N1JF

Have a 06 with the polished wheels. No problem keeping the outside of the wheels with the spokes clean. But what about the inside face behind the spokes? Always loaded with brake dust. Rear wheels aren't to bad, with the bigger wheels I can reach across the wheel with a cloth. Of course the car has to be moved at least once to get the area blocked by the caliper. But the fronts are a real pain, I can't get my hand through and have to try reaching around. Anyone have a tips, tools, thoughts?

Vet

Spend more time driving the car and you won't be worrying so much about how the backside of your rims look.

Seriously, I actually make it a point to remove the wheels and fully wash and wax the backsides of the rims... about once a year. You can use this opportunity to inspect the brakes, grease your Z51 toe link ends, inspect your tires for nails, etc, etc, etc in the process.

With a good full coating of wax on the backside / inside of the rims, most of the dirt just blasts right off with the hose when you wash your car. If they don't get perfectly clean, so what... after a few minutes of driving they're gonna get dirty again anyway. But a good wax coating does help keep them as clean as possible. Wax helps prevent dirt, tar etc from sticking in there... definitely makes them easier to clean overall.

DaddySS

Agreed. I have a good thick sponge from turtle wax that I stuff back there and then push it around, behind the spokes while washing the wheels. Works pretty well.

Jus Cruisin

I use a long handle bottle brush and Simple Green. Just takes a short time. Wait for the brakes to cool before you clean.

The best thing is to swap out the pads for ceramics, which I will do some day.

richhoff

Most of the wheel brushes I could find locally were too short to reach the rear wheels. I bought a long wheel brush from supporting vendor Autogeek. It reachs extremely well, even fits between the wheel and the calipars. I just brush the dust and dirt out when i am washing and hose them off.

lennyg

Say, I picked up a motorcycle brush and it works great. It's about 16" long with 3" long soft nylon bristles perpidicular to the coated flexible shaft and soft handle. It bends/contorts and fits between the caliper and wheel with ease. NO open metal to sctrach the wheel. Available just about anywhere for about $18.00. Enjoy lennyg

Radical05

I took all my wheels off and cleaned them with simple green. I then applied a coat of Rejex. I wrap an old t shirt or rag around a long wood paint stir stick and run it thru the spokes. I keep them clean now all the time and it may take 5 min to do all of them. They are bright shinny and stay that way now. I drive it too with 18,600 now on my 05 and the wheels and whole car looks show room new. You just have to do a little here and there.

TOGWT

1.Stubborn brake dust- Power Wheel Cleaner (http://www.topoftheline.com/) even though it does not contain harsh acids, it dissolves the adhesive that is mixed with the brake dust. (This is why brake dust is so difficult to remove.) Just spray on wheels and tires, agitate with brush if needed, and hose-off. Don't worry if you accidentally spray your vehicle's body, it will not harm the paint.

Periodically remove the wheels (one at a time) to enable the back of the wheel, callipers and give better access to the wheel wells. Should the wheel surface have small scratches they can he removed with a mildly abrasive polish. The inner rims are usually unfinished aluminium, remove any road tar with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or a solvent cleaner (Stoner™ Tarminator) and then use detailer’s clay to remove any surface / imbedded contaminates. Dependant upon there condition clean with P21S Total Auto Wash and then spray P21S Wheel Cleaner (Regular or Gel) (http://www.autogeek.net) allow to dwell for five to ten minutes (5-10) and then use a stream of clean water to remove residue. If this doesn’t remove the imbedded brake dust (sequestered brake dust will etch aluminium over time) the surface will need to be levelled using fine grade (2000/2500/3000) Nikken finishing papers and a block.

Apply a protective product, a polymer is recommended (Klasse All-In-One or ZoopSeal) (http://www.autogeek.net) as it has a higher melting temperature (350oF+) compared to Carnauba wax (185oF+/- ) as a wheel surface will reach a temperature in excess of 120oF due to rotor friction and in excess of 195oF when parked in the sun.

Caution- avoid metal polishing products that contain anhydrous ammonia, solvents or acids, or zinc, which is often present in aluminium in large quantities, as it can be dissolved very easily by ammonia, the related anhydrous chemicals and acids. Avoid wheel cleaners that contain Hydrofluoric acid, Oxalic, or strong mixes of Sulfuric / Phosphoric acids.

su8pack1

Very carefully. I get my 11 year old to get the inside area and then move the car about a foot to get what was behind the caliper.

SH_Eng

I bought a Meguires bottle brush at Autozone. It's just long enought to reach all the way across the wheels. I use it everytime I wash the car. Even gets between the front calipers and rim.

bugman

click

Blue Blood

I use a soft nylon toilet bowl brush....

TonyC6

I took a toilet brush and pulled one end of the loop loose, that made the brush part about 16-18" long, plenty to reach all the way through. $3 at WalMart......clean wheels....PRICELESS!

PS: I found another brush that works even better at a Dollar Store but I can't realy describe it as something you could look for. It's about 18" long and has a strudy wire frame with a kind of a flat mop head that slips over it. It is perfect, and you can get it completely flattened out to get behind the calipers and all the way to the back. And when you're done you simply slip the mop head off and wash it. This gets all the little stuff that a brush sometimes leaves behind. Wish I could actually tell you what they call it, or what it was made for. Hey, maybe it was made for cleaning wheels!

T.

Scuba Ghost

Once you get the insides clean, you might want to try RejeX. Brake dust comes right off with a good blast of water.

Z06-Goose

and the best cure for that is also switching to ceramic brake pads.
Goose

mrosa65

That's the brush right there I have 2 of them, one for the car and one for the bike. It's worth every penny.

Riks40th

This is what I do too. I also use a California Duster to clean the dish area between washings.
Try keeping these wheels clean.

Rik

My Car:http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/Riks40th/

jmh7175

Can you get one of these at an auto parts store or Wally world?

mrosa65

They don't sell that particular brush at wallyworld but you can find it at autogeek who's also a forum sponsor.

http://www.autogeek.net/ezdebrfca.html

ztheusa

I agree:

http://www.bikebrush.com/