Wheel Cleaner HELP!!!

1Clean3

1Clean3

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Ok so this is one of the strangest things I think I've seen... So I am currently detailing my friends s2000 and I started cleaning his wheels with Mother's foaming wheel and tire cleaner like I normally do to my roommate's car (who also owns an s2000).

Anyways, so I spray on the wheel cleaner one wheel at a time like a normally do scrub with various wheel brushes and then hose off wheel cleaner. Well, after I hosed the wheel cleaner off I moved on to doing the other wheels and when I checked back to the first wheel, the wheel had turned to like frosty white and it wont some off (all of the wheels are now like this). Now I know the s2000 wheels are clear coated (I have done a aluminum polish test before). I have tried wheel wax, 11% ipa mix, nevr dull (just to see if the oil in it would do anything) but nothing is working. The weird thing is I have never had this problem with my roommate's car who has the exact same wheels! Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!!

Here are pics of the problem wheels:
(The 3 pics on the bottom is of my roommate's wheels without the frosting problem.)

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Were the wheels hot or even warm? Did you spray the cleaner on the wheels in the sun? All the other wheels worked fine with the wheel cleaner?
 
I had the same thing happen to some ford wheels . I did not use mothers brand but used something more stronger Meg's wb . I ended up polishing the wheels , looked good as new then
 
poweraid said:
I had the same thing happen to some ford wheels . I did not use mothers brand but used something more stronger Meg's wb . I ended up polishing the wheels , looked good as new then
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What did you polish with?
 
I'm pretty sure I used menzerna , either power finish or super finish . I don't remember . these wheels were nothing special , just stock wheels on a ford focus . I also used a Meg's power cone .
 
Interesting that this happened when using a Mothers wheel cleaner. Can you tell us which Mothers wheel cleaner, specifically? I assume it was the Foaming All Wheel Cleaner from Mothers.

It's interesting because I had a Meguiar's product ruin some similarly coated Buick Regal wheels. The Meguiar's wheel cleaner I used was an over-the-counter cleaner and was supposed to be safe on all wheels.

Please let us know if you find something to remove the cloudiness.
 
I just have to add , I was cleaning the barrels really good . along with using Meg's wb 4:1 , and iron x paste . I had the wheels off the car facing down and I'm assuming it was just run off that got on the face of wheel and prob dried ? sure I was a little worried of the cloudiness in spots here and there , that I did not ruin the wheels . so I just tried to polish them and the cloudiness disappeared , thank god .
 
I've seen something like this before, but I was using Trix on the wheels. What I believe happened was all the wheels (3 sets of 4) on all three cars had a coating of Meguiars Hot Rims Brake Dust Barrier, wheel protectant, wheel wax.

Trix began to eat away at the coating leaving the cloudy look and even where there was a sufficient build up of product flaking.

A quick polish with Poorboy's pro polish removed remaining residue.
 
That is acid etching I'm willing to bet! Most wheel cleaners have hydrofluoric acid at one dilution or another. If the wheel is the least bit warm the reaction will be much more adverse than if it's stone cold. Also want to pre-spray wheels with cool water before hitting them with wheel cleaner.


I used to buy it straight up, 20 gallons at a time. Really nasty stuff, but BOY can it clean truck frames. Doesn't do a bad job cleaning aluminum either but it will literally boil the metal away as it hits it. Put it at full strength on aluminum and it'll just sit there and foam. Rinse for 10 minutes straight to get rid of it and the aluminum will be clean enough to eat off of, but white as paper. :rolleyes:

I used to spray it 100% on the beds of my trucks to get all the wrecked car mess off of them. Worked fine AS LONG AS IT DIDN'T GET ON THE WHEELS or the polished stainless toolboxes, trim, quarter fenders or the cab of the truck. For that matter, the wind could blow and it'd get on the glass and etch the living snot out of it too! :eek:

With what it does to metal, and even glass... it will reach down inside your lungs, grab your belly button, and pull it out your EYEBALLS! It's like a dump truck is sitting on your lungs when they get full of the fumes. Good memories there I tell ya'. :laughing:
 
cardaddy said:
That is acid etching I'm willing to bet! Most wheel cleaners have hydrofluoric acid at one dilution or another. If the wheel is the least bit warm the reaction will be much more adverse than if it's stone cold. Also want to pre-spray wheels with cool water before hitting them with wheel cleaner.


I used to buy it straight up, 20 gallons at a time. Really nasty stuff, but BOY can it clean truck frames. Doesn't do a bad job cleaning aluminum either but it will literally boil the metal away as it hits it. Put it at full strength on aluminum and it'll just sit there and foam. Rinse for 10 minutes straight to get rid of it and the aluminum will be clean enough to eat off of, but white as paper. :rolleyes:

I used to spray it 100% on the beds of my trucks to get all the wrecked car mess off of them. Worked fine AS LONG AS IT DIDN'T GET ON THE WHEELS or the polished stainless toolboxes, trim, quarter fenders or the cab of the truck. For that matter, the wind could blow and it'd get on the glass and etch the living snot out of it too! :eek:

With what it does to metal, and even glass... it will reach down inside your lungs, grab your belly button, and pull it out your EYEBALLS! It's like a dump truck is sitting on your lungs when they get full of the fumes. Good memories there I tell ya'. :laughing:
Click to expand...

What kind of cleaner? I'm getting ready to redo my undercarriage,(remove rust and coat) and that cleaner seems like a good cleaner to use before paint.




Sent from my iPhone using AG Online
 
FivePoint.0 said:
Were the wheels hot or even warm? Did you spray the cleaner on the wheels in the sun? All the other wheels worked fine with the wheel cleaner?
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Nope not even a little warm. It was just rolled out of the garage.

Hoytman said:
Interesting that this happened when using a Mothers wheel cleaner. Can you tell us which Mothers wheel cleaner, specifically? I assume it was the Foaming All Wheel Cleaner from Mothers.

It's interesting because I had a Meguiar's product ruin some similarly coated Buick Regal wheels. The Meguiar's wheel cleaner I used was an over-the-counter cleaner and was supposed to be safe on all wheels.

Please let us know if you find something to remove the cloudiness.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was this one.
Mothers Foaming Wheel & Tire Cleaner

quiksilver_ben3 said:
I've seen something like this before, but I was using Trix on the wheels. What I believe happened was all the wheels (3 sets of 4) on all three cars had a coating of Meguiars Hot Rims Brake Dust Barrier, wheel protectant, wheel wax.

Trix began to eat away at the coating leaving the cloudy look and even where there was a sufficient build up of product flaking.

A quick polish with Poorboy's pro polish removed remaining residue.
Click to expand...

Hmm... Interesting, I might try that tomorrow, thanks for the suggestion.
 
So I ended up trying m205 with an GG 3 inch pad and orbital buffer, still a little left so then I tried m105 and it took the white stuff right off! Thanks guys for input... and thanks quiksilver_ben3 for the polish suggestion!
 
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Oh, and one more thing... I talked to my friend and he said he had waxed the wheels a while back with Meguiar's NXT. So after I had used the polish on the wheels to remove the white markings, I took a q-tip and made a "test mark" with the same wheel cleaner I was using before and.... NOTHING HAPPENED!
So that must have been what it was some sort of strange chemical reaction between the wheel cleaner and the NXT.
 
1Clean3 said:
Oh, and one more thing... I talked to my friend and he said he had waxed the wheels a while back with Meguiar's NXT. So after I had used the polish on the wheels to remove the white markings, I took a q-tip and made a "test mark" with the same wheel cleaner I was using before and.... NOTHING HAPPENED!
So that must have been what it was some sort of strange chemical reaction between the wheel cleaner and the NXT.
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Wow, very interesting.
 
I'm not sure what would have caused it on the Regal...and it was my car that the Meguiar's product ruined the wheels. All I ever did was clean them with soap and water mostly. Very few times did I ever have to clean them with a wheel cleaner and when I did the product ruined the wheels. Those wheels never seen a coat of wax or sealant, just regular washings unless the time in between washings warranted a cleaner, which wasn't often.

Guess I'll never know why the Meg's all wheel cleaner ruined my wheels.
 
Hoytman said:
I'm not sure what would have caused it on the Regal...and it was my car that the Meguiar's product ruined the wheels. All I ever did was clean them with soap and water mostly. Very few times did I ever have to clean them with a wheel cleaner and when I did the product ruined the wheels. Those wheels never seen a coat of wax or sealant, just regular washings unless the time in between washings warranted a cleaner, which wasn't often.

Guess I'll never know why the Meg's all wheel cleaner ruined my wheels.
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Are/were the Regal wheels in good condition?
 
FivePoint.0 said:
Are/were the Regal wheels in good condition?
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They were, but not now. The plastic center caps faded with the use of the otc Meg's product and have since gotten worse. The clear coat has started to flake as well. However, two years ago, and before using that Meg's product, the wheels were in good shape.

The same day I tried them on some Trailblazer wheels and the same dulling/staining affect started happening. I was ready for it this time, and was doing a test spot on these wheels just to see if I could duplicate the issue. As soon as I noticed this dulling occuring and grabbed the soap and water and flushed with soap, then rinsed...and rinsed...and rinsed. Honestly, it wasn't a smart thing to try a test spot on another set of wheels but I just had to know. I got lucky and saved the wheels from being permanently dulled/stained.

I've always wondered if the wrong product went into the wrong spray bottle or something.
 
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