I have the 5 spoke, 16" wheels. They are easy to clean if all you want to do is get the visable part clean. It's the inside of the wheels that's bothering me. Hard to reach, even with a long curved brush.

Anyone have any ideas of good ways to thoroughly clean these things?

 

I've got the 17' S-lites in WHITE.... am thinking, haven't tried it so far, that I'll just take each wheel off once a month or so and give it and the brakes a good scrubbing. At least until I grow tired of it and let them grow black with brake dust....

 

I spray Meguiar's wheel cleaner all over my 5 spoke 16" wheels about once a week, then hose it off and wipe dry with an all-cotton towel.

The brake dust really gets them dirty, doesn't it???

The inside of the wheel is hard to get to though..no easy answer there... I just try to give a good spray in there with the hose after spraying the wheel cleaner stuff in there.

 

I have a brush that I found at AutoZone that works great in reaching the inside part of the 5-spoke 16" wheels.

Here's a link to Fuller Brush that looks like the same brush -

http://www.fuller.com/shopping/detail.cfm?ID=448

Good luck! :smile:

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I got a brush much like the Fuller one, at Walmart. It does a fair job.

I think that to really get them clean, they need to come off. Not something a person would do every weekend.

Have used some spray wheel cleaners. Results not too bad.

 

Griot's Garage is by far the best spray on wheel cleaner.
If you can't get that the next best that i've found is Eagle One A to Z. It's a new formula and it's less toxic than the earlier formula.

 

>>It's the inside of the wheels that's bothering me. Hard to reach, even with a long curved brush.
>>Anyone have any ideas of good ways to thoroughly clean these things?

The only thing that REALLY helps is to change brake pads. Attack the part that CREATES the dust!

On my (current) Golf GTI VR6, & Honda civic, and (past) Porsche Carrera I've used "Mintex" brake pads.

No more expensive than the factory pads, last much longer, give much better (firmer) pedal feel, and DRAMATICALLY reduced the brake pad dust. Any remaining dust seems to be a lighter grey in color, and comes off more easily to boot.

Has anyone else had good experience with a particular brand of brake pad?

 

>>>>It's the inside of the wheels that's bothering me. Hard to reach, even with a long curved brush.
>>>>Anyone have any ideas of good ways to thoroughly clean these things?
>>
>>The only thing that REALLY helps is to change brake pads. Attack the part that CREATES the dust!
>>
>>On my (current) Golf GTI VR6, & Honda civic, and (past) Porsche Carrera I've used "Mintex" brake pads.
>>
>>No more expensive than the factory pads, last much longer, give much better (firmer) pedal feel, and DRAMATICALLY reduced the brake pad dust. Any remaining dust seems to be a lighter grey in color, and comes off more easily to boot.
>>
>>Has anyone else had good experience with a particular brand of brake pad?
>>



He is right, Mintex is great I have em on my VR6's also =)

Its a common thing with German cars, probably most euro cars as well... the break shoes are soft and dust up a lot.

 

I used pam cooking spray on the wheels and now it all hoses off no prob!
"brake dust"

 

A service man at my dealer recommended waxing the wheels and it has worked.

 

I find waxing helps make them easier to clean but to get rid of the dust....different pads

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2Minis