I bought some Mickey Thompson classic II's that have some major brake dust build up. Im putting different tires on them so while the tires are off i need to get some work!! How in the hell do I get that crap off!! I still want that shine, i know it will be tough to have the polished look like there brand new but i dont want to scuff the **** out of them either. Any help would be great, any products i need to get? I have the mother power ball so when im done i can polish them up but i need to clean them good first. Thanks fellas!! the pic is probably the worse wheel.

 

First I would find out if the are raw aluminum or clear coated then I would wash them really well with an old rag or wash mitt that will never touch your paint again. Then clay them with an OC clay kit from the Auto Parts store or Wally World. Once you have them clean and have determined if they are cleared or raw aluminum polish them with the appropriate polish. I would do all of this by hand but that is just me. Hope this helps.

 

I can tell you right now that they are not clear coated and its going to take a lot of elbow grease to clean them up. Good news is you can make them look brand new again.

 

Ok... how? lol

 

i'll let the experts chime in, but maybe some 0000 steel wool followed by some polish?

 

just some meguiars nxt metal polish and a clean polishing cloth to polish them.

Obviously wash them first.

 

I've used Armor-All wheel cleaner on mine and was suprised how easy the stuff came off. Wet them down spray the stuff on and gently scrub them with a sponge. If nothing else it will give you a good head start!

 

paint rims black

 

 

Well, you've got a real mess on your hands there and unfortunately, nothing is going to solve your problem short of some real elbow grease. Said another way, there is no miracle product that you'll just wipe on and wipe off to make those rims look like new. And yes, they are just polished aluminum with no clear coat. That's why they're in such bad shape. Take heart though, they can be saved.

The first thing I'd do is see if you can rustle up a rotary buffer with a foam polishing pad. This will make your job a ton easier. You can try the next steps by hand, but you're going to be one pooped puppy when you're done or you'll just plain give up.

Start by cleaning the wheels with a good wheels cleaner / brightener using the instructions on the bottle.

Next, using a good metal polish (like Heavy Metal Polish or Flitz) and either the buffer or lots of microfiber towels, go at it. Remember, you're going to destroy either the pad(s) or the towels with this step because you've got so much material to remove. You'll find that a Mothers Mini Ball will work really well in those holes. Polish until you're happy with the finish.

Finally, protect the new finish with either a good synthetic sealant or better yet, a product made specifically to protect uncoated / polished aluminum. (Zoops makes some good stuff for this.) If you don't, your original problem will just come back.

Hope that helps.

 

well some really wierd results guys... I was just messing around and grabbed some turtle wax rubbing compound.... it along with elbow grease and a little bit of the power ball followed by the powerball and mothers polish is really working!!! BUT my god my weekend is going to be long!! haha i was out there for hours and after the first hour i switched wheels so i could at least feel like i was making progress. So now i have two halfs done lol ill post some pictures up

 

my dad used GOJO with pumice to clean the dust build up on his ram. his rims where nearly black after 30k miles without washing the truck once. about 98% of the dust came off but it was better than anything else he tried.

 

i don't know if you've heard of the california customs polishes? they don't usually sell them in stores (you mainly have to go to a car show or polish shop). But i would suggest getting there aluminum deoxidizer and then a bottle of the purple metal polish.

When i had my stock chrome steel wheels, the aluminum deoxidizer took some heavy rust off of them.

 

It won't be that hard to clean them. Get some purple power and spray them and clean them with water then you can polish them. I do it all the time. That brake dust isn't bad. The brake dust it coming from your brake pads. A carbon metallic brake pad would prevent a lot of dust or you can get some dust covers that go between the rim and rotor to prevent brake dust on your rims.

 

yea man i have the same exact rims and problem. i just went up to advance auto and got...Super Clean spray and rinse formula. it comes in a purple spray bottle. it works GREAT 2 treatments and it was all gone and mine was worse than yours. just be careful with to much at one time cuz the smell is really strong and probably toxic.