I was washing my car yesterday and was trying to clean my wheels when I noticed that part of the rim did not feel smooth. When I looked at it closer there were spots where a dirty residue existed that would not start to come off unless I scraped it with my fingernail.

My question is do you guys know of any safe abrasives to clean this residue off. Also what wheel cleaners do you guys recommend to clean the rims and give them a nice polish. What are the OEM wheels made out of and are they clear coated. No one at Kragen really knew what was safe or what would work. Thanks guys

 

Do you know what OEM wheels you have. I good clean would be Eagle one all wheel and tire cleaner. For the chrome rims you can use any polish like mother chrome polish or NXT all metal polish and maybe seal it with some sealant. For clear coat wheels you can use the polish you use on you car on the rims.

 

claybar, it does wonders on surface contamination

 

^+1 on the clay bar, did the same with my oem wheels, and it worked great

 

is the claybar abrasive enough to take off that dirt film layer? It doesn't seem like it would be. And are you guys talking about the mother's clay bar?
Thanks for the responses

 

Mostly if its over the counter clay. It would be either Claymagic, Meguairs or Mothers

 

i'll have to try the clay bar and give it a go.. Though I think i'm gonna just have to use a toothbrush and give it a soft scrub? Will that damage the rim?

 

I hope you don't mean Soft Scrub cleanser, I wouldn't use that. Clay works great on paint, I had some overspray on my '04, and it cleaned it right off.

 

no i definetly don't mean the soft scrub bathroom cleaner!! I tried the clay bar stuff and unfortunately it did not take off the residue I was talking about earlier. Guess i'm just gonna use a soft brisel toothbrush and some elbow grease!!

 

I bought mine like that...they looked like crap. It almost looked like baked on brake dust but the PO put some type of abrasive cleaner that killed the clearcoat in some spots. I had the stealership take off $500 from the get go. I had to take it to the Rim Doctor in MD. $85 per rim but shiiiiite it looks good now. Apparently, Infiniti didn't put much of a clearcoat on there anyway. Rim Daddy had to put a new coat of paint or two and I asked if he could put a heavier clearcoat on...no prob. Those dudes are good.