How to clean your wheel/wheel well/brake calipers ver. 2

[phil@detailersdomain]

Okay so a couple years back i did a write up on how to clean wheels, here is another one with most of the same products, however I switched up a few things.

Here is the set up, I have had the STI now for over 3000 miles and unfortunately I have had no time to give it even a proper wash, actually I haven't washed it yet. The day I figured I had some time it got just too hot to finish it. (98 degrees!)

Anyway here is a teaser. I got started on the wheels and after 3000 miles of caked on brake dust I decided to go all out!

By this I mean wheels were off the car, wheel wells were cleaned and dressed, brakes were polished and waxed.

Products used:

Uber Wheel Kit
Menzerna PO85RD
Sears Jack
19mm Socket
Ratchet
Torque Wrench
Cam Spray Pressure Washer

Now to the pictures:

Before shots of the wheels.


Before Brakes and Wheel Wells. (reference left side, forgot to take all the complete shots, both sides were pretty dirty)


Wheel being pulled off using ratchet and jack.


Wheel off the car.


Back


P21S Gel on the wheels, I let it dwell while I cleaned the wheel wells and brakes
Back of the wheel


Front of the wheel


What it looks like after P21S sits for a while, the P21S Wheel Gelis pretty thick.


Cleaned both the front side and the back side with the Uber Boar's Hair Wheel Brush, The Uber Spoke Brush, and the Swissvax Wheel Brush, each one helped with the process of cleaning all that brake dust and dirt off the wheels.





After I applied Swissvax Autobahn on them.


Results from all that hard work on the wheels.



Now that the wheels were done...on to the wheel wells.
P21S Total Auto Wash was used to cut the dirt and grime off the wheel wells as well as the suspension bits, and brake calipers.



Brushes were used to help clean up the wheel wells etc



After everything was rinsed and cleaned up, I moved on to polishing the brake calipers with Menzerna PO85RD after I put a nice coat of Swissvax Autobahn on them to give them a nice shine and protection.


Caliper After Polish and before Autobahn


Applying the SV Autobahn


Removing the SV Autobahn


Adam's Undercarriage Spray was applied to bring back a nice new look to the wheel well covers (note I did wipe down any access to prevent a oily greasy look, I was going for a matte finish)


Rear Before




Rear After



Front Before


Front After



After of the wheel back on the car (less the tire dressing)

[iwashmycar]

good write up! looks great.

[MiniMaybee]

I like the Adams Undercarriage spray. Unlike the Griot it is not greasy or slimy and it does not actually attract dirt.
Nice write-up.

[kenchan]

looks good!

yah, that Griot's stuff is pretty fruity smell too. attracts too many bears.

[phil@detailersdomain]

thanks guys more to come.

[Some Guy]

Ahh, the STI calipers are so much easier to clean. Our single piston sliders have all these grooves and stuff that are hard to get into. Simple job though, a good project for somebody who knows how to use a jack safely and wants to give their car that extra sparkle.