I say iced tea with lemon immediately. I had 1 waitress say "yeah, I'm a Coke person too!". Like with politics I think it's ironic that you've got RED and BLUE states, just like Coke and Pepsi and think they fall inline there too

All that said, I do like RC and Nurse Salt too

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Back when I drank the stuff Coke was so far beyond Pepsi. Now RC Cola, that's good stuff. Faygo Cola was also pretty good. But I can't go back to any of it. I had limited myself to 1 can per day (at lunch usually) for 2 years. But mandatory OT during the pandemic combined with poor sleep led me to drinking far more. It's still hard to pass a McDonalds, all I would get is a coke from there but they are serious about the recipe and temperature controls. That was my favorite.

Back to detailing, let us know what the customer thinks. I'd also like to see the full vehicle.

 

[Klasse Act]

The Coke mix at McDonald's and the Castle is PERFECT! Hey I'm old enough to remember the Pepsi challenge and when New Coke debutedNew Coke was 1985 and was the biggest disaster EVER...then Sammy replaced DLR shortly after that, waaaaay too much change in a short period of time

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