[italcarguy]

Today I picked up my race car from the body shop and noticed the paint was all nice but my wheels looked like crap. What do you guys use to clean off the brake dust? I have triedmany things. So far, Simple Green works the best. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Alfapwr]

My friend swears by Castrol Superclean. He uses it both full strength and diluted ( for paint and more sensitive applications ) with his 2400psi pressure washer. It can even keep the white wheels on his wife's VW Cabriolet spotless. He cleans everything with his pressure washer, including carpet ( out of the car ), seats, whatever. If I had a spare $300 and the space to keep it I'd be getting my *** over to Costco and buying one.

Dan

 

[AlfaRacer75]

It depends on what the paint is like on the wheels. For any factory painted wheels I'd think a wheel cleaner would work just fine, I like Eagle One A-2-Z (in the orange bottle) because it's not too harsh. As you mentioned, Simple Green should work well.. but I'm not sure how harsh it is, maybe dilute it a little. Another really good & safe wheel cleaner is P21S, although it's hard to find and slightly more expensive.

Any aftermarket wheel or repainted wheel I would just use soap & water. Once they're clean, put a coat of wax or synthetic sealer (ex. Klasse, Zaino, Blackfire, etc) on the wheels inside and out. That will make them REALLY easy to clean from then on because most of the brake dust will wash right off with a hard stream of water from the hose rather than sticking to the wheel.

 

[Sniady]

Degreaser

I've found that it always works better with high pressure water.

I have a degreaser from Rusnak, find a one gallon bottle and I'll give you some of this stuff.

p.s. Simple Green does the job, but soap works fine, just take's a little work.

 

[alfa_chan]

My friend swears by Castrol Superclean.

I've been using Castrol Superclean (the one for wheels) for over 5 years, until one day I found the Eagle One. That is a night and day difference.

Not only the Castrol destroyed the clearcoat on my wheels, it is not half as efficient as the Eagle One. Castrol did a great job on removing the brake dust from the OEM pad. But when I've started using Ferodo pads, Castrol somehow stopped working and leave all kind of black spots on the wheels. First time with Eagle One, and they're all gone.

I also had to use gloves everytime I use Castrol (you can feel and smell the acid), and I've been handling Eagle One bare hands.

However, the Eagle One leaves a very ugly residue on the tires, make sure you rinse them off completely.

I am using the same Eagle One as AlfaRacer75 - Orange One.

 

[JoeCab]

I am fan of Simple Green, I find that if you spray it on, let it sit for only a minute or so, then agitate it with a soft brush it takes off the nastiest wheel grime pretty well. For wheels, I haven't found much of a difference between full strength and 50% dilution, either.

Plus, I don't really worry if the runoff gets into the garden or on the grass, etc. as it's (relatively) biodegradeable.

 

[smestas]

I use Simple Green as well. I try to buy it in the big anti freeze looking bottles. Once I get it home I use a hudson pump with a 1/1 dilution of water and simple green. So far so good I have no complaints. I even use it in my engine bay and undercarriage to degrease before a hosing.

 

[italcarguy]

clnin wheels

my dad just got one of those new parts cleaners that the state is pushing for. they only want solvent machines to be used for electricalparts. anyways, back to the parts washer. this thing is hge and cleans things to look like new. i threw stippd block in there and it came out as god as new...all grease and junk was off. this parts washer uses soap and really really hot high pressure water jets. i threw a rim with no tire in there and it came out like new. i'll post some pics soon.

 

[RtbRacer]

I found that IVORY soap in warm water works really good for breaking through that ugly brake dust. Another really good thing is any dishwashing ditergent, this really breaks the oils and grease down. I always worry about high pressure water guns taking paint off so I just go the old fashion way. But warm water is the key.