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I like to use P21s Wheel and tire gel for cleaning, swissvax pneu for the tire shine (low gloss deep black finish) and swissvax autobahn wheel wax.. And it just so happens that Phil at detailers domain sells all of these items, and offers 10% off for s2ki peeps...
once they are clean, they are pretty easy to keep clean if you have stock pads...
just gotta learn to engine brake- my brakes are almost new on my 10 year old car cause i very rarely use them. its more fun to engine brake, i love the sound of the downshift (especially with a non oem exhaust), and my wheels always look new.
i also have a small duster that is used only on the wheels- lightly dust the wheels then hit them with a detail spray a coupla times a week.
cleaning wheels I use car soap (well-maintained wheels of course)
others use p21s wheel gel for nasty ones.
cleaning tires, try Amazing Roll-Off, and a good stiff tire brush.
To protect the rims from massive brake-dust build up, try swissvax autobahn, smartwax rimwax (i use this), Chemical Guys I think makes a wheel wax, and I belive Duragloss makes something as well.
looking for something better to clean the tires though. i can never get them completely clean
Try Amazing Roll-Off. Wet the tires down first, spray on, let set for 10-15 minutes, and go back and scrub them well with a good, very stiff brush. Might take a little elbow grease if there is a lot of old dressing still hanging on. I use usually dip my brush in the car wash solution as I am doing this. If you do this everytime you clean your wheels, then it should help prevent a lot of dressing build-up on your tires, which will make subsequent cleanings easier.
i find tires usually need a bit of elbow gease if they have a lot of build up, and its a process that you need to repeat multiple times. the nice thing i've noticed about build up is if you agitate and scrub good, usually its easy to get a matte finish after (and therefor sometimes no dressing needed)
for wheels, if they're horrible, then i hit up the p21s. if not (like for mine) i just use an old dedicated wheel rag and simply wipe the wheels clean. its a pain because it takes so long, but the results are amazing.
probably will be getting my last wash and wax of the season in this week :-(
another coat of dodojuice supernatural, and away she goes
I have found that quick detailing of the wheels between washes makes it a lot easier to clean the wheels when I do wash. I use Meg's Quick Wheel Detailer Mist & Wipe.
Cobalt brake pads create a very corrosive dust. Do not let the dust get rained on. I now have one set of wheels with pits in the ClearCoat. Used my wheels on a friends car (she has Cobalt pads) on a Sunday. Got home late. Did not clean wheels. Rained Monday. Busy Tuesday. Cleaned wheels on Wednesday and found the dust had already eaten holes in the ClearCoat.
My car has Hawk HP+. I have never had that problem.
10-27-2008, 01:40 PM
