Filthy wheels and wax residue?

First off I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who has answered my questions so far, this was my first full week of detailing (I'm 17, it's my summer job) and I've loved it and had several questions along the way. I've done 5 cars in 8 days and I actually have spending money again! Thanks for helping out :thumb:

And a couple more questions...
The past two vehicles I've detailed were trucks (Ram 1500 and F-150) and they both had chrome wheels. Or they appeared to be, I think they were actually plastic wheel covers. Anyway, they had brake dust and what appeared to be rust (rust on plastic?) built up and baked on, that would NOT come off. I tried my APC's and a toothbrush, that just barely put a dent in it. Since I'm planning on ordering some stuff soon, I'm looking for a good wheel cleaner. I need something strong, but I've heard that acidic wheel cleaners (Megs wheel brightener for example) can damage wheels if the paint or whatever on the wheels has been scraped away to bare metal. Every car I've done has this kind of damage. Also, will a cleaner like that damage plastic wheel covers? So, I need something stronger than an APC that won't damage wheels. Any suggestions?

Another thing I saw today was old wax baked on exterior plastics. There was NO trace of LSP on the truck I did today, so the wax had been on the weatherstripping for some time. How do you remove it? I tried APC, but with no luck.

Once again, thanks for putting up with and answering my novice questions...I'm sure I'll have more soon.

Clark

 

Im pretty impressed with the Autoglym Custom Wheel Cleaner.

Dilute it a bit and have at it. Cleans the tires nicely as well.

 

I just got a gallon of p21s wheel gel and love it!!! If you're looking for something stronger I'd say try sonax wheel cleaner or brown lightning wheel cleaner... Someone correct me if I'm wrong

 

It sounds like you want to keep your costs down while keeping it safe. I would recommend Flash's Brown Royal. You can dilute it down to 8:1, it can clean up tar, it's very effective, it's cheap, and it's safe enough on most wheels.

Wheel Brightener is also an excellent cleaner, but is acidic. The product is cheap, dilutable down to 10:1, safe on all factory coated wheels, and is very effective. It also leaves behind some light protection that makes the wheel bright and shiny.

As for the stained trim, you can try peanut butter. Supposedly applying it, letting it sit for a while, and then removing it with a towel works very well for cleaning up wax residue from trim. You could also try a dedicated wax trim cleaner, such as Wax Blaster. Finally, restore the trim with a protectant such as 303 Aerospace Protectant, Adam's Super VRT, Gloss It TRV, etc.

 

I have like AG CWC (get it from Amazon for $8/bottle + free shipping if you spend $25). You could also get a gallon of Opt Power Clean and use it to clean wheels (3:1 or 4:1) also used straight it could remove old wax and junk. Also for the wax try some IPA straight (I get the 91%) just put some on a MF and rub it, dont spray it right on the plastic as it does dry it out a bit.

 

best thing i can say in a situation like that . . . . . . . check this out:

Wheel brightener was used to lighten things up a bit as well as some #0000 steel wool. Steel wool works wonders on wheels that you mentioned on trucks. Couple spots i know were missed and were taken care of after the photo was taken as well as another couple layers of tire dressing since that truck seemed to never have been detailed in its life.

 

Thanks for all the responses so far!

I'd like to try Wheel Brightener, but the problem is that all the vehicles I do are generally pretty beat up. I don't detail really nice luxury or sports cars...the cars I've done this week were: Mazda MPV, Toyota Sienna, Buick Century, Dodge Ram 1500, Ford F-150. None of them newer than 2006 and all of them in pretty bad shape (minus the Buick). So the wheels are really beat up, and the factory coating is chipped off in several places. I've heard that if you use Wheel Brightener on wheels with a damaged factory coating, it can harm the alloy of the wheels.

Like Emile said, I'm trying to keep costs down and keep it safe at the same time. I'll look into some of the other stuff mentioned so far...and I'll try the peanut butter thing as well. My biggest problem is that I want to get everything from one place, to save on shipping. And most places have everything I want except MS SGS, which I use for tire cleaning. I guess I could substitute something else...

 

Rusty, just use whatever wheel cleaner you're using, to clean tires. An excellent wheel cleaner also makes for an excellent tire cleaner.

I have read tons of warnings about Wheel Brightener, but my experience is only positive. All I need is latex gloves (which I use with any wheel cleaner) and I'm good to go. It cleans the wheels extremely well and the use is just like any other wheel cleaner.

 

I use Sonax now. I switched from Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner.

 

Not underestimating your work here, that looks terrific, but did you also switch the tires from Michelins to BF Goodrich?

 

I would suggest Brown Royal on beat up rims too. It can be diluted to clean tyres and engine bay too.

 

looks to be a different truck from what I can see as well, at least a different wheel or corner.

 

So what should I worry about with using Wheel Brightener? If the wheel has a damaged factory coating, should I just not use it on that wheel, or avoid getting it on the place where the coating is missing?

 

I don't use it on damaged wheels. well, that'st not true. I explain to the owner I have several wheel cleaning options and that the wheel brightener can damage it further in those areas, but will provide a cleaner wheel.

For instance that hammered Aristo I did, the owner didn't care about damaging them as he was going to have them refinished.

 

Ok, I'm ordering Megs Wheel Brightener. Should I have a backup in case the wheels are really trashed, or just be careful when I use it?

 

You should have a backup for aftermarket wheels that don't have the factory coating.

 

Update! I ordered the Wheel Brightener and also P21s wheel cleaner...it seems to be safer than the Wheel Brightener. Both cleaners work very well, I've already tried both of them on our cars and I'm extremely impressed with the results! (Especially that Wheel Brightener, didn't even have to TOUCH the wheels) If I'm still concerned that my cleaner is too strong, I can always go back to my old (time consuming) method...APC and a toothbrush.

 

always try agitating too, it's worth the time the first time around and you won't waste product sometimes you can get away with just one application with a good cleaner!