Safe wheel cleaner for red factory painted brake callipers

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cheekyage

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Hi all

Just a little paranoid after purchasing a new car that has factory painted red brake callipers on all four wheels.

Are there any wheel cleaning products that are completely safe?

My latest go-to has been Gyeon Iron and Angelwax Bilberry.

I remember reading about VW Golf GTI brake callipers being effected as they would slowly turn from red to pink.

I'm still awaiting delivery on the car so I'd like to be prepared with the right products.

The factory alloy wheels are also painted in a charcoal grey colour.

Thanks in advance!
 
Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner. Combines wheel cleaner and iron remover into one product. I would also recommend a boars hair brush to agitate the cleaner on your calipers and wheels.

You might be surprised what a good car shampoo and a wash mitt/boars brush will do to keep your wheels/calipers looking new. I rarely need wheel cleaner to keep my wheels clean.

I believe the brake pads on VW's do create a lot of dust. the amount of dust is dependent on your type of driving and your frequency of washing.
 
LEDetailing said:
Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner. Combines wheel cleaner and iron remover into one product. I would also recommend a boars hair brush to agitate the cleaner on your calipers and wheels.

You might be surprised what a good car shampoo and a wash mitt/boars brush will do to keep your wheels/calipers looking new. I rarely need wheel cleaner to keep my wheels clean.

I believe the brake pads on VW's do create a lot of dust. the amount of dust is dependent on your type of driving and your frequency of washing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply!

I was thinking perhaps a dedicated wheel cleaner might be overkill where a good car shampoo is just as good. Thanks for the tip!

Which boars hair brush do you recommend?
 
Coat the wheels, and the calipers. Then cleaning is much easier; and soap based wheel cleaners are all you will need most of the time.
 
Don't use Meguiars/DUB iron-out wheel cleaner. You won't be happy with what happens to factory painted calipers. :(
 
Rmd said:
Coat the wheels, and the calipers. Then cleaning is much easier; and soap based wheel cleaners are all you will need most of the time.
Click to expand...

What coating would suit the calipers?
 
Any good boars hair brush will do. I bought the wheel Woolies one inch brush.
 
cheekyage said:
Thanks for your reply!

I was thinking perhaps a dedicated wheel cleaner might be overkill where a good car shampoo is just as good. Thanks for the tip!

Which boars hair brush do you recommend?
Click to expand...

Dedicated wheel cleaners are overkill, especially if you're washing your vehicle somewhat regularly. Regular car wash soap will clean up most wheels that haven't been neglected for long periods of time.
 
So what happens to factory painted calipers if use Meguiars/DUB iron-out wheel cleaner? I haven't noticed anything adverse.
 
Use autofinesse mint wheel wax for wheel and calipers

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
My GTIs I have owned always had factory painted calipers. Never used anything special on them just the same shampoo or rinseless I use on the paint.

They along with my wheels are coated in DLux but even if they were not I still wouldn't use a dedicated wheel cleaner.

I treat and clean my wheels the same as I clean my paint. Never used a "dedicated" wheel/rim cleaner other than ironx once a year and I take the wheels off so nothing else gets sprayed like calipers, brakes etc.
 
I've been using a variety of wheel cleaners on my factory paint Abarth calipers. My weekly wheel cleaner has been CG's sticky citrus but have also used CG's Diablo, Stoners, DUB, GG HD and a couple others with no ill effects.

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk
 
I have a VW GtI and the calipers will turn pink if you use a product that is too strong. If You think the wheels really need a good cleaning then I would remove the wheels off the car and spray and clean them off the car. that way you're keeping the chemicals away and off the paint. I would then apply a sealant on the wheel to help with the break dust. Then I would just use an APC like meguiar's APC with low mix ratio on the caliper with a brush. while the wheel are off you could spray a clear on the calipers to protect them even more, but you don't to. Its just an option you could do. After that, if you're not using breaks that create a lot of break dust a good shampoo or a no rinse product with a brush will keep the wheels clean if you clean them every week or every other week.
 
I have factory red calipers and CarPro Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus hits em every 2 weeks. They still look better then new.

Any acid free wheel cleaner should be safe.

Also, Iron-X hasn't hurt mine the few times I've hit them with it.
 
I also have a 2007 VW GTI & also now have a 2016 Golf R - I have used wheel cleaners on both and did not notice any issues however I stopped using them as I think its a waste of money since I still need to go in and hand scrub everything anyways.

What I did do is apple Cquartz UK to both the calipers and rims which helps with cleaning & also adds some protection.
 
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