When I bought my e36, it came with two sets of wheels. One of them being these SSR type C’s. They’re nice wheels, but I never really cared for the look of them. After lugging then around through a few moves, I figure it’s time to move on. Only there’s one problem: they’re FILTHY. I’ve tried brake cleaner, WD40, pressure washing, and numerous other tricks to try to get the brake dust off, and they’ve gotten better, but they’re still a long way from acceptable shape, in my mind at least.
Do any of you have any tips or tricks for getting these clean again? Or am I just out of luck?
An acid wheel cleaner is the beast you are looking for. Can't find it in stores easily anymore, but it does seem you can order online.
A toilet brush and water works brilliantly to remove pad dust.
Unfortunately it looks too late for that - that looks like the rotors also dusted (cold brakes) and accumulated, and rusted itself into the wheel.
Dollar store Awesome, and a cedar shim as a scraper. It worked on my van wheels where they had buildup.
send them to the powdercoat shop of your choice for refinishing. that's probably the only path toward a result you'll really be happy with.
An acid wheel cleaner may help, but it's usually meant for unfinished wheels that don't have paint or clear coat. It may damage the finish on your wheels unless you're real careful with it and rinse it off thoroughly.
I think I'd start with a regular wheel cleaner product (Eagle One usually works pretty well) and a Scotchbrite pad.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
You’re probably right. Ultimately though, I’d like to get them in somewhat presentable shape to sell or trade. I’ve never really used these since I like the look of the Kosei k1’s that are currently on the car more.
Thanks for all the suggestions! I’ll try some of these out this week and post the results
imgon
HalfDork
4/30/19 6:17 a.m.
I have a set of wheels that had much worse build up and for the most part the best i could do was get rid of some of it. The brake dust becomes part of the wheel. If you resort to goggle for ideas, whatever you do don't try oven cleaner it WILL eat the finish, I now have a half black half silver wheel. Good luck, if I was selling those I would give them a quick bath and just let them go without investing too much time in them, some kid will be sure he can clean them.
Knurled. said:
A toilet brush and water works brilliantly to remove pad dust.
Unfortunately it looks too late for that - that looks like the rotors also dusted (cold brakes) and accumulated, and rusted itself into the wheel.
That's what I was going to say.
Honestly, what it would take to refinish them, you'll never get it back out of the wheels. I'd just sell them as is.
how close are you going to look at them once they're cleaned?
get the variety pack of stiff-bristled brushes and some Eagle 1 wheel cleaner and get to scrubbing. the plastic bristles probably won't touch that stuff, you're gonna have to use the brass or steel bristles. You can get those deposits off, but those bristles will also scratch up the remaining clear and/or paint, hence my opening question. clean them, rinse them thoroughly, and shoot them with a satin clearcoat?
i couldn't find a 'before' pic, but they were probably only a little bit less crappy than yours.
Thanks again for all the advice! I ended up using some Chemicals Guys wheel cleaner and some red scotch brite pads. After about an hour of scrubbing, I ended up with this. I’m pretty happy with the results!
Too bad you don't like them.
I had them and they were awesome - super light, super strong, and now days really hard to find so replacements are hard to come by. They're also forged, which I don't think Kosei's are.
In reply to bcp2011 :
Koseis are pretty tough, though. I had some rubberbands on 15x7 K1s and never dented them.
