Wheel cleaner for old wheels (behind the spokes)

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Kaban

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Guys, I am trying to clean some old wheels off a 98 Lexus from Arizona.

Back then Toyota/Lexus never painted/powdercoated the barrels and the areas behind the spokes so it's all exposed alloy.

I got the rear barrels all cleaned up. The area I am having a hard time cleaning is cast aluminum behind the spokes. It's a textured non coated aluminum.

I got most of it cleaned up but in the deep pockets there are chunks of black residue,etc. that just won't come off no matter what.

I tried: Iron x and iron x-gel and let is dwell for hours with no effect.

Brake-Off 1:1 also sprayed inside the pockets (with the wheel flipped upside down laying on its face) and also dwelling for 45 minutes plus. Even tried agitating the area with a brass metal brush and steel wool. Nothing.

APC, Sonax, etc. didn't do anything at all. Tried tar removers (3M and Tar-x) to see if it was maybe chunks of tar, but that didn't do anything either.

The wheels are all original silver face and machine polished barrels and are in amazing condition. I would not want to refinish them just because this area didn't clean up 100%, this area isn't visible anyways.

I am making this thread just to gain knowledge if there's something else you guys have tried on old wheels that worked. I know my powdercoater can media blast these sections and they would look like new but I don't want to go that route because of cost and amount of prep to mask the other areas from getting stripped.
 
Post a picture of them.

I had some alloy wheels that were really nasty, after a good scrub and some ironX i used a metal polish and rubbed until my hands were sore. They came out great in the end.

If the chunks look like stuck on rocks you may want to try a solvent like Goof Off, this will help break down the chunks.
 
Magic Eraser will work, as long as the surface isn't so rough that it rips the sponge into bits while trying to use it... But I think it should survive that part. Lube the Magic Eraser with rinseless wash or diluted APC or even Super Degreaser. Give us an update and let us know how it went.


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Try Brown royal wheel cleaner at higher strength
 
Eldorado2k said:
It won't work on those un coated aluminum grooves that he's talking about.


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Click to expand...

This is exactly what Brown Royal will work on.

If it is black it is brake dust likely and not rust or tar.

Wet it, apply Brown Royal full strength, let dwell, agitate with detail brush, rinse and repeat.

May take a few applications.

If all else fails you can always paint them instead of powder coating (less cost and work).
 
Crispy said:
This is exactly what Brown Royal will work on.

If it is black it is brake dust likely and not rust or tar.

Wet it, apply Brown Royal full strength, let dwell, agitate with detail brush, rinse and repeat.

May take a few applications.

If all else fails you can always paint them instead of powder coating (less cost and work).
Click to expand...




Brown royal even shows this in their product videos

Dont know if im allowed to post but it removes caked on brake dust from a car from the 1980s
 
Flitz Instant calcium, rust ,and lime remover will work. I know what you're facing. Ive used this method. It worked five time better than ironx, and other color changing cleaners. Megs Wheel Brightner could work well too.
 
Brown Royal or Aluminum Brightener, either should work. Just opposite extremes on the pH scale.
 
Brown royal is just high alkaline whereas wheel brightener probably has a very low ph
 
IME this is what typically happens. Baked on wheel...

b328ea28cf89aa71d292bbd4a8d9ba06.jpg


Apply it liberally, let dwell for up to 10min. if you want... [you could probably let this stuff dwell overnight without harm. Lol]

0a5a9f5163cffe23de182b4d938906d9.jpg


As expected, all you have to do is touch the painted surface of the wheel and the baked on brake dust & grime comes off like hot butter...

9ad38de53d9cd0c1bb3d4a4b3215514a.jpg


Afterwards you can clearly see inside the barrel where it separates from painted wheel/uncoated machined alloy. And in those grooved areas of the barrels [some wheels barrels are entirely un uncoated that way] it is a major chore even for Brown Royal undiluted to get the job done.

b2c7822d126312d4ded28269a9569560.jpg


I've experienced this same situation many of times... The barrels on my fathers Toyota Tacoma still aren't 100% clean because of this [also because I haven't removed the wheels in order to get proper reach] But if I ever do get around to removing the wheels I'll be using Super Degreaser + Magic Eraser to get the job done.




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When I took off my wheels to deep clean them there were pits of tar on them which were removed with a combination of rapid remover, meguiars super degreaser/wheel brightener, and steam... The face and barrels were immaculate however the back of the spokes were not 100% I guess, but the steam did amplify the cleaning.
 
Guys after trying everything I finally found how to clean the areas.

Be mindful that it was still no easy task and required some TLC but not too long or too difficult for anyone to do.

I went back to the drawing board and mixed a new spray bottle of Brake off at FULL STRENGTH, undiluted.

With the wheel upside down on it's face, completely dry, no prior rinsing, I sprayed the solution liberally into the back spoke area and let it dwell for about 2 minutes.

Then I took a stiff bristle lug nut brush (Atlasta SoftTip blue brush) and started to aggressively agitate the areas for a few minutes really stuffing the brush into every possible nook and cranny.

To my surprise I can see the chemical turn brownish and then dark brown (from its original clear/slightly yellow color) the more I kept agitating the areas. That told me something was happening and I can see the black spots disappearing from the cast aluminum. I then rinsed the wheel down thoroughly (you don't want to let Brake Off sit too long and go un-rinsed as it can stain from my experience), dried the wheel with the 8hp Metrovac and repeated this process 1-2 more times. All in all I'd say I have about 30-40 minutes into each wheel with this final cleaning phase. It looks brand new now and no ill effects on the painted silver faces or surrounding machined aluminum barrel and lugnut areas from any chemical runoff. I was extremely happy with the results, especially after almost giving up on those areas ever being restored to like new again.

I would probably never do this on a customer wheel because of how long it took, but for the sake of science and experimenting I had to do it on my own set of wheels. Will post pictures shortly.

Wear gloves and face mask when using brake off and long sleeve shirt as this stuff smells very acid-like (despite saying it's not acidic) and burns skin if some gets on you.
 
Kaban said:
All in all I'd say I have about 30-40 minutes into each wheel with this final cleaning phase.
Click to expand...

Magic Eraser cleans those hard stains in less than 10 seconds..



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