stymie222

My stock C6 aluminum wheels (clear coated) need cleaning on the inside. Years of brake dust and grime have left them brown and ugly.
I will have to pull the wheels off to do it right.

What safe chemical cleaners and methods have you used ?
Were the insides factory clear coated so they can be polished too ?

Thanks

Turbo6TA

From all the various OEM C6 wheels that I have seen (non-chrome), the wheels are powdercoated or painted and then clearcoated, to include the inside / barrel section of the wheel.

Obviously, you can't polish the wheels with metal polish like you would polish a bare aluminum (non-clearcoated) wheel, but after you get your wheels clean, they certainly can be polished with a good auto finish polish or wax.

The inside / barrel section of the wheels is not finished as smoothly as the outer areas of the wheel, so the barrel section will never be a shiny as the outside area.

I would try using some of that 'Simple Green' cleaner on very dirty wheels in order to get them real clean.

.

RDSTORM

Chemical Guys products are excellent. They have tons of Youtube how-to videos too.

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Signatur...cld_203_16.htm

seijack

Check out this thread. Look thru the whole thread. Lots of good information.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-cleaning.html

cmonkey713

First of all I would remove each wheel and clean it. You can do a much better job with the wheels off the car. Make sure you use a cleaner that is safe for clear coated wheels. Autogeek (Forum vendor) carries a complete line of wheel cleaners and waxes. They also have an excellent technical customer service group that can guide you to best products for your application.

LoganExplosion

I like power purple and a scrub brush for the wheel hoops. Never had a spray-on wheel cleaner that would beat a microfiber wash mitt and plain old car wash soap.

stymie222

Thanks- Exactly what I was looking for.

I wish the Forum would add "Detailing" as a category of discussion.
I mentioned that to the administration and they didn't agree.
Just "search this forum" for "cleaning wheels" (a simple discussion) and you can see what I'm talking about. The search is useless and needs more refining. I always search before posting.

Corvette_Ed

I use Meguiar's Gold Class car wash on my wheels and tires, followed with a good wax/polish. That's actually the only part of the car that I use water on.

bassman50

Being a new C6 owner, I need to ask, how do you normally "wash" yours if you don't use water on it? I'd like to avoid doing that for the water spotting (we have pretty hard water) on my car. Thanks!

Steve

Corvette_Ed

I use a waterless wash. I used to use Meguiar's detail spray, but have switched to Gary Dean's Infinite Use Detail Juice as it works much, much better. You can order this from Amazon, but I'd suggest getting the small bottle as you only need two capfuls to make 16 oz. of detail spray. The small bottle goes a long way.

DigitalWidgets

While I think Sonax is a little stronger, Meguair's DUB wheel cleaner does the same basic chemical thing (at less than half the price). I think they both work really great on brake dust and I use them all the time. They work best on dry wheels (i.e. don't pre-rinse and start with wet wheels):

bassman50

I've used the Meguiar's detail spray before and have liked it - - sounds like the Gary Dean's product will be that much better. Thanks!

Steve

jimmie jam

Purple and Green are acid based cleaners...I would not use these unless you dilute significantly. It will etch the clear. There are many brake dust wheel cleaners that will not harm the clear. It will take more than one cleaning to get really dirty barrels clean. FWIW.

psp6158

The detailing is covered under the "car care tab"

Pinnacle makes an awesome wheel cleaner that I would highly recommend...
anotherr recommendation is to invest in a speed master wheel brush, you will thank me later! Used after spraying on the wheel cleaner

Ira T

My '05 wheels had some nasty stuff on the barrels, including tar, when I got the car. I took them off and spent a half day on each one. Now, I know somebody is going to jump all over me for this, but the best thing I found to clean them is gasoline. Gasoline got rid of the tar and grime. After I got the barrels squeaky clean, I sprayed on a coat of Duplicolor Wheel Clearcoat. The outer polished rim and spokes were in good shape, but they got a good rubdown with a rag and gasoline, and were rinsed and dried before I applied Mothers wax.

Corvette_Ed

Try Goo Gone next time. Works just as well, and you don't have to worry about bursting into flame.

Mikey_T

My inner barrels were all pitted and nasty from years of brake dust when I bought my Vette. I sanded down what I could and just shot the barrels with a satin black. Looks much better than it did.

Cherokee Nation

Eagle One makes a great product for clear coated rims.

RC4G

If the detail spray is 14 oz of water in a 16 oz bottle how exactly is it "waterless"?

windyC6

Whatever you choose, if you are not absolutely sure on the results, at least try a little dab somewhere...hopefully in an inconspicuous area just to be sure there are no ill effects from said cleaner.