Worst wheels I've encountered

statusdetailing

statusdetailing

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I was unable to save these wheels today. I used meg's wheel brightener, undiluted and this is what i got. When the car came in the front wheels were covered almost 100% in brake dust. So, I guess, considering how bad they were to start with, this isnt bad. . . This just makes me feel empty inside. I let the cleaner dwell for extended periods of time, rewetting and scrubbing...didnt work. Sometimes you just cant win.

Car belongs to a teenage looking girl. Obviously no respect or gratitude for whoever bought the car for her...sigh

Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
I was just reading about that product Iron X that Mike did a write up about. Seems perfect for BMW and other euro wheels that tend to get that build up. I had a volvo yesterday that had the same thing, not as bad though.


[video=youtube_share;6WUBXRjIB_0"]Limpieza llanta Mini con Iron.X - YouTube[/video] heres a video on a Mini wheel, a branch of BMW, assuming similar brake pad build up.
 
Looks similar to my boss' wheels.. poor bmw's..
 
I feel like this might be fixable (although some dust has worked its way througb the clear) if i spent 30 minutes to 1a hr per wheel with wheel brightener and a slightly stiffer brush....maybe iron x would work a little better. WB is extremely strong though, if u havent used it. I know the customer is not going to want to spend $120+ for me to work on her wheels on a later date. Might not even be worth asking.
 
As far as metallic contamination goes, IX isn't going to improve things susbantially over WB with extended dwell times. Is this brake dust/metallic or is it some serious road tar that's left?
 
I remember a european detailer using a type of rust remover to get at stubborn spots on wheels.
 
Did you try any compounds? I have had good luck with M105 and a buffer stick on a Sears drill.
 
Meticulous-Detail said:
Did you try any compounds? I have had good luck with M105 and a buffer stick on a Sears drill.
Click to expand...

Just tried 105. On the rear wheels where the dust wast quite as thick i was able to remove a little more. This is the thickest, hardest dust ive ever seen. Probably with a drill and 105 i could improve the wheels, but not fix them. The wheels feel rough and pitted even in areas where i was able to remove the dust.


Somebody mentioned tar. I treat all the lower valances and wheels with a d limonene product that eats tar for breakfast so definitely not it. Thanks for the suggestion though
 
I started doing bad wheels with Meg's WB and the buffer stick/drill and works well. Spray WB, agitate, hit with BS and drill on high, then rinse. If that doesn't work, apply m105 by hand in tight areas then go at it with BS and drill. BS can get chewed up though.
 
Meticulous-Detail said:
I started doing bad wheels with Meg's WB and the buffer stick/drill and works well. Spray WB, agitate, hit with BS and drill on high, then rinse. If that doesn't work, apply m105 by hand in tight areas then go at it with BS and drill. BS can get chewed up though.
Click to expand...

I'll try this on the next bad ones. Its gonna have to be an upcharge. I'm guessing at least 30 maybe 60. I can see that taking a good hour or
2 on wheels this bad
 
statusdetailing said:
Just tried 105. On the rear wheels where the dust wast quite as thick i was able to remove a little more. This is the thickest, hardest dust ive ever seen. Probably with a drill and 105 i could improve the wheels, but not fix them. The wheels feel rough and pitted even in areas where i was able to remove the dust.


Somebody mentioned tar. I treat all the lower valances and wheels with a d limonene product that eats tar for breakfast so definitely not it. Thanks for the suggestion though
Click to expand...

If it feels rough, the dust is embedded in the CC and there is no hope. It happened on 3 of my spokes on 1 of the wheels on my the same year 3 series BMW. I have tried everything including IronX paste and it did nothing. My embedded dust is barely noticeable unless you are actually looking for it and its no where near as bad as that. Its the nature of the beast on BMW wheels. They have very fragile wheel CC's that seem to fail pretty often. I even clean my wheels once a week and have no idea how it even happened.
 
I feel ya man. That sucks. Yeah, these things are rough. Man, it just drives me nuts. If this was my car i could probably take a few days and work one wheel at a time a make them at least look decent, but this was just a basic full detail with no paint correction. $160 isnt enough for me to get overly worried about these wheels.
 
I feel like this is the reason you see so many BMW's with black painted wheels nowadays lol.
 
i was polishing a 535 one day and it had crazy brake dust build up on the front wheels. it required a lot of iron x, dwell time, and scrubbing. after all that, job well done. wheel cleaner nor all purpose cleaner put a dent in the build up
 
My daughter's 2004 X3 suffers from that problem. It's embedded in the clearcoat. I've used Sonax and Iron-X and it helps somewhat, but I'd have to really spend a few hours with the speed drill and attachment to hopefully make it look better. In other words, I've given up.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AG Online
 
One thing to try would be Naval Jelly.

It's a gel type paste, wear gloves, and apply directly to the affected area. It's a rust remover, but it's done some miracles for me. That may be what a previous poster was referring to.

Apply it, let it sit for however long it says on the bottle (agitate periodically if you want) then hose/scrub it off.

IF that doesn't do it, nothing will, most likely.
 
100% ironx!! Its the only thing that got the dust off my black XD Monsters
 
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