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Old Alloy wheel cleaning
Special Air Service - April 11th, 2009 at 09:05 PM

Recently bought a set of these rims pictured below, what would be the easiest way of cleaning the years of built up dirt etc from the spoked area? Apart from having them blasted & repainted. Or am I kidding myself.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk307/VLK55Y/FORUM%20PICS/2004_0101April110003.jpg


Does anyone now what brand & style of rim they are? I'm not convinced they are CSA as the centre cap says, been told the style is Quattro????????


Cheers
Brendan


hellbugged - April 11th, 2009 at 11:18 PM

look a bit like "simmons" brand?.......

i find the armour-all wheel and mag cleaner good which is a sparay bottle style.........the aerosol styles would proably work better as they lift more dirt, but i've only used elcheapo ones that will pull paint off if youre not carefull.

some of the softer dish scrubbing and bottle brushes are good for getting in those nooks and crannies

local car car lovers are good for pressure cleaners if you (and your neighbours:lol:) don't have one


Joel - April 12th, 2009 at 10:53 AM

i had a set of those on my celica
altho mine had fake plastic studs around the the outside rim

cant remeber the name but there an ROH rim same as nearly all those old 70s wheels like hotwires, globes etc

to clean mine up i had this really toxic degreaser called active-shift
nasty stuff but spray that on for a few mins and pressure clean it off and they look like new again


h - April 12th, 2009 at 10:21 PM

i'd use some VHD liquid detergent n give em a good scrub up n rinse once or twice a good go over
then a bit of diluted ali-brite light scrub n rinse
then a polish up with purple
like new.. ;)
btw - the ali-brite contains hydro floric acid = worst stuff that dangerous and needs extra special care; like safety equip etc and use it diluted, but for minimal effort it make old looking alloy look new within minutes..
beware but it is dangerous i kid you not


Special Air Service - April 13th, 2009 at 06:23 PM

Thanks for the input guys, but due to a F@#*k Up I will now be repainting them.

I initially tried oven cleaner with reasonable good results, removed most of the crud except for the really baked on stuff in the small nooks & corners. Ispraked it on then quickly wiped it off the raw alloy parts so that it would not attack the alloy. All was good till ran out of cleaner.

Hmmmm. What to try next? I know, Carby & Throttle body cleaner in an aerosol can. Didnt read the can properly, sprayed it on & it instantly started dissolving the paint. Quickly hosed it off but it was too late.

Off to be blasted & repainted soon!!!!

Cheers
Brendan


h - April 14th, 2009 at 12:12 AM

arhh ahh i thought i heard a distant DOH recently :lol: